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I don't have anything to hand you other than advice. There's not necessarily a perfect way to write directions since your partner and you need to figure out what system--or lack thereof--works for you. The teams that score the highest have flawless, technical directions as if out of a manual, though. They define any and all abbreviations, make use of as precise angle measurements as they can, and set up a coordinate system. This is one of those things that's easy to learn and, arguably, hard to master.

I agree with Skink. Also, I think it's better to do the steps in paragraph format instead of steps because skipping a line takes time (you might not think so, but every second is precious when writing the instructions). Also, be concise, don't add anything that isn't absolutely necessary...umm...what else?? Practice, Practice, Practice. If you do well without practicing, it's either pure dumb luck, or the other teams are so bad that they were probably assigned the event the day of the competition. My example: 2nd in state and regionals because the other teams were horrible. At nationals, where the other teams were better, we failed horribly because we didn't practice...you don't want that to happen to you...

Ex: (using legoes)
Take a yello 2X3 Place in front horizont. Take blu 2X2 put on yello far left. Put 2X1 red far left on sq. Put 2X1 blu on whats left of yello. Put 2X1 blak on top no overlap.

My partner can't spell to save her life...so her instructions look something like that. And it might not make sense to you, but it's very clear to me, and that's kinda the point. As long as the doer understands what the writer is writing, then you're golden. It doesn't matter if the writer can't spell, they're handwriting is hideous, and their grammar is nonexistent, as long as the writer understands it, then you'll be fine. (Note: My writer can spell better than that, but, like I said, she leaves out letters to save time...sometimes she even skips the periods and invents words, which can be slightly irritating, but I understand it...)

I'll add something that came up at our State competition last season. Pretend you're the builder and got Bookworm's directions^. You have all of the supplies he listed except the yellow 2x3 brick. You have a white one instead. Do one or both of the following: A)ask the supervisor what's up...at worst, they can say they can't help you. B)Assume your partner got the color wrong or, in another case, the supervisor ran out of yellow 2x3s and gave you the next closest thing.

Being someone who is very familiar with K'nex and Legos, how would you abbreviate pieces without being penalized (especially the K'nex pieces)? When I usually type/write out instructions with K'nex the best I can really do is abbreviate it as "B7" or "semi-snowflake," but the first one would probably result in a penalty and the second one seems kind of long to write repeatedly. (BTW bonus points to anyone who knows what piece I'm talking about )

I think I know what you're talking about. That piece always annoys me, it's just not symmetrical like all the others. </OCD>

I agree that B7 would probably result in a penalty unless identified at the beginning of your instructions (which you could do) You could also just use "blue piece" or "blue half" or some short description. Most pieces have a defining feature in color or size that you could use to describe it throughout the report.

My partner and I use "snowflake", "half-snowflake", or "quarter snowflake" and etc. It takes a long time to write out, but we didn't really have any other ideas so I just write a lot.

curly657 wrote:I am totally new to this event, and I am confused on how exactly to write the steps. It would be great if someone can provide an example of the writing part.

I agree with the other people - try to write it out like a manual. I like to number my steps, and try to get everything on the first time. Of course, every single time I always find that I've missed a small detail somewhere, like the little blue bead that is halfway on the needle, not at the end, or something like that. In that case, I add extra steps at the end, and make a note of it on the corresponding step in the beginning (such as, "see step 14"). Also, try to put yourself in your partner's shoes and say to yourself, "Would _________ understand this part?" (you should know your partner fairly well). If not, then change it so that they WILL understand it. My partner and I failed at State last year because of the position of one little gummy bear that I perhaps maybe kinda sorta did not describe well...and it messed everything else up. In this event, every little detail counts.

fishman100 wrote:Being someone who is very familiar with K'nex and Legos, how would you abbreviate pieces without being penalized (especially the K'nex pieces)? When I usually type/write out instructions with K'nex the best I can really do is abbreviate it as "B7" or "semi-snowflake," but the first one would probably result in a penalty and the second one seems kind of long to write repeatedly. (BTW bonus points to anyone who knows what piece I'm talking about )

My partner and I used the following system for K'nex, written at the top of our instructions:
So the blue snowflake you're talking about would be abbreviated to BJ. For the gray joints, we would also specify whether it was 1 or 2 spaces (we called the holes spaces).

For legos, we used a coordinate x-y plane system.

It would also be helpful to make sure both you AND your partner agree on a system of abbreviations and explanations. You may be familiar with an x-y coordinate plane, but your partner may prefer compass directions (north of, south of, etc.).

Or left, right, above, below...

Also, a coordinate system with x- y- and z- might be even better...