BASIC TECHNIQUES IN TECHNICAL WRITING

Successful writers employ a variety of techniques in their writing. However, the kind of writing dictates
the
techniques to be employed by the writer. For instance, if one does a brochure, he use description more
than any
other technique; if he writes a fire incident report, he uses narration more than any other. In technical
writing, the
techniques basically employed are definition, definition, description, classification, partitioning or
analysis,
causation (causal analysis), comparison, contrast, and interpretation.
DEFINITION
Technical writing is replete with technical terms that need to be defined. It is a must to define scientific
terms to allow for better comprehension. These difficult words may come in the form of known words
used in a
differently new sense (as fly-over), new words for already known things (as somnambulist for
sleepwalker), and
new words for unknown things (as schizophrenia). New words do not necessarily mean newly-coined
words; they
are new in the sense that they are encountered by the readers for the first time so they have to be
defined.
When one defines, he gives the meaning of a certain term. The writer may define a word in any of the
three
ways: informal (word or phrase) definition, formal (sentence) definition, and amplified (extended or
expanded)
definition.
An informal definition comes in the form of a word or a phrase oftentimes called a synonym. For
example,
word seism is defined by giving earthquake as an appositive. The word compensation and remuneration
can be
made simpler by writing pay or the word inundation by mentioning flood.

A formal or sentence definition, as its name suggests, is in the form of a sentence with these three
elements:
species, genus, and differentia/e. The species is the term defined; the genus is the class or kind to which
the term
belongs; the differentia or differentiae are the distinguishing characteristics that make the term
different from other
terms of the same class. Examples of formal definitions are provided below.
A somnambulist is a person who walks while asleep.
A somniloquist is a person who talks while asleep.
A thermometer is an instrument that measures temperature.
A barometer is an instrument that measure atmospheric pressure.
The species are underlined once; the genera (plural of genus), boldfaced; and the differentiae, italicized.
Note that the species, the genus, and the linking verb are singular in form and that the differentia is
introduced by a
relative pronoun (who, that, which, whose, whom, etc.). The formal definition is described so because it
follows the
form: species = genus and differentia (S = G + D). The equal sign can be translated to is or means.
The amplified (extended or expanded) definition (see the sample in Appendix G) comes in the form of
additional sentences that support a formal definition which becomes the topic sentence of a paragraph
with
definition as method of development. The amplified (extension or expansion) is done in any of the
following ways:
1. Function use of the thing defined;
2. Location placement/position of the thing defined;
3. Physical description physical traits (color, size, shape, etc.) of the thing define;
4. Further definition definition of words in the formal definition of the thing defined;
5. Causation causes or effects of the thing defined;