Techniques of Technical Writing

Techniques of Technical Writing (Definition)

Four techniques are of special importance in technical writing: definition, description of a mechanism, description of a process, and classification. These techniques are not types of reports and it is important to remember that these techniques usually appear in a single report. It would be exceptional to find an entire report, even a short one, containing only one of these techniques. For example, two or more techniques might be closely interwoven as a writer described the design, construction, and operation of a mechanism. The intermingling of these techniques, however, does not alter the basic principles of their use. These techniques can be studied most effectively by taking one technique at a time.
The treatment of these techniques will stress the practical rather than the theoretical, particularly in the subjects on definition and classification.

In technology, words have precise, specific meanings; therefore there is a need for defining a technical term clearly. The extent to which a term should be defined or the length of a definition depends on the writer's purpose and the knowledge level of the reader.
Before going to the problem of "how to define", it is better to "think about what should be defined first." It is not possible of course, to set up an absolute list of terms and ideas that would require definition, not even for a specific body of readers, but it is possible and desirable to clarify the point of view from which the problem of definition should be attacked.
The relationships of words to the ideas and things for which they stand can become very complex. However, there is a simple and helpful way of classifying words, as they will appear to your reader. The words will fall into one of the following categories:

1. Familiar words for familiar things
2. Familiar words for unfamiliar things
3. Unfamiliar words for familiar things
4. Unfamiliar words for unfamiliar things

1. Familiar words for Familiar things. The only observation that need be made about the first category is that familiar words for familiar things are fine; they should be used whenever possible. To the extent that they can be used, definition is unnecessary. Nothing is ever gained by using, just for the impressiveness, words that may puzzle the reader.

2. Familiar words for unfamiliar things. The words in this second category present a rather special problem to the technical writer. These are the everyday, simple words that have special meanings in science and technology. Most of them may be classed as "shop talk," or language characteristic of a given occupation. Because they are a part (often a very colorful part) of the language of a specialized field, it is easy to forget that they may not be a part of the vocabulary of the reader, at any rate not in the special sense in which they are used. Consider a term like "quench". Everyone knows this word in the familiar sense, but not everyone knows that in the metallurgical sense it means the dipping of heated steel into water, oil, or other bath, to impart necessary hardness.
Every field of engineering and science has a great many of these simple words that have been given specialized meanings.
Examine the following list:

Bastard - A course-cut file but not as rough as a first-cut.
Bite - Trade term for etching on metal plate.
Bed - The part of the lathe which supports the headstock, tailstock, and carriage.
Doctor - Local term for an adjuster or adapter that allows chucks from one lathe to be used on another. The term "dutchman" is sometimes used in this way.
Dog - The carrier of a lathe. One of the jaws of the chuck.
Land - Space between flutes or grooves in drill, taps, reamers,
and other tools.
Nose - The business end of tools or things. The threaded end of a lathe or milling-machine spindle, or the end of a hog-nose drill or similar tool.
Cheater - An extension on a pipe wrench.
Dirty - To make ink darker.

The reader may not confuse the everyday meaning of such terms with the technical sense they have in a particular report, but there is not much doubt that when encountering a term of this sort, the reader, unless a specialist in the field being discussed, will initially wrongly identify the word according to its everyday meaning. In any event, the writer must be alert to the need for defining such terms.

3. Unfamiliar words for Familiar things. We condemned writers who prefer big and pretentious words for referents with which their readers are familiar. Such a practice should always be condemned if a simple, familiar term exists which means the same thing. But an unfamiliar word for a familiar thing may be used if there does not exist any simple, familiar term for it. Both convenience and accuracy justify it. Suppose an electrical engineer was writing about special tactical electronic equipment making use of direct wave transmission. It is not likely that he would be satisfied to use the phrase "short wave" when dealing specifically with, say, the 300- to 3000- megacycle band. A more precise phrase is "ultrahigh frequency" (UHF). Your solution is simple: you use the convenient term but you define it.
You will have to judge whether your subject matter demands the use of such terms and whether they are familiar to your readers. If they are needed, or if they are justifiably convenient, and you decide that your readers do not know them, you should define them.

4. Unfamiliar words for unfamiliar things. This category embraces most of those words that are commonly thought of as "technical" terms. They are the specialized terms of professional groups; big, formidable looking (to the non-specialist), they are more often than not of Greek or Latin origin. Terms like "dielectric," "hydrosol," "impedance" are typical.

With these facts in mind about what to define, we can more intelligently consider the problem of how to define.