This document describes how to write a process description (or process analysis), 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
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. (See “Short Reports: Begin with the Conclusion.”)
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, names the most valuable player, and breaks down 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.
 | 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 random list of hacks, without a strict chronological organization. | |
 | 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 sections. | |
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.
| 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. | |
 | 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. | |
| 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.
| This document describes the process in general terms, in order to demonstrate the necessity for increased government regulation in sensitive areas. |
| 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 each step?
- What local conditions or circumstances might affect each stage?
- How is each stage of the process significant to the overall process?
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
This would probably be the longest section of your document.
Depending on the complexity of your process, you might divide up your process into sections, and treat each one as a separate subsection, concluding each subsection with a description of how this process fits in with the other subsections.
If you do break your process down into substages, before you launch into the details of any subsection, begin with a general introduction that orients your reader to all the major stages your document is going to cover.
A local table of contents can help readers skip to just the section they’re interested in.
A sentence definition is technical writing that specifies a thing by stating its category + what makes it unique in that category, with no extraneous details.
Name the parts and systems involved in those major processes, giving short sentence definitions of each major part, before you launch into the details.
Because a process takes place over time, you should probably organize each subsection chronologically; however, if various components of a process happen at the same time, you might instead organize this section in some other way (such as starting at the top and moving down, or starting with what is most important and moving on to what is less important, or starting with what non-experts perceive with their senses and moving on to what experts can perceive with specialized equipment).
Work carefully from known information to unknown information.
Begin each section with a summary that identifies the topics to be covered in this section, and make sure you cover how those main topics relate to each other before you launch into the complex details about each section.
For instance, if you are writing about human anatomy, you should first establish the big-picture basics, such as the fact that the heart and lungs work together to circulate oxygen through the blood stream, before you go into specific details (such as what exactly happens on the cellular and molecular level in the alevoli where oxygen and carbon dioxide pass in opposite directions).
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 contrasting examples, or notable exceptions that don’t perfectly fit the process you just described.
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1997 — Handout created by Dennis G. Jerz, for the University of Toronto’s Engineering Writing
2003 — Updated version posted on jerz.setonhill.edu; modest tweaks over the years
03 Feb 2022 — After I noticed a spike in visits to this page, I freshened up the content, beefed up section 4, and added more cross-referencing links.
Hi Dr.Jerz. Didn’t see an email address on your about page so I’m just writing here to say “thank you” for your work thus far! I’m a university student in Jamaica currently trying to improve my academic writing for my final year (and beyond). Stumbled across your youtube playlist on critical thinking and then followed the link to your website. It’s been a great experience thus far and has totally changed how I viewed research.
Initially, I often had ideas and hypotheses around social and philosophical issues of my generation that I believed could go on to make me a great thought leader in the academic field, however, the requirements of evidence and contradictory views which research requires scared me; I developed a fear of losing ‘credit’ for my genius idea as I may: (1) fail to find support for such a Jamaica-focused idea; (2) encounter the same idea and lose the possibility (and joy) of being a creator, a ‘genius’ after investing so much time to read several papers. My ego desired to have the public speaking authority which I saw my professors exercise without any understanding of how they have developed and eared that level of credibility.
Your explanations have truly shown me that these research requirements exists to assist me in pursuing truth (rather than fame haha). I’ve come to accept that there were people here before me that have invested years into the topics that I am only recently discovering, and through their help I could : (i) strengthen my hypotheses; (ii) save time by not recreating the wheel; (iii) or identify areas (or gaps) that require further research.
The battle with the ego isn’t finished but has definitely improved. This has been enlightening so far and I will definitely be reviewing your notes regularly.
The videos may be old but the knowledge is definitely timeless. Keep up the great work Dr. Jerz :)
Thank you very much for your kind words. I tell my students that their goal should be to demonstrate their ability to make original connections between published experts who disagree with each other. If they develop that skill early in their undergraduate career, then they’ll be prepared to do original work after they’ve gained the foundational knowledge and skills their professors in their major courses want them to learn. You are right that credibility and genuine authority come only with experience, and that they are not the same thing as fame and power. It sounds like you are well on your way to success, Chris!
