mechanism description essay example

Screwdriver – Mechanism Description Essay

Introduction, fulcrum shank, hexagonal tip.

The Screwdriver Hex Nut is a simple tool that consists of a handle and a long metal piece, i.e., a wheel and an axle, with a hexagonal edge, and is used for tightening or loosening nuts (Anderson par. 1). A typical hex nut screwdriver consists of a handle, a shank, a blade and a hexagonal tip. A sample picture of the hex nut screwdriver is shown in Figure 1 above.

The handle of a screwdriver is an ergonomic grip, which allows one to hold the tool and serves as a lever. The length of the handle depends on the size of the screwdriver, which usually is around 7 inches, is 3 7 / 8 ’’ (“Screwdrivers” Fig. 2 ). As a rule, the handle can be made of plastic, wood or a similar material. The handle is connected to the fulcrum shank of the screwdriver.

The fulcrum shank of a hex nut screwdriver is a metallic rod that is attached to the handle of the screwdriver and ends with a blade. Made of chrome vanadium in most cases, the shank has a cylindrical shape of a rod and may reach nearly 7 inches in its length. The length of the shank, however, varies depending on the type and purpose of the screwdriver. As far as the width of the shank is concerned, similar principles are applied to defining its value. As a rule, the length of the shank starts at 4 ¼ ‘’ and may reach the size of 6 9 / 16 ’’ (“Screwdriver Shanks” Table 1 ). In a range of cases, fulcrum shanks are detachable and can be replaced with a shank of a different size.

The blade is defined as a metal wedge that connects the hexagonal tip and the shank. Traditionally, the width of the blade ranges from 3 / 32 ’’ to ¼’’ for the screwdrivers numbered from 1 to 9. For the screwdrivers that are numbered from 10 to 24, the width of the blade ranges from 5 / 18 ’’ to ½’’ (“Screwdrivers” Fig. 2). Traditionally, the blasé is made of chrome vanadium, though the material may differ depending on the technology and the production values. The blade ends with a hexagonal tip, which has an opening in the middle.

The hexagonal tip is the part of a hex nut screwdriver that serves as the tool for either planting a nut into the designated area or taking it out of a specific surface. The size of the opening in the tip may range depending on the type of nut that the hex nut screwdriver was designed for. The hexagon head ranges from 3/32’’ to 3/8’’ in size (“Screw Drive Systems” Table 1). The width of the slot, in its turn, may range from 0.005’’ to 0.149’’ (“Screw Drive Systems” Table 2). The depth of the hole in the hexagon opening also varies depending on the size of the screwdriver and the function that it is supposed to fulfill. However, traditionally, the size of the specified part of the screwdriver ranges from 1 ¾ to 5 ¾ mm in diameter (“Dimensional Bolting Catalog” 9).

A hex nut screwdriver is a tool that has a handle, a blade and a hexagonal tip and is used of either fastening or loosening nuts. A hex nut screwdriver consists of four parts, which are the handle, the blade, the shank and the hexagonal tip. The tool can be used in the course of a construction.

Anderson, Bonnie. Simple Machines. Illinois Institute of Technology . n. d. Web.

“ Dimensional Bolting Catalog .” Sigma Fasteners . n. d. Web.

“Screwdriver Shanks.” Lee Valley . n. d. Web.

“Screwdrivers.” ACE Hardware . n. d. Web.

“ Screw Drive Systems .” Sizes . n. d. Web.

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Mechanism Description, Essay Example

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Introduction

Scissors are tools made out of various materials that are created to slice through paper, and occasionally other objects. Scissors blades can take on various shapes to transfer curves and zigzags to paper, but they are typically straight to ensure a smooth cut. Scissors can be various sizes as well, but most are between 15 and 20 centimeters. Furthermore, most scissors weigh a few ounces, but this depends on their size; larger scissors will weigh more (Answers). Scissors are made up of a base that is meant to be gripped by the user and a metal or plastic blade that can be used to slice paper.

Scissor Base

  The scissor base is designed to be held. It is often made of plastic or rubber so that it is comfortable to the user. However, it could also be made of metal, like the rest of the scissor. The base is connected to the blade, and the user can open and close the scissor by moving the two circles of the base outwards and inwards, respectively.

The blade is what physically cuts the paper or object that will be sliced. The blade is manipulated by the scissor base and is very sharp. Depending on the scissor, the blades can either be very sharp or very dull. This depends on the material use and the angle of the interior part of the blade. The tip of the blade is often very sharp and can be used to poke holes in paper or other objects as a secondary function. In some cases, blades are stored in a scissor holder for safety purposes, to prevent them from separating when the scissor based is moved. This prevents injury.

Works Cited

Answers. How many grams do scissors weight? N.D. Web. 3 June 2015.

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Descriptions - mechanism and process, descriptions - mechanism and process, adapted from pocket book of technical writing for engineers and scientists by leo finkelstein, jr. 1.

Being able to describe something accurately, in a way that your reader can understand, is an essential skill for a technical writer. Sometimes you will have to describe a thing — this is called a mechanism description . At other times you will have to explain the steps in a process — this is called a process description . Often you will have to do both. Let's review some of the strategies technical writers employ when they write descriptions.

A mechanism is a device with at least two parts that work together to do something. Some things are quite simple, while others are enormously complex. To describe a mechanism, first provide a technical definition and state the mechanism's purpose:

A cooling fan is an electromechanical device that uses an electrically-driven propeller to move air. Today, many devices, including personal computers, generate substantial amounts of heat during operation. The heat must be dissipated in some way, and the most common way to move heat out of a computer system is active air cooling using a fan.

Then focus on its physical attributes: size, shape, color, and material. You may use visuals to help you. For example:

A typical cooling fan is square in shape and measures 92mm diagonally. The housing is made of black injection-molded ABS plastic. Each corner has a mounting hole, allowing the fan to be installed into a chassis with the help of screws or rubber stems.

Next, list its parts in the order you wish to describe them. Then, describe the first part, and follow the pattern you have established with all the remaining parts. Summarize the mechanism's function in a conclusion. Most descriptions of mechanisms contain many labeled visuals to help the reader follow the text.

Processes are events that occur over time and have an outcome. Technical writers often have to describe a process. Doing this differs from the preparation of a mechanism description. In a process description, we focus on what a mechanism does. Again, we begin with a technical definition of the process:

Active cooling is based on forced heat transfer, i.e. passing cool air over a heat-generating component(s), as opposed to passive cooling, where the heat is dissipated by pure convection only. Air is moved through the system by a cooling fan.

Then, describe the function of the process. List the steps on the process. Then, beginning with step one, describe each of the steps in the process in chronological order. You will use descriptions throughout your writing in EG. Practicing effective techniques for describing mechanisms and processes will help you throughout your career.

1 Finkelstein, Leo, Jr., Pocket Book of Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists . Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000

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7. COMMON DOCUMENT TYPES

7.4 Technical Descriptions and Definitions

Descriptive technical writing uses a combination of visuals and text to both “show” and “tell” the reader about the information being conveyed. Like more creative descriptions, technical descriptions sometimes draw on the “five senses” and metaphorical comparisons (analogies) to allow the reader to fully conceptualize what is being described. More often, however, they rely on concrete, measurable descriptors. Technical descriptions can take many forms, depending on purpose and audience. Descriptions can range from a brief sentence, to a paragraph, a whole section of a report, or an entire manual. Poorly written technical descriptions can cause confusion, waste time, and even result in catastrophe! Technical product descriptions are often legally required to ensure safety and compliance. Attention to detail is critical.

