Writing the first draft of the Technical definition
The first unit of English 301 tasked us with writing a definition of a technical term for a non-technical audience. Before this assignment, I had never written a technical definition, so I found it difficult when I started. However, after reviewing the assigned readings and creating multiple drafts, I was proud of the technical definition I wrote. Moreover, this assignment helped improve my writing abilites, especially in terms of conscice writing. My term was Executive Function, which is from the field of Psychology and Neuroscience. Explaining this term forced me to consider how to reduce jargon while still maintaining the integrity of what Executive Function encompassed. This assignment also taught me the value of each type of definition. I learned that parenthetical definitions are a short-form definition in parentheses, which help clarify a term while maintaining the natural flow of writing. Sentence definitions are short sentences that present the term and describe the class that the word(s) belong(s) to. Finally, expanded definitions provide readers with a comprehensive analysis of a term through various expansion techniques, such as the history of the term, the operating principles, and examples. I learned that parenthetical, sentence and expanded definition follow a hierarchy of detail and information. In terms of expanded definitions, this assignment taught me that, depending on the term, some expansion techniques are better than others. For example, describing the operating principles behind Executive Function would not be appropriate for non-technical readers, as it requires a background in psychology and neuroscience. However, a visual is an excellent technique to use, as it provides a concrete view of this term. Overall, through writing this assignment, I was challenged to improve my writing skills, and improved my abilities to convey technical information to non-technical audiences.
Peer Review Process
This part of the assignment gave me the opportunity to read and critique a team member’s (Brian Wong) technical definition. Reading Brian’s definition taught me new things about MRI’s and also gave me insight to improve my own assignment. I was able to pick out the strengths of Brian’s definition, and improve my own as a result. For example, I noticed how his visual was the third expansion technique used, which provided a better flow to his expanded defintion. I originally had my visual as the last expansion technique; I changed the order of my expansion techniques as a result of reading Brian’s work. The peer-review process also provided insight into how a reader might view my definition, and what aspects of it could be confusing for them. I found Brian’s header organization made his expanded definition very clear, and so, I emulated that in my own definition. Overall, the peer-review process was valuable, as it not only helped me practice my peer-review skills, but helped me improve my writing by picking out the strengths of my peers’ writing techniques.
Revision Process
After a team member (Riya Kathuria) reviewed my definition, they provided me with constructive feedback to improve my definition. This furthered my understanding of how a reader might receive my defintion, and Riya’s feedback helped me improved my own definition. Riya pointed out that my “History” expansion technique provided too much information without adding much to the understanding of executive function. Upon reviewing my work, I agreed, and was able to cut out almost half the words. I was also provided with excellent feedback on my sentence structure. As someone who struggles with concise writing, I hoped to gain feedback on this during the peer-review process, and Riya delivered. I had instances of run-off sentences in my assignment, which were pointed out by Riya. I was able to fix these, which improved my assignment and made it flow better. Overall, Riya’s peer review showed me the value of peer reviews, as they were able to find improvements in my assignment that I would have otherwise missed. This assignment has improved my techincal writing abilities, and taught me just how challenging conveying technical information to non-technical audiences can be. However, the process was rewarding, and I am looking forward to future assignment, which will inevitably continue to improve my writing abilities.
Link to revised defintion: Link
Link to Riya’s peer review: Link
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