1. Chapter 15 Technical Descriptions

2. Technical Descriptions
Provide concrete details, precise words, and visuals
Show readers what an object, mechanism, or product looks like, is assembled, or works
Sometimes detail processes instead of objects, mechanisms, and products
Require writers to recognize audience needs and expectations as well as pay careful attention to language use

3. Technical Descriptions
Are routine in the workplace
Are crucial in helping workers accomplish their jobs successfully
Can be stand-alone documents or parts of other documents

4. Technical Specifications
Are similar to technical descriptions in many ways
Use short phrases and visuals to give readers information quickly and efficiently
Often describe parts or procedures of the product or process
Are often written for audiences who need technical information about products they have purchased

5. Components of Technical Descriptions
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Components of Technical Descriptions

6. Introduction
Can identify the object, product, mechanism, or process to be described
Can discuss what background information the audience needs to know
Can give a general and brief description of the object, product, mechanism, or process
Can provide an overview of the rest of the technical description, if it is long

7. Background
Can provide contextual information that readers need to fully understand the description
Provides detailed information about something unfamiliar to an audience
Can be written for experts or non-experts

8. Parts and Characteristics
Is the main section of a technical description
Divide the object, product, or mechanism into its distinct parts, characteristics, and, in some cases, both
“Parts” refers to the physical and tangible pieces of the thing itself
“Characteristics” refers to describable qualities of a thing that are not parts

9. Visuals Clarify difficult or abstract information
Provide examples of written descriptions
Illustrate processes
Depict relationships between information
Emphasize important information
Highlight key points
Gain attention of the audience
Establish authority
Reach a broader audience
Improve organization
Simplify information retention

10. Composing Technical Descriptions
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Composing Technical Descriptions

11. Descriptive Detail
Appeals to readers’ five senses: sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing
Means describing according to characteristics, in most cases
Is prioritized based upon the thing described and audience needs

12. Description Organization
Uses a pattern suitable to the subject matter and audience needs
Tend to be based on versions of the “division organizational strategy”
Is based on the idea that some things can best be understood by treating them as a series of smaller parts

13. General to Specific Organization
Uses two different strategies
Provides readers with descriptions that progress from general information to specific descriptions, or
Moves from specific descriptions to more general descriptions

14. Spatial Organization
Helps readers navigate information pertaining to physical objects or places
Is useful in technical descriptions that detail relatively large objects or places
Is appropriate when writing descriptions of objects that require discussion of parts and pieces as they relate to each other in space

15. Chronological Organization
Moves readers through a sequential process related to time
Guides readers through the events of a particular activity from start to finish
Is used when technical descriptions describe processes

16. Headings Provide navigational queues to readers
Are used to designate individual sections
Separate each part or piece of the object, product, mechanism, or process in a separate paragraph or section

17. Parts Lists
Are used sometimes used to itemize many parts of an object, product, mechanism, or process
State in advance if the description is going to take the audience through the details of many parts

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Ethics

19. Objectivity Is required for technical descriptions to be ethical
Doesn’t make value judgments about the thing being described
Doesn’t try to sell it, or in other cases, doesn’t try to degrade it
Lets readers make their own value judgments

20. Alerts Suggest risks to the audience
Could be either words and phrases or visuals such as warning signs
Help decrease the risk of legal ramifications

21. Usability Testing
Is required by some technical descriptions to ensure accuracy
Helps to create more effective, useful descriptions
Depends on the length of the document, its purpose, and its audience