Product specifications require detailed descriptions of design features; instructions often require specific descriptive detail to “show” the reader what to do. Some general categories of technical descriptions include the following:

• Mechanism Descriptions:  provide a detailed overview the physical aspects of a tool, machine or other mechanical device that has moving parts and is designed to perform a specific function. These could be product descriptions for sales or manufacturing, documentation of design specifications, info-graphics, etc .  This chapter focuses in detail on this kind of description.
• Process Descriptions:  detail a series of events ( natural/biological/ecological, mechanical, social, or psychological phenomenon ) that happen in particular sequence in order to achieve a specific outcome. These can be categorized into non-instructional processes (such as a process analyses of how an internal combustion engine works, or natural processes like photosynthesis) and instructional process (such as recommended/required procedures and explicit step-by-step instructions to be followed). (See Section 7.7 for detailed information on Writing Instructions ).
• Definitions:  clarify the specific meaning, often related to a specific context, or express the essential nature of the terms being defined. These can range in length from a simple clarifying phrase to an extended document of several pages. Definitions will often include detailed descriptions and visuals to illustrate ideas. Click on the link below to view a student PowerPoint presentation on how to write effective definitions for technical purposes. This presentation is included with express permission of the student.

Definitions in Technical Writing – Sample student presentation (.pdf)

Technical Description of a Mechanism

Mechanism descriptions should provide a clear understanding of the object being described, including

• General appearance and physical properties
• Overall function/purpose
• Component parts
• How the parts interact to create a functioning whole.

The reader should be able to clearly picture, and therefore understand, the nature of the object being described, what it does, and how it works.

In order to achieve this clarity for the reader, the writer must choose significant details and organize information logically. Select details that can be described precisely and measurably, such as

Depending on the reader’s need, the description may range from a general overview requiring only a few sentences to a multi-chapter manual detailing every aspect of the mechanism’s parts and functions in order to troubleshoot technical problems and complete repairs. For a fun example of the latter, see the Star Trek: The Next Generation: Technical Manual (cover depicted in Figure 7.4.1 ), which provides detailed descriptions of all equipment and technology used aboard the fictional U.S.S. Enterprise-D.

Before you begin to draft your description, you must consider your purpose and audience : Why does your audience need this description? What will they use it for? Are you describing different types of solar panels for the average consumers to help them choose the one that best fits their needs? Are you providing schematics to technicians and installers?

Once you have your purpose and audience clearly in focus, draft a description that includes the following elements:

• Definition : What is it, and what is its main purpose?
• Overview : Describe the mechanism’s overall appearance (“big picture” description of its overall size, shape, general appearance).
• Components : Describe the main component parts in labelled sections; consider the order of information carefully here. Create a logical connection between each component described.
• Explanation: how do the parts work together to fulfill its function? What key principles govern its functioning? Consider how much detail is necessary here for your intended audience.
• Visuals: include graphics that clearly illustrate the mechanism and/or its parts. Show the device as a whole; consider showing specific details in expanded views, cut-aways, or labelled diagrams. You may even embed or link to videos showing the device in action.
• Conclusion : depending on the purpose, you might review product’s history, availability, manufacturing, costs, warnings, etc .)
• References : Sources you have used in your description, or additional sources of information available (if relevant).

You might consider using a template, like the Technical Description Template below, keeping in mind that while templates can be helpful guides, they do not provide much flexibility and may not work for all situations.

Sample Descriptions

Examine the description of the “Up Goer Five” in Figure 7.4.2  (click on image for larger version). Who might the intended audience be?

Compare the description in Figure 7.4.2  to the information given on the NASA website about the Mars Curiosity Rover .

Note the differences in the level of detail, vocabulary, and overall purpose of the descriptions. If you used the information on the NASA site to fill in the Technical Description Template , you might end up with something like the following chart.

You may find that some of these elements are not necessary; again, consider what your target audience already knows. Strike a balance between unnecessarily stating the obvious and incorrectly assuming your readers have knowledge that they may lack.

In refining the details of your description and its component parts, consider the following:

• Steps in a process it completes
• Top to bottom (or foundation upward)
• Left to right (or right to left)
• Inside to outside (or outside to inside)
• Most important to least important features
• Central component to peripherals
• Material properties, etc .
• Use correct terminology – define terms as necessary for your audience
• Use analogy to describe an unfamiliar thing in terms of a familiar thing
• Use objective language – no “ad speak” or subjective terms
• Use present tense, active verbs to describe how the device appears and what it does
• Use words that create vivid and specific pictures in the reader’s mind.

EXERCISE 7.2 Practice technical description

Choose a common, everyday object (such as one of the objects in Figure 7.4.3 ) and draft a technical description for an audience unfamiliar with the object. Start by imagining a target audience and purpose, and then try filling in the Technical Description Template with detailed information. Using the information in your template, draft a short description of 1-2 paragraphs, and add properly-captioned visuals.

• R. Sturnback and M. Okuna, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Technical Manual . New York: Pocket Books, 1991. ↵
• R. Munroe, "Up Goer Five" [Online]. Available:   https://xkcd.com/1133/   Also see "1133 Up Goer Five - explained," Explain xkcd wiki [Online]. Available:  https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1133:_Up_Goer_Five  . CC-BY-NC 2.5 . ↵
• [Corkscrew and bicycle images]. [Online]. Available: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dogbomb/527733767 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/8205548@N08/4607907389. CC BY 2.0 . ↵

Technical Writing Essentials Copyright © 2019 by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write a Process Essay

The process essay, also known as the "how-to" essay, is commonly written for people or companies that need tutorials or a set of instructional steps. Whether it's building a robot or cooking a chocolate cake, process essays use a similar format for any variations. They follow a step-by-step style, with the initial step influencing the second, which influences the third, and so on. Each step carries its own importance, and a poor explanation of one step can ruin the entire process. It's important to stay concise and efficient. However, before you begin writing your essay, you should do some small preparations. Let's discover them with our research writing service .

What Is a Process Paper?

A process essay is a type of essay that explains a process step by step and gives guidance for a certain process, working mechanism, procedure, etc. Process essays range from very simple ones, such as instructions for how to ride a bicycle, to more complex ones, such as a chemistry lab report of an oxidative reaction experiment. The goal of a process paper is to give its readers guidance and directions. 

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A process paper is characterized, first of all, by explaining a process using a description. Some words that are frequently used in process essays are “further”, “then”, “next”, “first”, “last”, “finally”, and “initially”. It is really important to remember that every process essay includes features, such as:

• clear and straightforward narration - the last thing you want to do is to confuse your reader with complex language and an unorganized thought thread;
• chronological order - avoid skipping steps and shifting them around, as it will result in misunderstanding and frustration for the readers;
• transition words - make sure to separate the next step from the previous ones by using transition words;
• descriptions of the steps - make sure your steps are clear and easy to follow.

There are several types of process essays. The first one is directional - it explains the “how to” for something. It can take on a wide range of subjects, such as how to apply for a credit card, how to get your driver’s license, how to plan a wedding, etc. The outcome of the directional essay should be a result. In the cases of the examples above: a credit card, a driver’s license, or a carefully planned wedding. The other type of process paper is informational - it explains how something works. Here are some examples: how a weather forecast is determined, how a space rocket works, how intermittent fasting changes your body, etc. An informational essay explains something to a reader and does not necessarily end up with a result, like directional does. 

