3/20/2024

WEEK 5: DEFINITIONS; DESCRIPTIONS;

INSTRUCTIONS; AND NARRATIONS
MASHAL SHAHID

DEFINITIONS:
A BRIEF EXPLANATION, USING WORDS AND SOMETIMES GRAPHICS,
OF WHAT AN ITEM IS OR WHAT A CONCEPT MEANS.

SUPPOSE YOU LEARN AT A JOB INTERVIEW THAT THE

PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYER PAYS TUITION AND EXPENSES
FOR EMPLOYEES’ JOB-RELATED EDUCATION.

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CONTEXTUAL USES OF DEFINITION: Depends on audience and purpose

(physicists wouldn’t need a definition of entropy, but lawyers might; particularly
important for those whose first language is not English)

 communicating policies and standards “for the record” in

legal or contractual contexts.
 clarifying a description of a new development or a new
technology in a technical field.
 helping specialists communicating with less-
knowledgeable readers.

KINDS OF DEFINITIONS
1. PARENTHETICAL DEFINITION
 A brief clarification within an existing
sentence
 Simply a word or phrase in parentheses or
commas or introduced by a colon or a dash.
Tid bit: Use Simplified English and easily
recognizable terms in definitions
(Example: Next, check for blight on the
epicotyl, the stem portion above the
cotyledons)
EXAMPLE
 The computers were infected by
a Trojan horse (a destructive
program that appears to be
benign).
 Before the metal is plated, it is
immersed in the pickle: an acid
bath that removes scales and
oxides from the surface.

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KINDS OF DEFINITIONS
11. SENTENCE DEFINITION
 a one-sentence clarification
 more formal than a parenthetical definition
Tid bit: Pay close attention to key terms

Standard Pattern:

KINDS OF DEFINITIONS

 Stipulative Definition

Example: In this report, electron microscope refers

to any microscope that uses electrons rather than
visible light to produce magnified images.

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WHERE TO PLACE DEFINITIONS

TEXT
MARGINAL GLOSS
HYPERLINK
FOOTNOTE
GLOSSARY
APPENDIX

DESCRIPTIONS
A LONGER EXPLANATION—USUALLY ACCOMPANIED BY
GRAPHICS—OF THE PHYSICAL OR OPERATIONAL FEATURES OF AN
OBJECT, MECHANISM, OR PROCESS

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 Objects
 Mechanisms: a synthetic object consisting of
a number of identifiable parts that work
together
 Process: an activity that takes place over time

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHILE WRITING DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTS

AND MECHANISM

What is the item?

What is the function of the item?
What does the Item look like?
How does the item work?
What are the principal parts of the item?

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POINTS TO CONSIDER WHILE WRITING DESCRIPTION OF PROCESSES

What is the process?

What is the function of the process?
“The main purpose of performing a census is to obtain current population figures, which
government agencies use to revise legislative districts and determine revenue sharing.”
Where and when does the process take place? “Each year the stream is stocked with
hatchery fish in the first week of March.”
Who or what performs the process?
How does the process work?
What are the principal steps in the process?

Self-reading

Keeping Audience in mind while writing descriptions

For example, while describing how the next generation of industrial robots will affect car manufacturing, the
writer has to know whether the readers understand the current process and whether they understand
robotics. The audience will determine not only how technical the vocabulary should be but also how long the
sentences and paragraphs should be. Another audience-related factor is the use of graphics. Less knowledgeable
readers need simple graphics; they might have trouble understanding sophisticated schematics or decision
charts.

Keeping Purpose in mind while writing descriptions

What is the writer trying to accomplish with the description? If the purpose is to make the readers understand
how a personal computer works, write a general description that applies to several brands and sizes of
computers. If the purpose is to make the readers understand how a specific computer works, write a particular
description. A general description of personal computers might classify them by size, then go on to describe
desktops, laptops, and tablets in general terms. A particular description, however, will describe only one model
of personal computer, such as a Millennia 2500. The purpose will determine every aspect of the description,
including its length, the amount of detail, and the number and type of graphics

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INSTRUCTIONS: PROCESS DESCRIPTION, ALMOST ALWAYS

ACCOMPANIED BY GRAPHICS, INTENDED TO ENABLE A
PERSON TO CARRY OUT A TASK

EXAMPLE:
• how to use master slides in PowerPoint
• How to install water filtration unit at home

Audience and Purpose: Languages, end-user/mechanic,

glossy/plain presentation

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Follow these six suggestions for writing instructions that are easy to understand.

• Number the instructions.

• 1
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 2
• 2.1 etc.
• Present the right amount of information in each step.

• Use the imperative mood. The imperative mood expresses a request or a command—for
example, “Attach the red wire.” The imperative is more direct and economical than the indicative
mood (“You should attach the red wire” or “The operator should attach the red wire”). Avoid the
passive voice (“The red wire is attached”), because it can be ambiguous: is the red wire already
attached?

• Do not confuse steps and feedback statements. A step is an action that the reader is to
perform. A feedback statement describes an event that occurs in response to a step. For instance, a
step might read “Insert the disk in the drive.” That step’s feedback statement might read “The system
will now update your user information.” Do not present a feedback statement as a numbered step.
Present it as part of the step to which it refers.

• Do not omit articles (a, an, the) to save space. Omitting articles can make the instructions
unclear and hard to read. In the sentence “Locate midpoint and draw line,” for example, the reader
cannot tell if “draw line” is a noun (as in “locate the draw line”) or a verb and its object (as in “draw a
line”).

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• Include graphics. When

appropriate, add a photograph or
a drawing to show the reader
what to do. Some activities—such
as adding two drops of a reagent
to a mixture—do not need an
illustration, but they might be
clarified by a chart or a table.

NARRATION

NARRATIVE— TO TELL A STORY OR RELATE A SERIES OF CONNECTED

EVENTS
NARRATIVE TECHNICAL WRITING — WRITING ABOUT TECHNICAL
CONCEPTS USING TECHNIQUES BORROWED FROM STORYTELLING

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TWO CATEGORIES OF TECHNICAL NARRATION:

1. Narration through analogies: Analogies are a powerful tool to help understand abstract
concepts.

Example:
WBC: Human Defense System

2. NARRATION THROUGH STORY-FRAMING

Stories
• provide context:
• increase engagement
• aid information organization
• provide memorable anchors

team_members = ["Jehan", “Esha", "Khan", "Ana"]

for person in team_members:
print(f"Hello {person}. Welcome to the team")

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PRACTICE

 Describe a Web browser homepage (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, one of the many search engines)
as if it were a mechanism. Name and explain the function of each part of the page.
 Describe the process of finding some type of information (for instance, air fares or technical data
relevant to your major or job focus). Name and explain the sequence of steps that a person must follow
in order to find results efficiently.

ADDITIONAL READING
• https://techwriters.substack.com/p/narrative-technical-writing-and-
storytelling

REFERENCES

• Markel, Mike. Technical Communication.7th Ed. New York, NY: Bedford/St.

Martin's, 2004.
• Pauley and Riorden, Technical Report Writing Today, Boston: Wadsworth,
Cengage Learning, 2012.

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