Mechanism Description: Represent the

Function, Appearance and Operation of an

Object
A mechanism description (also called an object description) is a short report designed to convey to the
reader a technical understanding of the function, appearance, and operation of a particular object. In one
or two sentences, give the reader a quick overview of these three elements, before you launch into
separate sections with details.

There is no universally “correct” organizational structure that applies to every writing situation in every
discipline. If you can find a good model of the kind of thing you’ve been asked to write, you’ll be better
off using the organizational and headings of that model, rather than uncritically following the structure I
suggest here.

We live in a tl;dr world. Any professional document more than a few paragraphs long should start with a
summary, for the benefit of a busy reader who may be reading hundreds of similar documents each day.
(Your reader reads the summary first, but you should write it last.)

A mechanism description analyzes (that is, subdivides into components for further scrutiny) an object in
space. When you try to organize your major subsections, if no other obvious pattern seems appropriate,
you can always fall back on the more-important-to-less-important strategy.

 Don’t sell the object.

A technical writer is not required to persuade the reader that the object is wonderful, or valuable,
or scary. But do mention the details. While you shouldn’t say an object is “adorably cute,” you
could mention that it “resembles a cartoon cow wearing a pink ruffled skirt,” and let your readers
make the value judgment for themselves.

 Just describe it.

Provide whatever level of detail your reader requires. Know your audience. A child safety
organization may require an extremely detailed description of a simple toy (along with a separate
process description for the manufacture of each component), while a military recruitment office
might require only a few paragraphs about a complex nuclear submarine.

Introduction

Your introduction should first state the purpose and scope of your document. If your document is longer
than a few paragraphs, the first paragraph should be a stand-alone summary, which briefly defines the
object and explains its function, appearance, and operation.

Bad Example of a Mechanism Description

Throughout the ages, mankind has found many uses for salt. Ancient tribes used it preserve meat; around
the world it adds flavor to food; the Bible uses it as a symbol of zest for life. Salt became such an important
part of people’s diet that a way was needed to allow early nomads to carry salt with them on their perilous
travels; such a device ideally also helped ancient gormandizers to distribute portions of the precious flavor
enhancer onto their foods. Thus was born the salt shaker.

Some beginning technical writers, who remember using grandiose words to please their high school
English teachers, mistakenly believe that an introduction should provide a sort of cosmic overview. But a
technical writer does not need to amuse or impress a reader — somebody who wants to know exactly
how much this salt shaker weighs does not need an ancient history lesson. Just provide the necessary
information as efficiently as possible.

Good Example of a Mechanism Description

This document provides the manufacturing specifications for the entire line of Happy Homemaker “Praying
Cow” salt shakers (Divine Bovine Industries model #00045). A hand-painted ceramic collector’s item, the
“Praying Cow” salt shaker represents a plump, cartoon-like cow, her head bowed as if in prayer. A blue
flower-print skirt is painted onto the body of the animal. The salt is dispensed through the cow’s matching
bonnet, via a circular array of six small holes. The bonnet twists off to allow the consumer to fill the
dispenser cavity.

 Note that this writer correctly begins by introducing the reader to the document. We can assume
that the rest of the document provides the measurements and other technical details, as
promised by the opening sentence.
 The summary paragraph assumes that the reader already knows the definition and function of a
salt shaker; this is permissible.
 In this case, it would not be wise to omit a description of the appearance, and almost unforgivable
not to include a picture.
 Fortunately for civilization as we know it, this product is completely imaginary.

Function

Answer the question, “What does it do?”

 Keep this section brief — chance are, if your reader is interested in a full mechanism description,
he or she already has some idea what the object is for.
 Of course, if the object will be so unfamiliar to your reader that the rest of the document won’t
make sense, then provide whatever background information your reader is likely to need.
(Sometimes the only way to do this is to show a prototype of your mechanism description to a
test user through “Usability Testing.”)
 If the object participates in a process, then you may need to write a brief process description as
well.