Another type of essay that is similar to a process essay is a process analysis essay. The biggest difference is that a process analysis essay not only explains the steps, but also analyses them in depth. It has all of the characteristics of a process essay, although goes into more detail about the causes and consequences of every step.

If you need any additional information for process analysis essays, check out our article: HOW TO WRITE A PROCESS ANALYSIS ESSAY

Writing a process essay is not extremely difficult. By following simple rules and a set of steps, a successful, well-structured essay can be guaranteed.

Prepare The Small Stuff

Here we gathered some small general tips and advice that you should follow throughout your writing process to make sure that all of the expectations of a process paper are met.

• Determine the Audience's Skill Level. It's important to base the level of complexity of the essay on who the readers will be. For example, if you need to teach a friend how to do a simple fix or create a certain tool, then it would be most reasonable to stick to more basic terminology. However, if you are writing an essay for your astrophysics professor about the creation of a black hole in the universe, use more sophisticated and informative terminology.
• Make a List of Materials. Obviously, the creation of anything comes with some prerequisites. Whether it's items or ideas, the importance of knowing the necessities beforehand and having them ready to go is essential. Make sure to place each item in accordance with its importance. The more impactful a part is, the higher up on the list it should be. 
• Write out Each Task. In a step-by-step tutorial, each individual task carries some sort of weight. Since an entire process can not be complete if a step is skipped, it's crucial to write out every single step. However, don't go overboard in your explanations. It's not necessary to bring the tutorial to a microscopic level, but each step should be understandable and competent.

If you still have difficulty writing, you can get essay help online from our service.

Process Essay Topics

Choosing a topic for a process paper can be quite challenging. A good place to start is with your passions. If you pick something you are excited about, you can make it interesting for your readers and fun for yourself to write about. If your professor limits you to write a process essay on something you have very little knowledge of, choose a topic that is intriguing and triggers your interest. Then, conduct enough thorough research to make sure you understand everything perfectly before you go ahead and try to explain it to someone else. 

Another very important thing to consider while writing a process essay is your audience. It is highly unlikely that college students are interested in instructions for “How to Get Into Your Dream School” or “How to Pass Your SATs”. Make sure your topic relates to the subject you are studying and you are following your professor’s prompt guidelines.

Here are some ideas that might be of interest for you:

• How to lose weight on a keto diet
• How your immune system fights COVID-19
• How to start selling on Amazon
• How to improve your credit score
• How to decrease your social media usage
• How to apply for unemployment insurance
• How to improve your college performance 
• How to open your first bank account

It's important to note that these essay topics are just some common examples used by several college students for their course papers. Feel free to use any one of them if you want, or think of one on your own. Just make sure it's a PROCESS!

Process Essay Outline

Most essay outlines follow the standard scheme: Intro > Body Paragraphs > Conclusion . follow the standard scheme: Intro > Body Paragraphs > Conclusion. A good process essay outline should look like this:

• Introduction — brief your reader on your topic, explain why you have chosen it and how you are planning to approach the explanation of the process. 
• Body — the biggest part of your essay that should be divided into paragraphs for easier understanding and structure. Make sure each paragraph is flowing smoothly into the next one with connective words.

Paragraph 1. First step of the process. Explain what the step is, what the best way to perform it is, and how to avoid common mistakes when doing it.

Paragraph 2. The next step of the process (the same as in Paragraph 1). Thoroughly explain what this step is about.

• Conclusion . Here you need to explain why your instructions are valuable. It is your opportunity to persuade your reader(s) that the steps you presented and the process they learned will be useful for them in the future. 

Every process is different: some can take a couple of minutes, while others can take months or years to complete. The length of the essay is generally based on the difficulty and number of steps it takes. However, the structure doesn't maneuver.

Introduction

The first thing that you want to do as a writer for your process paper is to help your readers be interested in your individual process. Be descriptive about it, paint a picture for your readers. A joke or a personal reference can be a great attention grabber and can pull your reader right in. For somebody to be keen on approaching your process, they have to express interest in it. Though, it generally goes without saying that many writers ignore this fact. Let's break it down into subsections:

• Give a little bit of historical background. People often want to know the origins of whatever it is that they're working on. Introducing this part of the process helps to intrigue your readers, as well as give them a sense of purpose for the task.
• Create an approximate timeframe. Unfortunately, your readers don't have all day to spend on this one event. In addition to learning about its purpose, people want to know how long the task will take. This way, they can decide how to break up the work. If it's a quick fix, then they can knock it out in one session. However, if it's a large-scale operation, then your readers will obviously have to create their own time schedule.

For example, let’s say that the topic of your essay is “How to Save Money”. You can start the introduction of your process essay by explaining that as a college student, you often find yourself in need of extra money and you are stuck with bad money habits. This will create a good connection with your readers, because almost everyone has been in a situation of needing to be savvy with their finances. Another thing you can mention is the importance of saving money and the multiple opportunities it presents, such as being able to invest it, being able to pay off a credit card debt, or being able to save up to avoid taking out a student loan.

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Body Paragraphs

This is the point in the process essay where you start introducing the step-by-step process your readers will need to take. A lot of the time, it helps to break down each process into subsections. For example, if a step has many parts to it, it would be clever to create a paragraph on its own just for that step. Remember, it's important to keep things smooth and efficient. Break down the body paragraphs in unity with the steps. Let's go into more detail about each step:

Each step should be carefully explained.  Every step will vary in length. Think about it: every instruction manual has several steps. Some are more difficult to comprehend or perform than others. For this reason, create your steps and explanations accordingly. You should be able to get a sense of their length and difficulty based on the explanation.

Don't forget to explain the purpose.  People don't want orders barked at them aimlessly. Besides just accomplishing a task, people want to learn as they perform.

• Why did they do this?
• What was the purpose of this method?
• Why did we do it this way and not this other way?

To make everything flow smoothly use transitions.  Make the steps flow one after another to create a well-structured essay. As you introduce the next step, consider using transition words like “next”, “now”, “then”, “so that”, etc.

Before writing the steps out in full sentences, it is a great idea to create an outline for your body paragraphs. Here is an outline for the body paragraphs of a process essay on “How to Save Money”:

Paragraph 1:

• keep track of your expenses
• organize your collected data
• decide what you can skimp on in your spendings

Paragraph 2:

• create a realistic budget
• check weekly to ensure you are sticking to it
• save 15% of every monthly income
• set a tangible goal for saving, such as a car

These process essay examples use only two body paragraphs, but feel free to include more to ensure a better understanding and cohesive flow for your paper. Although, do not include excessive unnecessary details that clutter your essay and make understanding it even more difficult. While writing your essay, include small brief explanations for each statement. For example, “Even though eating out and grabbing a coffee on your way to class sounds tempting, setting a budget and saving 15% of each of your monthly earnings aside can help you have enough to put down a downpayment on a new car.” Here the reader will understand that there is a direct relationship between each step and the result it is going to give. 

Showing the readers that they are learning and not just repeating is one of the most effective ways to lock down their attention and keep them coming back!

After going through every step meticulously and explaining the whole process, a process essay needs a confident conclusion. This paragraph should be short, sweet, and to the point. It's main goal is to accomplish the following tasks:

• Discuss the main result. After the readers have completed the process, they should be left with a final result. It's important that you explain to your readers what the end result will look like, and what can be done with it.
• Restate the process’s general purpose. After completing the task, you obviously would like to know its overall purpose. When your readers feel that they have accomplished a challenge, learned something from it, and have a path to take the result towards, they will be satisfied!
• State your Overall Conclusion. To put a pretty tie around your process essay means that you need to neatly wrap things up! Restate some of the highlightable points as well as the process’s key overall purpose. Make sure that your readers feel accomplished after going through your process, and  ensure that you strengthen the necessity of its purpose with a nice concluding sentence!

