A mechanism 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 lauch into the details. —Dennis G. Jerz —Mechanism Description: Analyzing the Function, Appearance and Operation of an Object  (Jerz’s Writing Handouts)

Someone at USC requested permission to reprint this page in a course packet, but the URL for the request was for my now-defunct UWEC technical writing website. So I dusted it off and reformatted it to fit into my new site layout. I’m glad someone finds it useful.