{"id":38,"date":"2018-12-30T19:30:35","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T00:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/technicalwriting2ed\/chapter\/writing-processes\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T16:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:06:27","slug":"writing-processes","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/technicalwriting2ed\/chapter\/writing-processes\/","title":{"raw":"1.3 Technical Writing Moves and Processes","rendered":"1.3 Technical Writing Moves and Processes"},"content":{"raw":"Just as we employ specific strategies and use defined design processes to creatively solve complex problems, we use strategic writing moves<\/strong> and employ iterative writing processes<\/strong> to create complex documents. The sections below discuss these in more detail.\r\n

Technical Writing Moves<\/h1>\r\nWhether writing for school or work, we tend to use certain recurring rhetorical strategies or \"writing moves\" to structure our ideas. The list of strategies below is not exhaustive, but covers many of the writing moves we frequently make, and offers some description and examples. Note that these are often used in combination and can overlap. Consider how you might use these in your upcoming writing tasks.\r\n\r\nNARRATION<\/strong>: Telling a story can be an effective way to engage your reader and create a personal connection. The narrative usually comes from a distinct perspective, must clearly relate to your purpose, and presents a series of events (beginning, middle, ending) that are linked by cause and effect. Narrative can be a powerful tool to use in a need statement when defining a problem, or when describing user personas and their \"pain points.\"\r\n\r\nDESCRIPTION<\/strong>: Technical descriptions<\/a> use concrete, specific detail to help the reader imagine and understand the described object or process the way the author does. Measurable descriptors might include weight, dimensions, densities, distances, age, colours, materials, speeds, interactions. Descriptions can focus on the sensory experiences of sight and sound, but might also include feel, smell, and taste. You might even use figurative language (metaphors, similes, and analogies) to engage the reader's imagination and help them understand an unfamiliar idea by comparing it figuratively to a familiar concept (\"an algorithm is like a recipe\").\r\n\r\nDEFINITION<\/strong>: Definitions can range in length from a short phrase or sentence (defining a term) to multiple paragraphs (defining a problem). You might define how you are using a word, how you are framing an idea, or\u00a0 treating a controversial idea. Problem Definition, as discussed in Chapter 1.1<\/a>, may include a complex combination of writing movies such as narration, description, explanation, analysis, summary and synthesis.\r\n\r\nSUMMARY<\/strong>:\u00a0 Summaries can have a variety of purposes, but are generally designed to help a busy reader understand large amounts of complex information in a condensed form. Abstracts<\/strong> offer a condensed version of an academic article; Executive Summaries<\/strong> provide the key information from a long report. In general, when writing a summary<\/a>, you should prioritize important information and leave out minor details; you should also condense information accurately and objectively, without editorializing or evaluating; and of course, you should follow conventional citational practices to clearly indicate when you are summarizing someone else's words and ideas.\r\n\r\nANALYSIS<\/strong>:\u00a0 Where a definition might explain what<\/em> something is or does, an analysis tells you how<\/em> it works. It focuses the component parts of a system and how they interact to perform the desired function. For example, a rhetorical analysis seeks to understand how the rhetorical strategies used in a persuasive text work together to appeal to the intended audience. An analysis of a complex machine will show how the various parts connect and work together to achieve the machine's purpose. A process analysis might review the workflow to understand how tasks are completed and how efficiency might be improved. An analysis moves into an evaluation<\/strong> when you go from explaining \"how\" to evaluating \"how well\" it meets defined criteria.\r\n\r\nCOMPARISON<\/strong>: We often compare two or more items (or ideas), in terms of specific criteria, in order to understand more about them and perhaps select the most appropriate one for a particular purpose. Comparison focuses on the key similarities and\/or notable differences between the items in order to help the reader make a choice or understand the compared items in more detail. Written comparisons<\/a> often use specific structures such as \"block\" or \"point-by-point\" to organize the examination of the items being compared.\r\n\r\nARGUMENT<\/strong>: This is clearly a complex writing move that might include any or all of the above strategies. An argument is intended to persuade or influence the reader's thinking or behaviour in some way. An effective argument should define a context or controversy out of which the argument arises, present a clear position or claim, explain why this position is valid, and provide compelling evidence to support all claims. In some cases, an argument must consider and try to refute opposing arguments. Strong arguments will make strategic use of rhetorical appeals (to emotion, logic, and credibility) to win the hearts, minds and trust of the audience.\r\n\r\nSYNTHESIS<\/strong>: Synthesis entails combining and summarizing ideas from different sources and perspectives in order to enhance your own perspective. Like summarizing, synthesis must accurately and objectively represent the ideas of other, and should offer a comprehensive and proportional representation of the sources relevant to the topic. Synthesis might be used to show significant consensus on a topic, reveal the complexity and variety of perspectives on an issue, identify trends in the research, point to gaps in existing research, or even create new understanding by finding interesting connections between seemingly unrelated ideas.\r\n\r\nEXPLORATION<\/strong>: you might engage in exploratory writing such as brainstorming, freewriting, concept mapping, making pros and cons lists, and so on, to help you gather your thoughts and generate potential ideas for further research. You might start with a hypothesis or question and see where your exploratory writing leads you. It can help you solidify your current understanding, test your ideas, and even change your own mind!\r\n\r\nREFLECTION<\/strong>: this metacognitive move helps you look inward and understand your own motivations, assumptions, strategies, preferences and processes. Reflecting on experiences helps you learn from them, by considering not only what<\/em><\/strong> you did, but how<\/em><\/strong> and why<\/em><\/strong> you did it, and how<\/em><\/strong> it turned out. Reflecting on what led to success helps you repeat it; reflecting on what actions or assumptions led to problems or failure helps to figure out how to adjust strategies and mindsets to get better results in the future. Reflections can be for your personal use only, but they are also used in professional practice to evaluate current progress and conduct post project reviews.\r\n
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Enhance your Learning and Performance by Building Reflection into your Processes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\u201cLife-long learning\u201d is not just a catchphrase \u2013 it is a really important part of continual development and improvement. We are all learning at every stage of our lives. As students, parents, employees, managers, we continually need to learn and adapt. One of the most important elements of the learning process is reflection. If we don\u2019t take the time to reflect on what we are experiencing and learning, we often don\u2019t fully absorb or retain the learning. Reflection is an integral part of continual improvement and growth:\r\n