A GENRE ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC MANUALS

Abstract

Manuals are very important documents so far as the use of electrical appliances is concerned. This paper focuses on the move analysis of manuals of electrical gadgets. The main focus of this type of genre is to provide a series of instructions to users of appliances to enable them to put the appliance to effective use. This paper presents an analysis of 20 manuals of different companies and different electrical gadgets. The findings of this study show that the rhetorical and discursive features of electronic manuals of different companies and appliances seem to have a systematized or a typified structure with no particular order in respect of the various sub-moves identified. Four moves were identified. Moves 1 to 3 were captured as core or obligatory moves whereas move 4 was captured as an optional move. The study also revealed that writers of electronic manuals write with the sole aim of directing users of the appliance on how to put the appliance to effective use. This was shown in the massive textual space given to move three (directive). It was realized in the study that simple imperative sentences which are mostly negatives were mostly found in the electronic manuals. Users of electrical gadgets must follow the instructional manual to the latter to ensure their safety as well as the effective use of the appliance. This will enable them to save energy and resources. Future research can pay attention to a particular company or a particular type of appliance or gadget or better still cross-cultural studies can be conducted on electronic manuals.