Technical Writing 4th Quarter

Reviewer 7
Applicable based on the S.Y. 2023-2024 curriculum

Topics:
Lesson 1 - Definition
Lesson 2 - Description of a Mechanism
Lesson 3 - Description of a Process

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 Lesson 1 - Definition
Definition
- A statement of the meaning of a term, word, phrase, or other set
of symbols

Types of Definitions:

Formal Definition
- Following or according with established form, custom, or rule

Example:
Modem is a device that changes the form of data so another media can
transmit them
Settee is a long couch or padded seat with a back and offs with arms

Informal Definition
- Relaxed and friendly rather than serious, very correct, or
official

Example:
Radar - an acronym for radio detection and range; a determining factor
in anti-aircraft defense system
Hub-bub - a noisy, confused mingling of sounds

Expanded, Extended, or Amplified Definition

- A paragraph or composition explaining a complex or abstract term.

Types of Expanded, Extended, or Amplified Definition:

1. Etymological definition - Origin of words

Example: Technology is an English term coming from these three
words: technikos (Greek); technicus (Latin); and technique (French).
All these three foreign words mean technical or technology that refers
to a particular art, skill, or science

2. Historical definition - History of the word

Example: Iron is a metallic element that rusts readily in moist
air. The very first people capable of extracting iron ores were the
Egyptians. As pioneers in iron ore extracting, they started this as
early as 3,500 B.C., but their technique was rather rudimentary. The
natives of the Aria Mina, Mesopotamia were the ones who developed the
use of iron and introduced this to Greece towards 1200 B.C. The
extensive use of iron in Greece made Architecture famous not only in
this country but in the whole world as well

3. Negation or Elimination - Delete double negative ideas

Example: Cast-iron fiber is a new substance designed to reinforce
concrete and mortar. It is manufactured from non-crystalline metallic
strips known as Fibralex. Though it is not heavy, it is easy to bend.
It is not thin as a piece of thread or rope. It is not fibrous. It is
not weak. It is strong for its main function is to strengthen and
support concrete used for the restoration of major constructions such
as aqueducts

4. Operating Principle - Identify how the entire system operate

correctly
Example: Fluidics is a new way of controlling automatic devices.
The use of fluids is the key to its operation. By running fluids
through small pipes and by changing their direction, scientists can
make devices that can control processes and machines. Applying this to
electronic systems using flow of electricity, the fluidics system will
make use of the flow as a fluid.

5. Comparison-Contrast - Similarities and differences

Example: Microcomputers are like mini-computers that have CPU,
memory, and input/output circuits integrated into one or more large
scale-integrated circuits. Both of them use multi-circuit chips. Using
these types of chips, microcomputers are very much reducible to smaller
sizes just like the mini-computers. What makes these two different
though is their ability to integrate circuits. Microcomputers have
greater degree of large-scale integration than the minicomputers.
Further, as to size, and computing ability, they are not the same.
Microcomputers are smaller and slower or less powerful in computing
than minicomputers.

6. Use of Example - Provide examples of the words itself

Example: Glass is a hard, brittle, and transparent or translucent
material used for glazing; that is, for fitting a window or a picture
frame with glass. Examples of glass for this particular purpose are
Venetian glass, Crystal glass, Wired glass, Laminated glass, and Float
glass. These types of glass differ from one another in terms of
thickness, purpose, and cost.

7. Analysis by Partitioning - Compares procedure's implementation to

its specification
 Example: Tektite is an American experimental vessel to enable man
in living and working under the sea for days and even weeks. This
vessel is made of two large metal cylinders resting on the sea bed
fifteen meters down. Four very large wheels support the cylinders that
contain laboratories and living space for crew. The inside of the
cylinders is filled with a mixture of gases. An open hole in the floor
of the cylinder serves as the crew passage in entering and leaving the
cylinder.

8. Explication - Making something clearer

Example: Design rules are procedures or conventions established
to direct any architectural or construction project. This term, design,
is an expression to mean a plan, or an idea of a formal structure of a
picture. Any person is free to conceive a plan but this plan has to
subscribe to some criteria, standards, or guidelines set by a certain
set of people possessing expertise or experience of designing.

9. Stipulative definition - Giving new meaning to a term

Example: - When this term, Iron bridge is used in one technical
paper, itt means strong communication between two identical companies.
- This expression, rotating television used in the introductory
part of a report means a T.V. set used by several groups of
people who would take turns in a periodical use of this said
television.