Actually I’m trying to find an example to under stand the question
Describe a situation in which part of a process description might not be organized chronologically.
That sounds like a homework assignment. If you had made some effort, and asked what I think about your attempt, I might have given you an opinion. If you make no effort at all, and expect me to do all the work for you, I will probably go watch cat videos.
I appreciate to have your opinion
I didn’t create the assignment and I won’t be marking it for you, so I really don’t know what your instructor would consider to be a good example. But if you give me an example, I’m willing to offer my opinion about whether it meets the criteria you describe.
From ISO 9001 Quality Management System point of view, can you give examples or outline of this subject please?
That is a very specific question, that would require me to do some time-consuming work in order to offer a professional answer.
Whether Process description should be written in paragraphwise or in pointwise ?
There is no one correct answer. Can you ask an expert to recommend a particularly well-written process description to use as a model? Does that model use paragraphs or bullets? My students have generally been trained to write in paragraphs, because they are used to writing for teachers who want to teach them how to write paragraphs. I often encourage them to try out bullet points, but that doesn’t mean paragraphs are wrong.
when series of processes are numbered ,it is right to consider it as a process description?
Maybe. I could number a list of “10 ways to make a baby happy,” but that wouldn’t make each item on the list part of a single process.
introduction about acid rain . is that an a sequence of events ?
Yes, it is possible to write a process description about how acid rain is formed and how it impacts the environment. If you focus instead on the chemical composition of acid rain, or you present a debate about what the government and corporations should do about acid rain, or you write a poem about how mad you are about companies that contribute to acid rain, then no.
tnx man . your’e nice
how can you handle the problem of the use of illustration in the description process?
Clifford, if this is a job assignment or homework assignment, whoever assigned the task is your best resource. There is nothing special about the use of an illustration in a description process that does not also apply for using an illustration in any technical document. The general subject of using illustrations is not something I tried to tackle on this short page.
GREAT INFORMATION……AT LAST I HAVE A REPORT…
GREAT INFORMATION….AT LAST, I HAVE A REPORT FOR TECHNICAL WRITTING….
i want to know about the difference between process description, functional description and instruction.. anyone help me?
I could help more if I knew the context for the question, but instructions are a special kind of process description that emphasize what the reader needs to do to make the process happen. You could describe the process of how the body digests an apple, or how a NASA probe tests for life on Mars, or how tectonic plates form mountains and volcanoes, but those would be very different as instructions.
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/technical-writing/instructions-how-to-write-for-busy-grouchy-people/
A functional description describes how the parts of an object work together to do something useful. This handout on the mechanism description may help.
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/technical-writing/mechanism-description/
My handouts are just suggestions. If you have been asked to write a document for your workplace, ask someone to show you models of good documents to emulate. If this is for a class, then your instructor or the course textbook are your best resources.
Merhaba. ben türkiyeden bu siteye bakıyorum. fakat bir türlü bulamıyorum. benim paragraflarım var onlari ingilizceye çevirmem gerek ama çeviremiyorum. İngilizceyi daha yeni öğrenmeye başladım. Lütfen cevap verin. Please
Wonderful explaination， thanks！
yah your right!!!
can you give me an example paragraph of a mechanism description and process description?please… thank you so much!
This page does contain a brief example of a process description, as well as a link to a similar page on writing a mechanism description. Any technical writing textbook should contain more detail. Good luck!
mechanism operation and conceptual process are both process descriptions. how are they different? what is the outline that can be used as a guide? kindly answer.. thanks
What is the context for this question? If this is part of a classroom assignment, your instructor and your textbook would be the sources most likely to help your grade. If you are trying to solve.a problem for a client, the subject matter experts and other technical writers who have worked on this problem before will be a better resource.
what is the difference between operation description and mechanism description?
Those terms may have specialized meanings in some fields. In general, I would say a mechanism description describes a thing with many parts, and typically focuses on the relationship of those parts in space. An operation description would focus on time — what conditions are necessary before you start step one, how you know when you are ready to go onto step two, that sort of thing. Beyond that, the answer would depend on the context.