The conclusion of an essay on “How to Save Money” would explain that the completion of all of the steps will result in saving money that can be used for a specific goal or for rainy day fund purposes. You can mention the importance of every step and briefly repeat some of the key points. 

Post-Writing Tips

Here are some final tips to wrap up your writing process. Use them as a checklist for a successful and coherent essay. 

• Make sure the work is simple enough to follow. Worst-case-scenario: its author creates a feeling of absolute confusion in the reader’s mind. To avoid this problem, always remember that your readers can be beginners. Do not try to impress them with complicated words or sentences, use simple language to provide clear directions on how to do something. Give as many details as possible, but do it plainly. "Why is he making me do this?" "What was the purpose of this?" "I don't understand this step at all!" If the reader is asking themself these questions, then it's time to do some editing!
• Experiment and try it for yourself or ask a friend. There's no better way to experience success than to actively attempt your process through your own instructions. If everything truly makes sense, then you should have no problem solving the task using your own words. Even better, ask a peer to try it through your words to get an outside point of view.
• Choose the right topic for you and research it well
• Maintain a logical order of steps, make it easy to follow
• Avoid using imperative sentences - you do not want to sound like an Apple TV manual
• Explain terms that are most likely outside of most people’s range of common knowledge 

If you have a ready-made essay but need to make significant changes to it, you can use our rewrite my essay service .

Process Essay Examples

Now that you know all about process essays and how to write them, we have prepared some great essay topic ideas in case you are stuck and cannot choose one:

Building a business from scratch is an intricate process that entails a number of steps. Each of these steps should have specific objectives and measurable outcomes.The following analysis gives the basic steps followed when building any business from scratch.

Saving can be defined as a differed consumption or keeping aside a portion of your income for unexpected future uncertainties or plans. Read for reason and actual steps for saving more money

Read also a thesis statement example from our author. In this article, you can learn something useful for yourself.

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If you still feel like you could use some help with your process essay, do not hesitate to seek help from our writing service. Our writers specialize in a wide range of essays of different types including creative writing essay , process essays, and would be more than happy to assist you with writing, editing, or direction if you are feeling uneasy. Click the button below and college admission essay writer will process your requests fast.

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Technical Report Writing

WRITING THE MECHANISM DESCRIPTION

The outline below presents the usual fonn for writing a mechanism description. This basic approach, with slight variations, will work in most instances:

I. Introduction

A. Definition and purpose

B. Overall description (size, weight, shape, material)

C. Main parts

II. Body: Description of Mechanism

A. Main part A (definition followed by detailed description of size, shape, material, location, and method of attachment) B. Main part B (definition followed by overall description, then identification of subparts)

1. Subpart X (definition followed by detailed description of size, shape, material, location, and method of attachment)

2. Sub part Y (same as for sub part X)

3. Optional conclusion

Introduction

The introduction gives the reader a framework for understanding the mechanism. In the introduction’ you should define the mechanism, tell its purpose, present an overall description, and preview the main parts. In the following introduction, the writer does all four:

To: Emily BroJn                                                           Date: July 18, 19XX From: Steve V,andeWalle Subject: Tablejep Paper Micrometer

This memo provides the information you requested at our July 17 meeting dealing with my department’s paper micrometer. A paper micrometer is a small measuring instrument used to measure the thickness of a piece of paper. The micrometer, roughly twice as large as a regular stapler , has four main parts: the frame, the dial, the hand lever, and the piston.

Body: Description of Parts

The body of the paper contains the detailed description. Usually you identify each main part with a heading, then describe it in a single paragraph. Each paragraph will follow the outline explained earlier in the section on The Common Elements of Description, p. 175. In the example below, notice that each section describes only one item. If necessary, you can divide a secnonmro subsections.

The frame of the paper micrometer is a cast piece of steel that provides a surface to which all of the other parts are attached. The frame, painted gray, looks like the letter C with a large flcttdisk on the bottom and a round calibrated dial on top. The disk is 4112 inches in diameter and resembles a flat hockey puck. The frame is 5% inches high and 7112 inches long. Excluding the bottom disk, the frame is approximately 1V4 inches wide. The micrometer weighs 8 pounds.

The dial shows the thickness 01 the paper. The dial looks like a watch djal except that it has only one moving hand. The frame around the dial is made of chrome-plated metal. A piece of glass protects the face of the dial in the same way that the glass crystal on a watch protects the face and hands. The dial, 6 inches in diameter and 7/8 inches thick, is calibrated in .001 inch marks, and the face of the dial is numbered every .010 inches. The hand is made from a thin, stiff metal rod, pointed on the end.

The Hand Lever

The hand lever, shaped like a handle on a pair of pliers, raises and lowers the piston. It is made of chrome-plated steel and attaches to the frame near the base of the dial. The hand lever is 4 inches lorg, V2 inch wide, and V4 inch thick. When the hand lever is depressed, the piston moves up, and the hand on the dial rotates. When the hand lever is released and a piece of paper is positioned under the piston, the dial shows the thickness of the paper.

The Piston 

The piston moves up and down when the operator depresses and releases the hand lever. This action causes the paper’s thickness to register on the dial. The piston is % inches in diameter, flat on the bottom, and made of metal without a finish. The piston slides in a hole in the frame. The piston can measure the thickness of paper up to .300 inches

Other Patterns for Mechanism Descriptions

Two other patterns fire useful for describing mechanisms: the function method and the generalized method. The Function Method One common way to describe a machine is to name its main parts and then give only a brief discussion of the function of each part. This function method is used extensively in manuals. The following paragraph is an example of a function paragraph.

FUNCTION BUUTTONS

The four function buttons, located under the liquid crystal display, work in conjunction with the function switches. The four switches are hertz (Hz), decibels (dB), continuity (c), and relative (REL). The hertz function can be selected to measure the frequency of the Input signal by pressing button 1. Press the button again to disable. The decibel function allows you to measure the intensity of the input signal, which is valuable for measuring audio signals. It functions the same as the hertz button. The continuity function allows you to turn on a visible bar o~the display, turn on an audible continuity signal, or disable both of them. The relative function enables you to store a value ‘as a reference value. For example, say you have a value of 1.09 volts stored: every signal that you measure with this value will have 1.00 volt subtracted from it.

The Generalized Method

The generalized method does not focus on a part-by-part description; instead the writer conveys many facts about the machine. This method of describing is commonly found in technical journals and in technical reports. With the generalized method, writers use the following outline Gordan 19-22, 35): 1. General detail 2. Physical description 3. Details of function 4. Other details

General detail consists of a definition and a basic statement of the operaticIn principle. Physical description explains such items as shape, size, arrea’ ance, and characteristics (weight, hardness, chemical properties, methods of assembly or construction). Details of function explain these features the mechanism:

how it works, or its operational principle its applications how well and how efficiently it works special constraints, such as conditions in the environment how it is controlled how long it performs before it needs service Other details include information about background marketing general information, such as who makes it The article on anti-static foam in Chapter 6 (p. 110) and the EVA hot melt model at the end of this chapter are examples of this kind of description.