Appearance

Answer the question, “What does it look like?” You may have to use classification to break a complex
object up into its various components, and describe each in sequence.
Questionable Example

The original Star Trek Enterprise, TV’s most famous fictional starship, has a saucer shaped primary hull, a
cigar-shaped secondary hull, and two cylindrical warp pods. A horizontal strut suspends the secondary
hull behind and below the saucer. At the flat, front of the suspended section is the deflector dish, and at
the tapered back are clamshell doors that open to reveal a shuttle bay. Each of the two cylindrical power
units is supported by a long pylon connected near the rear of the secondary hull. The pylons raise the
power units above the plane of the horizontal dish, and extend them outwards roughly to the same width
of the saucer. The pods themselves have red semicircular half-spheres on the front, and tapered cylindrical
fixtures on the rear.

The content of the above example is fine, but it’s a little hard to read. If you were to go in to any more
detail, you should break it up into smaller paragraph. If you start to break your object up into multiple
nested layers of components, you should consider a bulleted list, formatted so that your reader can more
easily identify the level of detail you are describing in any given section.

Better Example

OVERVIEW
The original Star Trek Enterprise, TV’s most famous fictional starship, is composed of

1) a saucer shaped primary hull,

2) a cigar-shaped secondary hull, and
3) two cylindrical warp engines.

1) The SAUCER-SHAPED PRIMARY HULL contains the following visible features:

o The bridge (a circular, domed structure at the center of the upper surface of the saucer).
 The first pilot episode, “The Cage” featured a special effects shot of the camera
zooming in on the model to reveal the characters arranged on the bridge; the
same shot also appeared as a kind of flashback in the later episode, “The
Menagerie, Part I.”
 The set for the bridge on Star Trek: The Next Generation featured a ceiling window
that revealed a starry backdrop, but no such window ever appeared in the original
series.
o Lighting effects (including blinking running lights, as well as smaller lights representing
windows)
o Vessel identification (black painted capital letters on the upper and lower surfaces of the
saucer, reading “U.S.S. Enterprise” and “NCC-1701”)
o Phasers and photon torpedoes (usually depicted as emanating from a spot near the
center of the underside of the saucer)

2) The CIGAR-SHAPED SECONDARY HULL contains the following visible features:

(Etc.)

The above revision breaks up the imposing block of text, and uses spacing and bolding for the benefit of
readers who are scanning for specific information.
Operation

Answer the question, “How does it work?”

You could also productively think of this section as the conclusion to your paper. Rarely will you gain
anything by writing a cookie-cutter, boring conclusion like, “Therefore, this paper has shown that the
PickMaster 2000 Electric Toothpick Dispenser can be an exciting part of the environment around the cash
register in any restaurant.”

Even if an object does not have an exciting or visible method of operating (such as a decorative item or a
simple brick), the conclusion should still explain how its design helps it to fulfill its function.

Process Description: How to Write about a

Sequence of Events
A process description (or process analysis) is a variation of the short report designed to help a reader
understand how a change takes place over time, through a series of stages.

You might use a process description to examine the photosynthesis of plants, the migration of animals, or
the impeachment of presidents.

By contrast, the mechanism description focuses on an object in space (e.g. the physiology of a plant), and
instructions focus on actions the reader takes to make the process happen (e.g. how to care for a plant).

Parts of a Process Description

What follows is a general structure, which you should adapt to fit the specific needs of your writing task.

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Description
4. Step-by-Step Description
5. Conclusion

1. Abstract

While the reader sees the abstract first, the author should expect to write it last.

We live in a tl;dr world. Summarize any professional document more than a few paragraphs long, for the
benefit of a busy reader who may be reading hundreds of similar documents each day.

An abstract is a compressed summary that boils down the most important contents into a few sentences.
An abstract is not a list of promises. Don’t think of it like a “stay tuned, we’ll tell you who won the big
game and we’ll show you the best plays after these messages from our sponsor” teaser. Instead, an
abstract actually gives the final scores and shows the game-winning play.

In general, break the whole process up into smaller stages, and describe each stage in order. If the process
is part of a continuing cycle (such as the evaporation and condensation of water), say so.

