This document discusses the differences between technical definitions and technical descriptions. Technical definitions answer the questions "what is x?" and "what does it mean?" by naming and categorizing a term within specific contexts. Technical descriptions answer questions about how something works or what it is like by focusing narrowly on explaining a thing. Both use descriptive language but have different purposes based on the questions they aim to answer and the context. The goal is to help audiences make decisions or better understand how something impacts them.

1. About Technical Definitions
and Technical Descriptions
1

2. 2
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
About this Project................................................................................................................................4-6
About Technical Definitions.............................................................................................................7
Contexts........................................................................................................................................8
Types..............................................................................................................................................9-12
About Technical Descriptions..........................................................................................................13
Contexts........................................................................................................................................14
Types..............................................................................................................................................15
Complications......................................................................................................................................22-25
Placement and Purpose...................................................................................................................26
Goal of this Project.............................................................................................................................27
Learning Objective.............................................................................................................................29

3. Technical definitions are not the same as technical descriptions and
both differ from specifications and instructions.
All of these genres may be written for audiences with high-levels of
technical/subject-matter expertise or lay audiences, those with low-
levels of expertise.
When writing on the job, you will frequently experience a need to
bridge the gap between a high-level of expertise (what you know)
and a low-level of expertise (what an audience doesn't know but
needs to know).
This project is aimed at giving you applied practice in how to do this.
3
INTRODUCTION

4. For this project, your audience will have a low-level of technical
expertise, and you will choose this audience. Your choice will be
based on a need you identify that this audience has.
Next, you will decide if that need can best be met by composing
either an extended technical definition of a term (option 1) or a
technical description of a mechanism; process; animal, plant, insect;
geographical feature/place (option 2).
The purpose of this slidedoc is to help you begin to make these
decisions by clarifying the difference between a technical definition
and a technical description.
4
About this Project

5. Definitions help us name and categorize things in our world,
and we learn, at an early age, how to differentiate what
something is from what it is not.
5
About Definitions
Tree
Building
Shrub
Dog
Road
Truck
A tree is not a building,
shrub, dog, etc.
And each of the words that
are crossed out could, in
turn, be defined by what
that word is not.
The result is an endless chain
of difference, but naming
and categorizing difference
cannot help us to
understand what a word
means.

6. Dictionaries help a bit.
The Oxford English Dictionary
catalogues how English words have
been used for the past 1,000 years
and continues to be updated as new
words are created and usages for old
ones occur.
But this dictionary (and any other)
can only provide a definition based
on usage; it cannot define what a
word means in a larger context.
6

7. A technical definition names and categorizes a word or
phrase by answer the questions: what is x? and explains what
x means within specific contexts.
7
About Technical Definitions
What does it
mean?
What is it?

8. Context determines what type of definition is needed and the
level of development required.
• Sometimes the context arises from a scientific or engineering
communication need (less development needed).
• Sometimes the context arises from a need to bridge the gap
between scientific or engineering knowledge and a lay
audience's knowledge (more development needed).
The next four slides explain common types of technical
definitions and when to write these.
8
Contexts

9. Write a parenthetical definition when the context only requires a short
explanation as to what an acronym stands for or word means and to
cue the audience that you will be using the word from that point on
without further definition.
• The required gravel equivalent (GE) for the estimated traffic loading
and sub grade conditions is 575 millimeters.
Write a sentence-level definition when the context requires more
information about what the word means. Often a sentence-level
definition is a topic sentence and uses this pattern.
9
An elephant is a large mammal with a prehensile
trunk, long ivory tusks, and large ears.
Types

10. Write a paragraph-level (operational) definition for scientific
readers who need you to assign values to terminology that
cannot be quantitatively measured.
10
This study uses Blascovich and Tomaka's
definition of self-esteem as an individual's
sense of his or her value or worth. It also
considers the extent to which a person
values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or
likes him or herself.

