Explication and Evaluation to a Specific Audience - paper on one section of an employee handbook

Please know that I have scoured the internet before making this last ditch effort for help :(
I am to write a paper based on one section of an employee handbook of all things and I really do not know what my instructor wants. I tend to do this often, overthink the writing assignments. My textbook offers no help so I was hoping someone here could help. I will post the instructors directions below. I am going to use the Leave of absence section of my employee handbook. Someone please dumb these instructions down for me so I can get started, I am not sure how to write a 5 page Explication and Evaluation essay based on bullet points in an employee handbook.

INSTRUCTIONS:
You should assume your readers have not read the material being analyzed, so you will need to briefly summarize the piece of writing you will be discussing. You should quote and cite specific passages or lines in order to support your analysis and make your argument. Remember that this document was prepared for a specific audience, so your analysis of the effectiveness of the document is based on their response, not yours or the "average/typical" reader.

Most of your paper should be made up of explication rather than interpretation. To explicate originally meant "to unfold; to expand; to lay open." Your task in this paper: to unfold the text's meaning, explain how it is constructed for its specific audience, praise and or criticize areas of it, and only then draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the document. You need to go through the document step by step, sometimes sentence by sentence--sometimes image by image or even word by word. You are writing a kind of guide to the text, just like a guide book to a city for travelers. Your goal is to lead your reader through it, making sure they understand what they are looking at and do not get lost or miss any of the important sights, which in this context means the sights important to the points you are trying to make. In the process, you construct a convincing argument about what the reader should take from it and how effectively the author achieves his or her goal(s).

Tips:

- Do NOT choose an overly long document! This assignment is based more on deep and specific analysis. A shorter document is often more than adequate for analysis. At the same time, don't choose something that is one page or less (unless it has a lot of text/material to discuss).

- You will also need to think about the people who read and use this document. How much background do they have? What specialized knowledge and terminology can they be assumed to have or not have?

- Documents like the one you are analyzing often are based on other types of documents. It will help you to find other pieces of work that try (successfully or not) to do what part of or all of your document is attempting to do.

Sharon, basically, what you are being asked to do is analyze the Leave of Absence guidelines as it exists in the handbook adn then create an in-depth procedural essay to guide the person who will be using the form. Think of it as a very intricate tax return. Most people don't understand the documents and instructions in a tax return, which is why they hire an accountant to fill in the form for them. In this case, you are the accountant and the person who will be using the leave of absence form, is the payee. How would you explain the process of paying taxes to the payee? In your case, what steps will you need to explain to the employee who is looking to file a leave of absence.

This type of essay requires you to take apart and expand upon the instructions you are given. For example, if the instruction says, Fill in the form 51-A and then submit it to your supervisor for his signature. Then bring the document to the section head for his stamp of approval, then take to human resources for analysis and filing. You will receive an email within 24 hours regarding your request.

Now, that is the short version of the instruction. to make it explicatory, you must explain each step in great detail. For example.

Fill in form 51-A by inputting your last name, first name, middle initial, and then your employee number. You must fill in the form this way because the automated system will be checking for your attendance record in the employee database for the reference of HRD. After you fill in your name, find the space that asks how long your leave will be for. Explain why you are filing for leave and attach any important documents (in the case of medical reasons)...

That is the explicatory part. At the end of all the detailed instructions, you can then present an analysis of whether the form is too complicated, redundant, etc. I haven't seen the handbook so I can only give you a general example of how to approach the essay. This should not be too far from what you actually have to do in order to file for a leave of absence based on your employee handbook.

Thank you vangiespen! That helped me a lot. I did not post anything about the actual handbook because I am new to the forum and I did not want it to seem as though I was fishing for someone to help me write my paper. I really did just need help with the instructions. Thank you again.