SPECIAL TECHNIQUES IN TECHNICAL WRITING What do you mean by technique?

It is the skillfulness in the command of fundamentals deriving from practice and familiarity. "Practice greatly improves proficiency" Gene a! Technica! W itin" and Re#o tin" Technique$ Beyond clear writing, there are a number of special techniques that technical writers employ here are just three of the basic techniques: . !he technique of boiling down comple" information to a simpler, more readable form. #. !he technique of transforming diverse information into something coherent and meaningful. $. !he technique of arranging information in a way that makes it easy to find. %%% &e'inition %efinition gives concise but e"act meanings of unfamiliar words and special meanings of familiar words. %efinition is a useful technique in writing about technical subjects. & technical writer should define the terms with multiple meanings and those that are unfamiliar to the reader. & technical writer should give a term a special meaning within a report by giving the operative meaning to the term. !he definition depends on the comple"ity or unfamiliarity of the term ( method$ o' de'inition Sim#!e de'inition) & simple definition could be formal, semi-formal or non-formal definition by giving the genus and the differentia of the term. E*tended de'inition) '"tended definition is by stipulation, operation, e"plication, cause and effect, classification, e"ample, and other rhetorical functions. C!a$$i'ication (lassification is dividing something into groups, categories, etc. !his is normally done in accordance with several criteria &e$c i#tion o' a +echani$m %escription of a )echanism is an e"planation of a system or parts of an apparatus. !he characteristics and functions of a piece of the device and the totality of the mechanism are discussed clearly to the reader. P oce$$ &e$c i#tion

!his e"plains the arrangement of a sequence in chronological order. In organi*ation, it is similar to mechanism description, e"cept that the +part-by-part, becomes step by step. -rocess description includes $equence, in$t uction and # ocedu e- however, only instruct if you e"pect your reader to perform the process you describe. In like manner, process is also a discussion of equipment, materials, and procedures, graphic materials are used for detailed presentation of the process. !he writer makes use of sequence markers to follow the natural or mechanical system. Cau$e and E''ect &ctual discussion of causes and effects is not as immediately identifiable as descriptive or process writing are. !ypically, causal discussions talk about events and describe things. .hat makes causal discussions distinctive is the use of transitional words to indicate the causes and effects. In the sentence /Increased deficit spending by the government leads to increased inflation/ the verb /leads to/ establishes the connection between a cause and an effect-actually, it establishes the two noun phrases as cause and effect, respectively. In this e"cerpt, the connective /consequently/ establishes a causal link between the increasing domestic anger over the 0ietnam war and 1ohnson2s decision not to seek reelection: /)eanwhile at home, anger, hostility, and outright revolt against the war grew. 1ohnson, sensing he could not get reelected in this atmosphere, consequently decided against running for another term./ Ana!o"y !his a particular kind of comparison by which one subject is discussed according to terms which apply to the other. &n analogy is seen to be essentially an e"pression of relationship between two different things, but between two things which have more than one likeness. !here is a wide range of analogies in length, from simple illustration to a long sustained development3 in content, from a subject close to the one to be e"plained to the greatly different, in application from only a relationship or two, to a detailed point by point comparison. But whatever its si*e, its nature, or its nature or its use, the analogy has as its purpose, clearness and its value as a clarifying device makes it worthy of study. 4!'(56I(&7 and 8'-98! .8I!I6: by -aterna '. )analo ; 0irginia '. <ermin= Inte # etation It usually the oral translation of technical writing to another language. 5owever, most job listing means technical writing translation.