I was surprised in unit 1 by how a single word or phrase could be elaborated on so much. Reading through my classmate’s work, I realized that words we don’t think about while we use them in our fields because they have become ingrained in our vocabulary, are actually filled with meaning that a layman would not be able to grasp without explanation.
In the definition assignment for this unit, I learned how to define a word which is unfamiliar to someone with different levels of elaboration. I learned how to break down a phrase in a way that would give a reader not only the definition, but the history and use of the word.
My peer review from my classmate Hannah has taught me that the most challenging part of defining a technical term is to not include other technical terms in the definition. I simplified my definition so that the terms used for simplified. For example, instead of using the word myopia, I instead used the word nearsightedness, which most people understand the meaning of. Also, I realized that some terms would require definitions of their own that would be as long as the definition I had already written for the original term, to help with this, I added links to some technical terms so that people who are interested can click on them for more information.