Jerz's Literacy Weblog (est. 1999)

Process description: how to write about a sequence of events.

Jerz > Writing > Technical >

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.

• Introduction
• Description
• Step-by-Step Description

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.

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.

Purpose and Scope of the Document

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

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.

—–

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.

31 thoughts on “ Process Description: How to Write about a Sequence of Events ”

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.

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An Introduction to Mechanisms

• Open Access
• First Online: 14 July 2018

Cite this chapter

You have full access to this open access chapter

• Veli-Pekka Parkkinen 11 ,
• Christian Wallmann 12 ,
• Michael Wilde 12 ,
• Brendan Clarke 13 ,
• Phyllis Illari 13 ,
• Michael P. Kelly 14 ,
• Charles Norell 15 ,
• Federica Russo 16 ,
• Beth Shaw 17 &
• Jon Williamson 12  

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Philosophy ((BRIEFSPHILOSOPH))

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This chapter offers a brief summary of mechanisms, as including complex-system mechanisms (a complex arrangement of entities and activities, organised in such a way as to be regularly or predictably responsible for the phenomenon to be explained) and mechanistic processes (a spatio-temporal pathway along which certain features are propagated from the starting point to the end point). The chapter emphasises that EBM+ is concerned with evidence of mechanisms, not mere just-so stories, and summarises some key roles assessing evidence of mechanisms can play, particularly with respect to assessing efficacy and external validity.

You have full access to this open access chapter,  Download chapter PDF

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Process Tracing Methods

Reflexivity and fragility

Pathway Analysis, Causal Mediation, and the Identification of Causal Mechanisms

This chapter introduces mechanisms and their use in the context of working with evidence in medicine. The first section gives an extremely short introduction to mechanisms that assumes no prior knowledge. Subsequent sections develop our account of mechanisms in more detail.

1 Mechanisms at a Glance

Mechanisms allow us to understand complex systems (e.g., physiological or social systems) and can help us to explain, predict, and intervene. An important subclass of mechanisms is characterised by the following working definition:

A complex-systems mechanism for a phenomenon consists of entities and activities organised in such a way that they are responsible for the phenomenon (Illari and Williamson 2012 , 120).

For the example mechanism of Fig.  2.1 , the phenomena are the effects of a drug, the drug and the receptor are the parts, and the interactions are the binding and triggering.

A simple example of a mechanism diagram that shows the effects produced by a drug via receptor binding

Why do mechanisms matter? Mechanisms explain how things work. This makes them important in their own right, but also means that they are often used when designing clinical studies. For example, one might decide to use a biomarker to evaluate the effect of a drug, and that decision would rely on our knowledge of some mechanism that links the biomarker with the drug. Note that while mechanisms of drug action are an important kind of mechanism, they are not the only kinds of mechanism that we will consider here.

We will be interested in evidence of mechanisms, not descriptions of mechanisms for which there is no evidence. To be useful, descriptions of mechanisms should be connected to high-quality research, and not just to either background knowledge or to what Pawson ( 2003 ) calls ‘programme theories’. Otherwise they are merely just-so stories. Descriptions of mechanisms need to be supported by evidence to be useful.

Mechanistic studies are not normally sufficient on their own to justify treatment or policy decisions. Other supporting evidence (such as that arising from clinical studies) is normally required.

As is the case with other kinds of evidence, evidence of mechanisms is not infallible.

Why should one scrutinise evidence of mechanisms in healthcare? As explained in Sect.  2.3 below, evidence of mechanisms can support or undermine judgements of efficacy and external validity. Therefore, using evidence of mechanisms in concert with other forms of evidence results in better healthcare decisions. (We use the analogy of reinforced concrete to explain this claim; see p. 92.) If this sort of mechanistic reasoning is not properly scrutinised, medical decisions may be adversely affected. For example, current tools for evaluating the quality of clinical research (such as GRADE) do not scrutinise assumptions about mechanisms that have been used to design clinical studies. Just as EBM improved clinical practice by scrutinising clinical studies, scrutinising evidence of mechanisms can lead to further improvements. We have provided some suitable tools for assisting such scrutiny in Chap.  4 .

2 What is a Mechanism?

Mechanisms are invoked to explain (Machamer et al. 2000 ; Gillies 2017b ). Textbooks in the biomedical and social sciences are replete with diagrams and descriptions of mechanisms. These are used to explain the proper function of features of the human body, to explain diseases and their spread, to explain the functioning of medical devices, and to explain social aspects of health interventions, among other things.

One kind of mechanism, a complex-systems mechanism , is a complex arrangement of entities and activities, organised in such a way as to be regularly or predictably responsible for the phenomenon to be explained (Illari and Williamson 2012 ). In such mechanisms, spatio-temporal and hierarchical organisation tend to play a crucial explanatory role (Williamson 2018 , Sect. 1).

Another kind of mechanism, a mechanistic process , consists in a spatio-temporal pathway along which certain features are propagated from the starting point to the end point (Salmon 1998 ). Examples include the motion of a billiard ball from cue to collision, and the trajectory of a molecule in the bloodstream from injection to metabolism. This sort of mechanism is often one-off, rather than operating in a regular and repeatable way. In the case of environmental causes of disease, the repercussions of these processes may take a long time to develop—e.g., they may be mediated by epigenetic changes.

In the health sciences, mechanistic explanations often involve a combination of these two sorts of mechanism. For example, an explanation of a certain cancer may appeal to the mechanistic processes that bring environmental factors into the human body, the eventual failure of the body’s complex-systems mechanisms for preventing damage, and the resulting mechanistic processes that lead to disease, including the propagation of tumours (Russo and Williamson 2012 ).

We shall use ‘mechanism’ to refer to a complex-systems mechanism or a mechanistic process or some combination of the two. We should emphasise that mechanisms in medicine and public health may be social as well as biological (see Chap.  9 and Clarke and Russo 2017 ), and, in the case of medical devices, for instance, they may also include technological components.

A clinical study is the usual method for establishing that two variables are correlated:

A clinical study for the claim that A is a cause of B repeatedly measures the values of a set of measured variables that includes the variables A and B . These values are recorded in a dataset . In an experimental study , the measurements are made after an experimental intervention. If no intervention is performed, the study is an observational study : a cohort study follows a group of people over time; a case control study divides the study population into those who have a disease and those who do not and surveys each cohort; a case series is a study that tracks patients who received a similar treatment or exposure. An n-of-1 study consists of repeated measurements of a single individual; other studies measure several individuals. Clinical studies are crucial for estimating any correlation between A and B , and they indirectly provide evidence relevant to the claim that A is a cause of B (see Fig.  3.1 ).

On the other hand, a much wider variety of methods can provide good evidence of mechanisms—including direct manipulation (e.g., in vitro experiments), direct observation (e.g., biomedical imaging, autopsy), clinical studies (e.g., RCTs, cohort studies, case control studies, case series), confirmed theory (e.g., established immunological theory), analogy (e.g., animal experiments) and simulation (e.g., agent-based models) (Clarke et al. 2014 ; Williamson 2018 ). A mechanistic study is a study which provides evidence of the details of a mechanism:

A mechanistic study for the claim that A is a cause of B is a study which provides evidence of features of the mechanism by which A is hypothesised to cause B. Mechanistic studies can be produced by means of in vitro experiments, biomedical imaging, autopsy, established theory, animal experiments and simulations, for instance. Moreover, consider a clinical study for the claim that A is a cause of C , where C is an intermediate variable on the path from A to B —e.g., a surrogate outcome. Such a study is also a mechanistic study because it provides evidence of certain details of the mechanism from A to B . A clinical study for the claim that A is a cause of B is not normally a mechanistic study for the claim that A is a cause of B because, although it can provide indirect evidence that there exists some mechanism linking A and B , it does not normally provide evidence of the structure or features of that mechanism. Similarly, a mechanistic study for the claim that A is a cause of B is not normally a clinical study for the claim that A is a cause of B, because it does not repeatedly measure values of A and B together. A study will be called a mixed study if it is both a clinical study and a mechanistic study—i.e., if it both measures values of A and B together and provides evidence of features of the mechanism linking A and B . To avoid confusion, the terminology clinical study and mechanistic study will be used to refer only to non-mixed studies.

