This was sort of answered in another thread. If the shield board has enough power for the motors you are using and has the stepper driver chips to handle it, the board can be directly wired to a parallel port connector, or better, a parallel port breakaout board. Most of shield boards follow the open source spec, so the connection points are clearly marked. You'll probably want to go with some connectors(look for dupont connector sets) to attach to the board. If this is for a mill or other heavy load I would get at least DRV8835 stepper chips(up to 36 volts) and at least a 24 volt power supply with enough amps to run all the motors full speed at once.