The instructional text How To Make a Camera Lucida by Tim Hunkin does not provide the reader with useful instructions. Even though the author complies with a number of rules for instructional texts, such as making use of the imperative as well as writing short and simple sentences, the way the instructions are presented is neither clear nor logical. Looking at the sentences, it is extremely confusing for the reader to figure out the order of the steps since they are not numbered. Most of the steps are not written down explicitly but need to be figured out with the help of the images. This, however, is not the purpose of illustrations in instructional texts, instead they should be used to support the individual steps rather than to do the explaining. Moreover, there is no list of the materials needed to build the camera, there are no warnings or helpful tips, nor does the text say anything about the estimated time required. The usage of the camera lucida for drawing is mentioned within the instructions. However, it would have been helpful to know more about the camera from the start and an introduction should have been provided at the beginning. To put it in a nutshell, this piece of instruction clearly lacks organisation and logic.
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