Combined Definition
- Taken as a whole or considered together (Mix of either Formal or
Informal Definition and Expanded, Extended, or Amplified
Definition)

Example:
Communication is a method of exchanging ideas or information with one
another. This term comes from the Latin term, communicare, meaning
exchanging of ideas. It is not a one-way activity but a two-way
process.

Lesson 2 - Description of a Mechanism

Description of Mechanism
- Description is a technical writing technique that uses words and
visuals to create a picture of a mechanism or a product.
 - Words are your number one instrument or capital in painting on
the paper a vivid impression of the object of the description.
- Therefore, the principal elements involved in this kind of
technical writing are the writer and observer of the object of
description, and the object appealing to the writer's senses.
(Holloway, 2008)
- Your audience whether they are "high-tech," "low-tech," or
"zero-tech readers are also the parties who are greatly affected
by your description
- Doesn’t have specific placement, location, or position in any
technical written work. either a description serves as a part of
a formal report or functions as the framework of a service or
user's manual (Gerson, 2006)
- Many technical-writing books consider these two expressions
synonymous: Technical Description and Description of a Mechanism

What is a Mechanism?
- Any device made up of components that systematically work
together to accomplish a certain purpose. In other words, it is a
machine with assembled parts that function in an organized way.

Examples of Mechanisms: scissors, calculators, computers, vacuum

cleaners, lawn mowers, electric fans, washing machines, compact disc
players, etc.

How to Describe a Mechanism?

1. Let your very first paragraph called Introduction begin with a
formal or one-sentence logical definition of the device.
2. Take the option of making several expanded types of definition
like etymology, history, and elimination follow the formal
definition.
3. Describe its general appearance or overall picture that has
something to do with its quantifiable, sensory, and spatial
characteristics like its size, shape, weight, height, texture,
color, length, width, taste, sound, state, ingredients, density,
dimensions, materials used, and so on.
- The quantifiable characteristics of a mechanism pertain to
its physical properties or aspects that are countable or
measurable.
4. Enumerate all the major or principal parts of the mechanism which
the succeeding paragraphs ought to describe one by one or
part-by-part

Summary
1. Formal definition
 2. Extended definition
3. General appearance (size, shape, color, height, dimensions,
texture, etc.)
4. Enumerations of sub-parts

Lesson 3 - Description of a Process

What is the Description of a Process?
- A technical writing technique that makes you give a written
account or explanations of events orderly occurring one after
another over time.
- Often happens to keep a proof of the occurrence of a thing, to
give information to others, or to teach others on something.

Types of Processes
1. How it operates or how it works process
- Focuses on the way a thing functions.
- Central to this is not on who operates the machine but on
how the machine works.
2. How to do it process
- Gives emphasis to the way you perform or do a thing
- It stresses the human act or the doer of the action, rather
than the process itself.
- Occurs in giving instructions or directions about the
operation of something, on the use of a manual for the
correct use of a mechanism or device.
3. How it happens process
- It stresses the process itself
- Some refer to this as Process Analysis
- It is a subject-oriented process that considers time as the
main element in the process.
4. How it is organized process
- Explains how the constituents of the group assume a certain
arrangement or order of their existence in the organization

- In technical writing, among the four types of process

descriptions, the first three: how to do it, how to operate, and
how it happens, occur more frequently than the fourth type, how
it organized process.
Parts of a Process Description
1. First, it begins with an introductory paragraph that gives a
formal or one-sentence logical definition of the process. This
sentence definition sequently mentions three components of the
definition; namely, name, class, and purpose.
- To give an overall or general view of the process, the
introductory part of the process description ends up with
the enumeration of the major steps involved in the process
2. Next, after the Introduction, is the Body of the Paper that
describes each major stage of the process. In this second part of
the paper, each process stage gives its purpose as well as some
factors, conditions, or circumstances affecting it.
- This deductive description of the process that gives an
overview of the entire process first before it explains each
process stage applies to the description of every major or
minor stage of the process.
3. Lastly, Conclusion is the last part of the description of a
process. This final component of a description of a process deals
with some various aspects of the process like its pros and cons,
precautionary measures, and special conditions affecting the
process.

- Central to a process description are human actions (How to do

it), machine operations (How it operates), or natural phenomena
(How it happens.

The appropriate moods of verbs for each process type:

1. How to do it
- Active voice (emphasis on the doer of the action)
- Imperative mood (commanding or requesting)
2. How it operates
- Passive voice (emphasis on the action)
- Indicative mood (stating something)
3. How it happens
- Passive voice (emphasis on the process)
- Indicative mood (states something)