Technical Description allows the audience to visualize something that is not there, a

mechanism or a process.

Mechanism description explains the arrangement and shape of an object in space.

What is it? What is its function?
What does it look like? (material, colour, surface, etc.)
What are its principal parts? How many? How are they related? What are the
specific details of its construction?

Process description explains a sequence in chronological order.

What is it? What is its function? Where is it used? When is it used?
Who or what performs it? How does it work? What makes the process happen?
What are the numbered principal steps? What is its effect when the steps are
accomplished?
Methods of developing a topic

Definition: purpose to clarify the meaning of a term to a particular audience:

name, class, distinguishing feature, function. “Brazing is a method by which a
filler metal joins two other metals.”

Explanation: defines meaning of key word in a definition. “The process of brazing

involves…”

Analysis: separates a whole into its component parts. “Air is a colourless,

odorless, element, composed of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, etc.”
“Metals are joined by brazing because the heated metal forms a…”

Example: one member of the class represents the entire class. “A maple is an
example of a deciduous tree.”

Operational example: anecdote, incident: “the Doppler effect is experienced when

a police car is behind you and passes you.”

Cause-effect: “Railroad caused a shift in population”

Proof, date: “the juvenile crime rate stands at 80%.”

Comparison and contrast “a screwdriver is like a knife…”

Principles and theories: “a magnet attracts because…”

Physical description:

Negativism: “Mushrooms are not all poisonous”

Hypothesis: “If…”