3 Why Consider Evidence of Mechanisms?

There are various reasons for taking evidence of mechanisms into account when assessing claims in medicine. In general, when evidence is limited, the more evidence one can take into account, and the more varied this evidence is, the more reliable the resulting assessments (Claveau 2013 ). Moreover, when deciding whether to approve a new health intervention, or whether a chemical is carcinogenic, for example, it can take a very long time to gather enough evidence if the only evidence one considers is clinical study evidence. By considering evidence of mechanisms in conjunction with clinical study evidence, decisions can be made earlier: one can reduce the time taken for a drug to reach market (Gibbs 2000 ), and reduce the time taken to restrict exposure to carcinogens, for instance.

There are also reasons for considering evidence of mechanisms that are particular to the task at hand. While evidence of mechanisms can inform a variety of tasks (see below), in this book we focus on its use for evaluating efficacy and external validity. Williamson ( 2018 ) provides a detailed justification of the need for evidence of mechanisms when performing these two tasks. Here we shall briefly sketch the main considerations.

Evaluating efficacy . As noted above, establishing effectiveness can be broken down into two steps: establishing efficacy and establishing external validity. Establishing efficacy, i.e., that A is a cause of B in the study population, in turn requires establishing two things. First, A and B need to be appropriately correlated. Second, this correlation needs to be attributable to A causing B , rather than some other explanation, such as bias, confounding or some connection other than a causal connection (Williamson 2018 , Sect. 1).

If it is genuinely the case that A is a cause of B , then there is some combination of mechanisms that explains instances of B by invoking instances of A and that can account for the magnitude of the observed correlation. As a mechanism of action may only be present in some individuals but not others, it needs to be credible that the mechanism of action operates in enough individuals to explain the size of the observed correlation in the study population. Just finding a mechanism of action in some individuals is insufficient. Thus, in order to establish efficacy one needs to establish both the existence of an appropriate correlation in the study population and the existence of an appropriate mechanism that can explain that correlation. We shall refer to this latter claim—that there is a mechanism that can explain that correlation—as the general mechanistic claim for efficacy:

General mechanistic claim . In the case of efficacy, the general mechanistic claim takes the form: there exists a mechanism linking the putative cause A to the putative effect B , which explains instances of B in terms of instances of A and which can account for the observed correlation between A and B . In the case of external validity, the general mechanistic claim is: the mechanism responsible for B in the target populations is sufficiently similar to that responsible for B in the study population.

More generally, evidence of mechanisms can help rule in or out various explanations of a correlation. For example, it can help to determine the direction of causation, which variables are potential confounders, whether a treatment regime is likely to lead to performance bias, and whether measured variables are likely to exhibit temporal trends.

Some alternative explanations of a correlation can be rendered less credible by choosing a particular study design. Adjusting for known confounders and randomisation can lower the probability of confounding. Blinding can reduce the probability of performance and detection bias. Larger trials can reduce the probability of chance correlations. Selecting variables A and B that do not exhibit significant temporal trends and that are spatio-temporally disjoint can reduce the probability of some other explanations.

In certain cases, clinical studies alone might establish that an observed correlation is causal (Williamson 2018 , Sect. 2.1). However, establishing a causal claim in the absence of evidence of the details of the underlying mechanisms requires several independent studies of sufficient size and quality of design and implementation which consistently exhibit a sufficiently large correlation (aka ‘effect size’), so as to rule out explanations of the correlation other than causation. This situation is rare: evidence from clinical studies is typically more equivocal. Therefore, evidence of mechanisms obtained from sources other than clinical studies can play a crucial role in deciding efficacy. Considering this other evidence is likely to lead to more reliable causal conclusions. Where this evidence needs to be considered, its quality should be evaluated in ways such as those set out in this book.

Evaluating external validity . Having established efficacy, i.e., that a causal relationship obtains in the study population, one needs to establish external validity—that the causal relationship can be extrapolated to the target population of interest.

As noted above, establishing that A is a cause of B requires establishing both that A and B are correlated and that there is some mechanism that can account for this correlation. Having established these facts in the study population, one can infer causation in the target population with some confidence if one can establish that:

In the target population, there is a mechanism that is sufficiently similar to the mechanism of action in the study population, and

Any mechanisms in the target population which counteract this mechanism do not mask the effect of the mechanism of action to such an extent that a net correlation in the target population could not be explained mechanistically.

Evaluating external validity, then, requires evaluating whether the complex of relevant mechanisms in the target population is sufficiently similar to that in the study population, in the sense of (1) and (2) holding. Evidence of mechanisms is therefore crucial to this mode of inference.

This form of inference can be especially challenging when the study population is an animal study and the target population is a human population (Wilde and Parkkinen 2017 ). This is because, despite important similarities between several physiological mechanisms in certain animals and those in humans, many differences also exist. This form of inference can also be challenging when both the study and the target population are human populations. This is because human behaviour is often a component of an intervention mechanism and may in fact hinder the effectiveness of the intervention. We discuss this in Chap.  9 . Some well-known examples of behaviour modifying effectiveness include the Tamil Nadu Integrated Nutrition Project (India) and the North Karelia Project (Finland), both discussed by Clarke et al. ( 2014 ).

Other questions. Apart from when evaluating efficacy and external validity, evidence of mechanisms can also be helpful when:

Drawing inferences about a single individual, for treatment and personalised medicine (Wallmann and Williamson 2017 );

Commissioning new research and devising new research funding proposals;

Justifying the use of clinical studies, designing them, and interpreting their results (Clarke et al. 2014 );

Suggesting and analysing adverse drug effects—see Gillies ( 2017a ), who argues that consideration of evidence of mechanisms would have been necessary to avoid the thalidomide disaster;

Designing drugs and new devices;

Building economic models in order to ascertain cost effectiveness of a health intervention;

Deciding how surrogate outcomes are related to outcomes of interest.

Example. How evidence of mechanisms can help with the analysis of adverse drug effects: abacavir hypersensitivity syndrome .

Abacavir is a nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor, widely used as part of combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS, that received an FDA licence in 1998. However, its use was initially complicated by a severe, life-threatening, hypersensitivity reaction that occurred in approximately 5% of users (precise estimates vary; Clay ( 2002 ) gives a range of 2.3–9%). There was confusion regarding the cause of this reaction, and it was thought that ‘it is not possible to characterize those patients most likely to develop the HSR’ on the basis of reports of the syndrome (Clay 2002 , 2505).

