Your Technical Description shows a visualization of an item or process related to your Recommendation Report.. To meet the expectations of the project you will describe the item or process fully, using visual elements to illustrate your points.
Length
The length of your project depends upon what format you are using and how complicated the object or process is. There is no specific requirement for the number of words or length of video. Just fully develop your project with details.
Checklist Requirements
These requirements will be listed in the Technical Description Project Checklist. You must confirm you meet these criteria before you can submit your project. Page numbers refer to Markel and Selber.
My Technical Descripton Project . . .
Check These Sources
From Technical Communication:
- Focus on Process: Descriptions, on page 547
- Analyzing the Writing Situation for Descriptions, on page 548
- Indicating Clearly the Nature and Scope of the Description, on page 549
- Introducing the Description, on page 549
- Providing Appropriate Detail, on page 549
- GUIDELINES: Providing Appropriate Detail in Descriptions, on page 551.
- Ending The Description With A Brief Conclusion , on page 552
- A Look at Several Sample Descriptions, starting on page 552.
- Is a project in a format and medium that makes sense for my topic (an image with explanatory text, a video, a comic or graphic novel, etc.). See the list of examples on the Technical Description Topic assignment page).
- Indicates the nature and scope of the description clearly (p. 549).
- Introduces the description by answering the following questions (all from p. 551), as appropriate:
- What is the item or process?
- What is the function of the item or process?
- Choose the relevant question(s) from the following two options:
- For an item: What does the item look like?
- For a process: Where and when does the process take place? Who or what performs it?
- How does the item or process work?
- What are the item’s principal parts OR the process’s principal steps?
- Provides detailed information (p. 551).
- Includes a clear visualization of the item or process, with information on each of the principal steps (p. 551–552).
- Concludes the description by explaining how the parts of the item work together or summarizing the major points of the process in the step-by-step description (p. 552).
- Uses professional design and formatting that does the following:
- Makes positive use of the CRAP Design Principles.
- Makes information easy for readers to find and read.
- Emphasizes important information.
- Does not use watermarked images (such as those that indicate the image is owned by someone else).
- Is an original project, written by you, not copied or rephrased from another source. If you copy or rephrase from another source, you will earn zero points for the project.