WRITING DEFINITION OF TERMS

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Four questions:

• What is the term to be defined?

• Who is the intended audience for the writing?
• What is the purpose for the intended definition?
• What is the sentence definition of this term?
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Terms needed to define

• Unfamiliar and crucial words to your research

• Key words (project’s title or topic questions)
• Terms with multiple meanings

Things to Do in Defining a Term

• Provide source, reference or citation.

• Make simple definition as possible.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Three Techniques for Defining Terms:

• Definition by Synonym – using a word or phrase that has the same

meaning. Usually, it is obtained from dictionary.

Example:

Term Synonym

Pervious concrete, also called porous concrete and permeable concrete, is

a mixture of cement, water, and coarse aggregate, and little to no sand. It
creates a very porous medium that allows water to drain to the underlying
soils.

Detail
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Three Techniques for Defining Terms:

• Definition by Category – determine a large group to which the term

belongs.

Example:

Term Category Detail

Foam concrete is a lightweight concrete that is manufactured from

cement, sand or fly ash, water, and the foam.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Three Techniques for Defining Terms:

• Definition by Negation – explain what the term does not mean. You
can then include a sentence explaining what it does mean.

Apron is not a worn garment but it is a floor constructed along the

channel bottom to prevent scour and always extension of culverts.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

In biology, the diaphragm is a thin skeletal muscle that sits at the base of
the chest and separates the abdomen from the chest.

In structural engineering, the diaphragm is an element that transmits lateral

loads to the vertical resisting elements of a structure.

http://www.understandconstruction.com/concrete-frame-
structures.html
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey

bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.

In structural engineering, honeycombs are hollow spaces and cavities left

in concrete mass on surface or inside the concrete mass where concrete
could not reach.
 REFERENCES

https://www.masterpapers.com/key_terms

https://www.slideshare.net/myotakustyle/definition-of-terms-59798301

https://www.slideshare.net/JaimeCabrera3/research-or-proposal-writing-
definition-of-terms

https://www.slideshare.net/mleggs/definition-clarifying-
terms?qid=aa9b0669-31af-4613-a895-
2d755dc725f2&v=&b=&from_search=2