This changed with the discovery that the hypersensitivity syndrome only occurred in individuals with the HLA-B*5701 allele (Mallal et al. 2002 ). This discovery arose from evidence of mechanisms. These authors noted that there were similarities between the mechanisms of several hypersensitivity syndromes—by ‘evidence that the pathogenesis of several similar multisystem drug hypersensitivity reactions involves MHC-restricted presentation of drug or drug metabolites, with direct binding of these non-peptide antigens to MHC molecules or haptenation to endogenous proteins before T-cell presentation’ (Mallal et al. 2002 , 727). Patients are now genetically screened for the HLA-B*5701 allele, and this has greatly reduced the incidence of the hypersensitivity syndrome (Rauch et al. 2006 ).

In this book, we focus largely on the use of evidence of mechanisms to help establish efficacy and external validity. The problem of drawing inferences about a single individual is briefly discussed in Chap.  10 .

Importance of considering evidence of mechanisms . Recall that in certain cases clinical studies on their own suffice to establish efficacy and there is no need for a detailed evaluation of other evidence of mechanisms. In other cases, however, evidence of mechanisms arising from sources other than clinical studies can be decisive. In such cases, it is important to scrutinise and evaluate this evidence, just as it is important to scrutinise and evaluate clinical studies.

Situations in which it is particularly important to critically assess evidence of mechanisms arising from sources other than clinical studies include:

Where clinical studies give conflicting results, are of limited quality, or otherwise exhibit uncertainty about the effect size;

Where randomised clinical studies are not possible, for practical or ethical reasons, in the population of interest (e.g., evaluating putative environmental causes of cancer in humans; evaluating the action of drugs in children and pregnant women);

Where clinical studies are underpowered with respect to the outcomes of interest (e.g., when assessing adverse reactions to drugs by means of studies designed to test the efficacy of the drug);

Any question of external validity where clinical studies in the target population are limited or inconclusive;

Assessing the effectiveness of a public health action or a social care intervention, where a thorough understanding of the relevant social mechanisms is important;

Assessing the effectiveness of a medical device, where the mechanism of the device and its interaction with biological mechanisms may not be immediately obvious.

Some commentators have argued that one should disregard evidence of mechanisms, largely on the grounds that mechanistic reasoning has sometimes proved dangerous in the past. An infamous example concerns advice on baby sleeping position in order to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (Evans 2002 , 13–14). On the basis of seemingly plausible mechanistic considerations, it was recommended that babies be put to sleep on their fronts, since putting a baby to sleep on its back seemed to increase the likelihood of sudden infant death caused by choking on vomit. However, comparative clinical studies later made clear that this advice had led to tens of thousands of avoidable cot deaths (Gilbert et al. 2005 ). There are several other examples of harmful or ineffective interventions recommended on the basis of mechanistic reasoning (Howick 2011 , 154–157). As a result, it has been argued that relying on evidence of mechanisms can do more harm than good.

In many of these cases, however, the proposed evidence of mechanisms was not explicitly evaluated: often, there was little more than a psychologically compelling story about a mechanism (Clarke et al. 2014 , 350). In such cases, making the evidence explicit and explicitly evaluating that evidence would have been enormously beneficial. Thus there is a difference between mechanistic reasoning , which in some cases is based on rather little evidence and can be problematic, and evaluating mechanistic evidence , which is almost always helpful. The case of anti-arrhythmic drugs may help to illustrate this distinction. Arguably, anti-arrhythmic drugs were recommended on the basis of ill-founded mechanistic reasoning (Howick 2011 ). The story goes as follows. After a heart attack, patients are at a higher risk of sudden death. Those patients are also more likely to experience arrhythmia. On the basis of some mechanistic reasoning, it was thought likely that there was a mechanism linking arrhythmia to heart attacks. Anti-arrhythmic drugs were, as a result, prescribed in an attempt to indirectly prevent heart attacks by directly preventing arrhythmia. It was later discovered on the basis of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial (CAST) that, unfortunately, the drugs led to an increase in mortality (Echt et al. 1991 ). See also Furberg ( 1983 ). However, at least in retrospect, it looks as though insufficient attention had been paid to mechanistic evidence. In particular, there was little reason to think that reducing arrhythmia was a good surrogate outcome for reducing mortality due to heart attacks. Indeed Holman ( 2017 ) argues that pharmaceutical company influence was largely responsible for that choice of surrogate outcome. In this case, properly considering the mechanistic evidence may have led to not recommending anti-arrhythmic drugs.

A critic of the use of evidence of mechanisms might respond that even when there exists good evidence of mechanisms, many biomedical processes are so complex that it is remains difficult to establish causal claims on the basis of evidence of mechanisms (Howick 2011 , 136–143). For example, there was arguably some good mechanistic evidence in favour of the claim that dalcetrapib lowers the risk of developing coronary heart disease by increasing the ratio of HDL:LDL. However, a randomised controlled trial showed that risk of coronary heart disease was not significantly affected (Schwartz et al. 2012 ). A possible explanation for this failure was identified by Tardif et al. ( 2015 ), who identified two genetic subgroups of patients. While one subgroup appeared to benefit from dalcetrapib, the second genetic subgroup was harmed. Here, while further work was required to understand the mechanisms in play at the stage of the dalcetrapib clinical trial, it appears as if a credible conclusion has now been reached.

More generally, it is widely accepted that the complexity of biomedical processes presents a significant hurdle for establishing causal claims solely on the basis of evidence of mechanisms. But this is exactly why this book recommends explicitly evaluating evidence of mechanisms alongside evidence of correlation. Evidence of mechanisms is not sufficient for good clinical decision making—but neither is evidence of mere correlation.

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Russo, F., & Williamson, J. (2012). EnviroGenomarkers: The interplay between mechanisms and difference making in establishing causal claims. Medicine Studies: International Journal for the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine and Allied Sciences , 3 , 249–262.

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Wallmann, C., & Williamson, J. (2017). Four approaches to the reference class problem. In G. Hofer-Szabo & L. Wroński., editor, Making it formally explicit: Probability, Causality, and Determinism . Dordrecht: Springer.

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Veli-Pekka Parkkinen

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Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

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Parkkinen, VP. et al. (2018). An Introduction to Mechanisms. In: Evaluating Evidence of Mechanisms in Medicine. SpringerBriefs in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94610-8_2

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7.3: The Structure of a Description Essay

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• Amber Kinonen, Jennifer McCann, Todd McCann, & Erica Mead
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Description essays typically describe a person, a place, or an object using sensory details. The structure of a descriptive essay is more flexible than in some of the other rhetorical modes. The introduction of a description essay should set up the tone and point of the essay. The thesis should convey the writer’s overall impression of the person, place, or object described in the body paragraphs.

The organization of the essay may best follow spatial order, an arrangement of ideas according to physical characteristics or appearance. Depending on what the writer describes, the organization could move from top to bottom, left to right, near to far, warm to cold, frightening to inviting, and so on.

For example, if the subject were a client’s kitchen in the midst of renovation, you might start at one side of the room and move slowly across to the other end, describing appliances, cabinetry, and so on. Or you might choose to start with older remnants of the kitchen and progress to the new installations. Maybe start with the floor and move up toward the ceiling.

Sample Technical Writing Mechanism Description Essay Example

• Pages: 4 (841 words)
• Published: July 26, 2016
• Type: Analysis

This Document is designed for entrepreneurs who want a portable computer, but students may also take interest, because some of their needs are similar to those of business people. Also, the purpose of the description is to inform the audience by providing a comprehensive informative document on how this particular mechanism works, and the description is also designed to provide information on its usefulness. Furthermore, business people will want to learn more about the mechanism, because they are interested in acquiring a laptop, or because they want to teach other employees more about the portable computer.

