A method that recruits PCR technology to assist sequencing of small amounts of a single-stranded DNA template. A heat-stable polymerase, a single primer, deoxynucleotides and small amounts of one of the four labelled dideoxynucleotides are incubated with the template in each of four incubations; in each of a series of cycles of annealing, polymerization and denaturation, a spectrum of single-stranded DNA fragments is generated that can be electrophoretically separated to produce a ladder from which can be assigned nucleotide positions relative to the primer.