PLANNING A TECHNICAL

DESCRIPTION
 There are 9 strategies to plan an effective technical
description

1. Identify the subject

2. Define the purpose and audience for the description
3. Research the object
4. Identify the parts and sub-parts
5. Select sources of description
6. Use specific language
7. Plan and develop graphics
8. Plan a format (technical description writing outline)
9. Review and revise
1. Identify the subject/object/product

 Be clear about the object you are describing

 Is
it an object such as stapler or computer
OR
 Is it a product such as shoes or wallet OR
 Is it a software, programs, applications?
2. Define the purpose and audience
for the description

 Clarify the purpose of your description.

 Do you want it to be informative or persuasive?
 What do you want from your audience?
 Consider your audience. Are they the general public or
experts?
3. Research the object

 Do background research about the object on

the Internet to enable you to understand the
subject matter better.
4. Identify the parts and sub-parts

 Partition the object by separately describing its parts

and sub-parts (if any) e.g.
 A computer - the description might be described by first
partitioning it into a monitor, keyboard, external disk
drives, and a central processing unit (CPU).
 A simple wooden pencil - It can be described
beginning with the lead, the wooden barrel, the eraser,
and the metal clip that holds the barrel and eraser
together.
5. Select sources of description

 Consider the different types of descriptive detail

 i.e. size, length, diameter, width, weight, shape,
colour, materials of construction, design, odour,
model numbers, names, temperature,
frequency, attachment methods, location or
orientation of parts,etc.
6. Use a Specific Language/Terms

General terms Specific terms

The latest sports car model  The Peugeot RCZ R
An inside view  A cross-sectional or exploded view
Next to the foundation  Adjacent to the right
A small red thing  A red activator button with a 2-cm diameter
Curved  S-shaped
Fast (speed)  250 kilometres per hour
7. Plan and develop graphics
8. Plan a format
9. Review and revise

 Start by reviewing for audience, purpose, and

situation;
 Then moving on to content, organisation,
format, transitions;
 Then graphics; then on to sentence structure;
finally grammar, spelling and punctuation.