Caution: Students who are unfamiliar with the “process description” genre sometimes confuse it with
“helpful hints,” by which I mean a collection of many details that do not need to take place in any
particular order.

Not a Process Description

If neglected, pets’ teeth will succumb to tooth decay. A simple process is available to all pet owners that
will help in the fight against tooth decay. The process outlined will be using a toothbrush and a tube of
toothpaste, mouthwashes, dental treats, and yearly dental appointments. This process involves both
owner and veterinarian intervention….

This author is really describing instructions for the care of a pet’s teeth. The writer has almost complete
control over where each element of the process goes… for instance, do you have to use the toothpaste
first, and then the mouthwash? Maybe there is some scientific reason, but the above passage isn’t set up
to explain the science. The end result is that instead of a process, we get a list of pet dental hacks, without
a strict chronological organization.

This is a Process Description

Veterinary dentistry includes the cleaning, adjustment, filing, extraction, or repair of your pets’ teeth and
all other aspects of oral health care. These procedures should be performed by a veterinarian or a board-
certified veterinary dentist. Subject to state or provincial regulation, veterinary technicians are allowed to
perform certain dental procedures under the supervision of a veterinarian. —Pet Dental Care (AVMA)

The author successfully introduces the various “procedures” that comprise veterinary dentistry. It’s not
designed to be a step-by-step set of instructions for pet owners to follow, nor is it written for veterinary
dentists to follow. It’s not a set of instructions at all — it simply describes a complex process by breaking
it down into separate procedures.

2. Introduction

A good introduction is a concise paragraph that will accomplish two things:

 define the overall process in a single sentence.

 describe the document (you are describing the scope and purpose of the document you are
writing; this is not the place to demonstrate your ability to introduce the field of knowledge you
are about to draw on in order to help your reader understand the process)

Process Definition

Your introduction should be a concise paragraph that supplies a good sentence definition of the process.
Bad Example

One of the greatest environmental threats to our nation’s agriculture is the growing acid rain problem.

This introduction is too general; the paper appears to be about “threats to our nation’s agriculture”
instead of acid rain.

Iffy Example

Acid rain is one of the greatest environmental threats to our nation’s agriculture.

While this version does properly emphasize “acid rain,” it merely makes a claim about the significance of
the subject, and seems to introduce a comparison with other environmental threats (each of which should
probably properly be dealt with in separate documents). We still don’t know what acid rain is.

Good Example

Acid rain is environmentally harmful precipitation that forms after the combustion of fossil fuels releases
nitrogen and sulfur oxides into the atmosphere.

Purpose and Scope of the Document

Like any technical document, it should also state the scope and purpose of the paper.

Good Example

This document describes the process in general terms, in order to demonstrate the necessity for increased
government regulation in sensitive areas.

Good Example

This paper cites recent studies by Smith and Jones (1997, 1998) to assist EPA officials with their efforts to
determine which parts of the country should be designated “at risk” or “potentially at risk” over the next
five years.

3. Brief Description

As part of a brief paragraph (or, for a shorter document, possibly the same paragraph as the introduction),
answer the question, “How does it happen?”

Provide any necessary context, such as who or what performs the action, under what conditions, and how
is the process significant. Give a concise overview of the process. This brief description should stand alone
— that is, it should not refer to details, facts, or terms that aren’t explained within the summary.

You will probably have an easier time writing this section if you save it until you have written out the
complete description. Conclude this section by breaking the process up into stages: “The principle stages
of writing process are planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading.”
Your next section will work through each stage in turn.

4. Step-by-step Description

For each step in your description, write a miniature process description:

 define the step

 state its purpose (or function within the process)
 providing the necessary context, and
 include brief mechanism descriptions for any components that may be involved

Divide this stage up into substages, if necessary.

5. Conclusion

Without being excessively redundant, review the major steps in the process. Walk the reader through
one complete cycle, emphasizing how the completion of each stage contributes to the final overall effect.
You might provide multiple different examples, or troubleshooting tips.

Prepared by
Kim C. Operario