Presentation on technical definitions for a technical writing course.

1. DEFINITIONS in Technical Writing

2. Questions that govern the act of
definition:
-More explicit questions: What is X? and How do
we classify or categorize X?
-Less explicit questions: What actions or decisions
are now possible because of how X is classified?
How might this act of (re)classification shift power
(resources, etc.)?

3. Definitions (even scientific and technical
ones!) aren’t simply objective, rational
descriptions of what is. They always
serve some set of interests.

4. condiment
or
vegetable?

5. molecule?
chemist: yes! (behaves like one with
respect to kinetic theory of gases)
physicist: no! (displays no molecular
spectrum)

6. Wetlands
Areas “sufficiently saturated
by water that only specially
adapted plants can grow
there. Saturation with water
prevents oxygen from
working its way into the soil
and therefore creates
conditions of no oxygen”
(Tripp 1991, 203, qtd in
Schiappa 72).

7. 1980s federal agencies with
jurisdiction over wetlands and their
classification of wetlands:
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (habitat)
• Environmental Protection Agency (water presence)
• Army Corps of Engineers (water presence)
• Agriculture Department’s Soil Conservation Service
(soils)

8. e.g. U.S. Forest Service Definition of
“wetlands”
“[W]etlands are lands where saturation with water
is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development
and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and
on its surface. The single feature that most wetlands share is soil or
substrate that is at least periodically saturated with or covered by
water. The water creates severe physiological problems for all
plants and animals except those that are adapted for life in water or
in saturated soil”
(Cowardin et al. 1979, 3, qtd in Schiappa 74).

9. Bush: “no net loss!” of wetlands
Proposed redefinition:
• doubled
consecutive days of
saturation
• specified water at
the surface (not just
near it)
Effect: radically
reduced the number
of viable “wetlands”
in the US

10. Definitions vary according to use, purpose, and
accepted disciplinary knowledge.

11. Definitions are rhetorical: they differ
according to…
• the communicator’s purpose
• the needs of the audience
• the rhetorical situation (e.g. the type of
communication in which the definition
appears)

12. Definitions do things:
• They explain, or help audience gain
new/different understandings of a term,
concept, or thing (explanatory
definitions).
• They help audiences engage in a
specific activity (operational definitions)
- knitting
• They enable audiences to undertake
future action (deliberative definitions)

13. To begin planning your definition:
• Identify the audience.
• Identify the needs of your audience
(what problem will having a definition
help them solve?).
• Identify how much your audience
already knows about the issue (or
related issues).

14. To extend your definition, use one or more of the
following rhetorical moves (according to how you
defined audience needs and prior knowledge):
• Classify or categorize the term.
• Compare/contrast.
• Analyze and explain causes and effects.
• Explain what it’s not.
• Use examples and analogies.
• Provide historical background.
• Use visuals