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Writing a "Good" Definition

To learn anything you need to understand the concepts that surround and inform the focus of your learning. Technical writing often disappoints when complex concepts are referred to but never explained leaving the reader alienated from the entire learning experience. Good concept definitions therefore facilitate and speed learning and engage your audience in the learning process.

You can judge the quality of a concept definition by evaluating its impact on the reader. A good definition helps your audience:

• Generalise by correctly identifying new examples of that concept
• Discriminate by correctly separating those things which may be closely related to the concept but are not the concept itself
• Value the concept by understanding where the concept is relevant to your reader's situation
• Apply the concept to real-world problems by following practical courses of action.

When writing a definition consider using some of the following devices:

• Aliases. Any given concept may have many names. To orient your audience name all commonly used aliases and pick a primary name. To avoid confusion use the primary name exclusively in your concept definition. See Functional Safety Management Aliases
• Contrasting concepts. If the concept is likely to be confused with one or many other concepts, compare and contrast them and identify how they are different. See Contrasting Verification and Validation
• Functional definition. Describe concepts in terms of the way they are used. See Configuration Identification, Influence
• Genus-species. Define a concept by the larger groups or classes to which it belongs. For example: genus - a barcode scanner is a type of pattern recognition device, species - that uses a laser beam to detect and read universal product codes. See also Chunking Principle
• Story. Tell a story that illustrates the concept's application to real life. See Configuration Identification Why Configuration Identification Is Important. Don't be afraid of being outrageous. Learning is an emotional experience. See Scenario 4 - The Apocalyptic Test of an Effective Configuration Identification Strategy
• Critical attributes. Describe attributes that must be recognised to discriminate one concept from another. See Contrasting Verification and Validation
• Example. Provide examples of the concept. See Examples of Project Goals
• Non-example. Provide an example that is close but does not illustrate the concept. See Objective Evidence, A Non-example of Objective Evidence

Chunking Principle. How do you present information to people so it is understood and remembered? Cognitive psychologists suggest that short-term memory is easily overloaded. The best approach is to deliver your message in digestible "chunks" - no more than seven (plus or minus two). Learn more.