11. Or for lay audiences who need an operational definition to
engage in some kind of activity or operation.
11
I told you a thousand
times already, there
are no rules.
Wait! I need an
operational
definition. What
are the rules here?

12. 12
Write an Extended Technical
Definition when the context
requires even more information
to help an audience better
understand something and/or
make a decision.
"Extended" just means the
definition is developed beyond
the sentence-level.
How developed it needs to be
is a function of the audience's
need.

13. A technical description almost always starts with a sentence-
level definition of a word or phrase (i.e. what is x?) but is then
narrowly focused to explain how x works or what x is like and
not about what x means.
13
How does it
work?
What is it
like?
About Technical Descriptions

14. Context will determine the level of complexity needed to
describe something.
• Sometimes the context arises from a scientific or engineering
communication need (high-level of complexity needed).
• At other times, the context arises from the need to bridge
the gap between scientific or engineering knowledge and a
lay audience's knowledge (low level of complexity needed).
• The next slides explain common types of technical
descriptions.
14
Contexts

15. There are several types of technical descriptions:
1. Product Descriptions
2. Mechanism Descriptions
3. Process Descriptions
4. Animal, Plant, Insect Descriptions
5. Geographical (or Place) Descriptions
6. Phenomenon Descriptions
15
Types

16. Technical Descriptions of a Product describe what a
product is like, it's features and qualities.
16

17. Technical Descriptions of a Mechanism describe how it
works and/or how it is operated.
17

18. Technical Descriptions of a Process describe how it
works and/or how it is done.
18

19. Technical Descriptions of a an Animal, Plant, or Insect,
describe how it looks, habitat, behavior etc.
19

20. Technical Descriptions of a Geographical Feature or
Place (natural or human-made) describe what the
feature or place is like and/or what condition it is in.
20

21. Technical Descriptions of a Phenomenon (natural or social)
may describe what it is like, how it works (process), what
causes it, and/or under what conditions it occurs.
21

22. Because they often appear in arguments, technical definitions
and technical descriptions can be complicated by:
• social,
• political,
• economic,
• cultural contexts
and by
• moral and ethical concerns.
22
Complications

23. Example: Ductal Carcinoma In SITU (DCIS)
23
The definition of DCIS is a
matter of debate within the
medical community.
The debate turns, in part, on
whether this cell abnormality
matches the accepted
standard definitions of what
is or isn't cancer.

24. Example: Ductal Carcinoma In SITU (DCIS)
24
A section of this article in Oncology Times
is an example of a technical definition
that is extended using an analogy.

25. Example: Trophic Cascade
Similarly, debates about
trophic cascade turn on
various ways subject matter
experts define this
phenomenon.
And those definitions stem
from technical descriptions of
how a trophic cascade works.
25

26. These examples reveal how technical definitions and technical
descriptions are rarely independent pieces of communication.
Instead they are part of other communication products.
Where they appear (placement) may be in print or multimedia
formats and their purposes are often in-service to persuasive
arguments such as the previous examples or in attempts to persuade
consumers to purchase a product.
When writing the technical documentation (your planning choices)
for this project, you will be asked to consider placement, but keep in
mind you will be writing to meet the needs of a lay audience, so the
placement cannot be for a website aimed at specialized audiences.
26
Placement and Purpose

27. Using descriptive language is not what separates a definition
from a description. Both use descriptive language. The
difference rests with the questions each answers and the
context.
• Technical definitions answer the questions: what is x? and
what does it mean? (wider context)
• Technical descriptions answer the questions: what is it like?
how does it work? etc.(narrow context)
27
Descriptive Language

28. No matter which option you choose, your goal will be to
help your audience make a decision and/or gain a better
understanding of how something affects them.
28
I need to understand how
this affects me.
I need to make a
decision.
Goal

29. One of the learning objectives in this project is to give you
applied practice in composing technical documentation.
29
Technical documentation is a
planning genre. On the job, it is
written to plan how a project will be
done, including making important
decisions about target audience,
need, and what communication
product will best meet this need.
Learning Objective