500-800 words, technical paper

from Markel is an excellent resource in guiding your approach. The chapter is available in eReserves in our class. On page 549, Markel provides an excellent distinction between writing instructions and describing a process. Please become familiar with that section of Markel’s chapter as you consider your topic for this assignment.

Your descriptions should answer the following questions:

 What is the object or process? How is it defined?

 What does the object or process do?

 What does the object or process look like?

 What is the object made of? (if you are describing an object and not a process)

 How does the object or process work?

 Why should the reader be interested in your object or process?

Strategies to Consider for this Assignment:

Your description should follow one of these styles of organization

o Spatial –

 This style might be used when you want readers to describe an object or process according to its physical layout. For example, in describing a flatscreen television set, you might start at the top and work your way to the bottom.

o Functions in order of importance –

 This style would be used if you want to highlight the most important functions first, the next most important functions second, etc. For example, in describing a flatscreen television set, you might start with the pixels, which make up the picture, and then proceed to describe other functions.

o Chronological –

 This style would be used if you want to describe the object or process according to time. For example, in describing a flatscreen television set, you might start with what happens first (the user turns the television on), what happens second (the pixels respond), what happens third, etc.

Helpful Resources

 "Writing Descriptions," chapter from M. Markel in eReserves

 David McMurrey’s Technical Description: What does it look like?

 Scribd description of a computer mouse