Hi, I’m a new writer and I was wonder if it is appropriate to write an article with steps outside of the methods as a sort of “shared steps” portion. For example, having general steps like “Get a helmet. Find a skate park.” and then specific methods such as “Doing skateboard tricks” and “Doing bicycle tricks” (these are just quick examples and not reflective of my actual intention).
It’s doable, but I believe there’s actually data indicating that readers tend to find articles more helpful if the steps are repeated in each section rather than having one catch-all section at the start. I have to admit that I’m not sure where I heard this, though, so I’ll ping @JayneG
and see if she can confirm what I said or if I was completely off-base
JayneG
4
So what I know is that in general, it’s better to put all steps in the separate methods as @Galactic-Radiance
mentioned. Of course, ideally the steps wouldn’t be a complete copy and paste, but more tailored to each method or part if possible.
There are some articles from years ago that had more of a ‘catchall’ section, but the preferred method now is repeating the steps in each section.
We’d hate for someone to scroll down to their method bypassing the ‘catchall’ section and not realizing that they should have got a helmet :)