So, the audience will most likely use the description to learn more about laptops, and they should understand the description with ease because it is designed for a non technical audience. Nevertheless, this mechanical description might create misunderstan

dings with certain cultures, because some immigrants or foreign cultures may not be familiar with the English language. However, since the document will be used in an office setting located within the United States. The audience should be able to understand the English language.

Also, reading and understanding this document is the only task that is truly required for this particular audience. Furthermore, the description that I will write must state several main points to the audience. For example, the description must communicate the different features of the portable computer, and it must describe to the audience why these features are important. Also, they need to know the operating principals of the laptop, and they must be able to recognize the five main components of the portable computer in the description.

Finally, the mechanisms description will b

presented to the audience on May, 7, 2010, and it will be delivered in a Non technical format. Introduction-General Description A laptop computer is a personal computer that is portable or easy to carry around, and is similar to a desktop computer because it incorporates all of the same elements. Laptops are designed for internet use, producing documents, graphic design, storing files, and communicating with others. The laptop originated in the military, but was not widely used like the desktop computer, because it was too small for personal use.

Also, it did not have ideal storage capacity. However, technological advancements have greatly improved a laptops storage capabilities. Making it a widely used instrument in the business industry and for scholars as well. Also, laptops are highly priced in comparison to desktop computers. Even so, there are some laptops that are priced much lower than desktop computers, but they are not equipped to store information like regular laptops. The laptop operates with the use of battery power, or can be plugged into an electrical outlet. It performs typed commands, and is used to communicate with others or to produce documents and designs.

Furthermore, laptops have internal software storage capabilities, and some laptops are enclosed for high performance gaming The laptop has several main parts, the monitor, keyboard, mouse, computer memory, hard disk, motherboard, and the central processing unit. Description of Parts and their Functions keyboard. The key board is a device that is used to input information, and it can be compared to a typewriter, because it has letter keys and symbols. Also, these keys transmit electrical signals, which register inside the keyboard’s circuitry.

The Mouse is a plastic device that is used to point objects and to detect two dimensional motion. The mouse translates the motion of a person’s hand into the computer by using mechanical sensors. Monitor. The monitor is an output device that resembles a television screen. It transmits commands, and it displays commands in the form of text, images, or graphics. Memory. Memory is stored inside silicone chips built into the computer, and it is used to store large amounts of information, and to store temporary files or permanent files. Hard Disk. Hard disk is the part of the computer’s disk drive, which stores digitally encoded data.

Motherboard. Mother board is a socket on the side of the computer, which is used to install or connect additional components. Central processing Unit. Central processing unit is an electronic circuit that executes commands implied by computer program instructions. Operating Description and Conclusion A person operating a laptop can accomplish many different tasks, because its main function is to respond to commands that allow it to produce documents, retrieve information or communicate with others. Commands are typed into the keyboard, and are executed by the computer processor, these signals are then transmitted on the computer monitor.

In addition, a person can operate a mouse, and command the laptop to do certain tasks. For example, an individual can open and close files, or may also choose to design documents with the use of a mouse. The Laptop is very efficient because it can produce large projects. This makes it a very valuable tool for entrepreneurs, and the demand for portable computers has also grown in

the past few years, because current laptops have greater storage capacity, and modern laptops can perform many of the same tasks as regular desktop computers.

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Example Of Essay On Mechanism Description Of A Ballpoint Pen

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Writing , Stress , Ink , Cap , Ball , NIB , Material , Cartridge

Published: 01/03/2020

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Introduction

Ballpoint pen, also called biro, after its founder, Laszlo Biro, is a writing tool that has a small ball bearing for the transfer of the stored in a cartridge onto the writing surface. Its internal chamber is filled with an ink which flows to the tip as a result of the rolling action of its major parts. Its sphere is made of carbide, steel, brass, tungsten or any other non deformable durable material with a diameter ranging from 0.5- 1.2 mm. the popularity of this pen has grown due to the various improvements it has witnessed since its invention. It’s made up of very many parts including: 1. Cap and the cap band A cap is the part which is mounted over the nib end in case it is not in use. It is used for protecting the nib from being damaged by anything that may be from the contents of the ink used. The cap is working in conjunction with the band which is a devise made up of a metallic like material that is embedded in a crew. It is mounted on the cap to hold it in the right position. It is recommended that the user should be very keen when using it because it should neither be tightly screwed nor loosened a lot. Otherwise, it will result into the breakage of the cap. For instance, in case it is not held in the right position, it can lead to the splitting or cracking of the cap. 2. The cartridge Also known as the reservoir, the cartridge is a pre-filled replaceable plastic in reservoir which plays the role of a sac or bladder. It is used as storage for the ink that is used by the ball pen for writing. The ink passes here on its way to the ball point for the writing process to take place effectively. As already highlighted, it is made of a plastic material and has enough space for a temporary storage of the ink before it is used. However, it is not permanent because it can be removed and replaced with another one if it wears out. 3. Clip Even if all the ball pens don’t have it, a clip is a vey essential feature of these types of pens. It is a metallic clasp that is attached to the cap of the pen. It plays a very important role in holding the pen cap in the right position without being loose. Meaning, it holds it firmly on the pen so as to make it tight and stronger at all times. 4. Coin filler

This is an opening located in the main body of the pen above the level of the ink. It can be used to control the flow of the ink in the pen. It is also used in helping the user when inserting a coin. In doing this, the user becomes able to reach the opening through which directly applies the pressure on to the pressure bar. 5. The ball A ball is a tungsten carbide material found in the ballpoint pen. It is used in assisting the pen in resisting great pressures and any other deformity that may cause unnoticed damage to the pen. 6. Feed The feed is the part of the pen which can either be located on the top or at the bottom of the nib. As its name suggests, it feeds the nib with the ink: supplying it with the ink got from the sac.

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Laptop Mechanism Description and Advantages

A laptop computer is a personal computer that is portable or easy to carry around, and is similar to a desktop computer because it incorporates all of the same elements. Laptops are designed for internet use, producing documents, graphic design, storing files, and communicating with others. The laptop originated in the military, but was not widely used like the desktop computer, because it was too small for personal use. Also, it did not have ideal storage capacity. However, technological advancements have greatly improved a laptops storage capabilities.

Making it a widely used instrument in the business industry and for scholars as well. Also, laptops are highly priced in comparison to desktop computers. Even so, there are some laptops that are priced much lower than desktop computers, but they are not equipped to store information like regular laptops. The laptop operates with the use of battery power, or can be plugged into an electrical outlet. It performs typed commands, and is used to communicate with others or to produce documents and designs.

Furthermore, laptops have internal software storage capabilities, and some laptops are enclosed for high performance gaming The laptop has several main parts, the monitor, keyboard, mouse, computer memory, hard disk, motherboard, and the central processing unit.

Description of Parts and their Functions

The key board is a device that is used to input information, and it can be compared to a typewriter, because it has letter keys and symbols. Also, these keys transmit electrical signals, which register inside the keyboard’s circuitry.

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The Mouse is a plastic device that is used to point objects and to detect two dimensional motion. The mouse translates the motion of a person’s hand into the computer by using mechanical sensors.

The monitor is an output device that resembles a television screen. It transmits commands, and it displays commands in the form of text, images, or graphics.

Memory is stored inside silicone chips built into the computer, and it is used to store large amounts of information, and to store temporary files or permanent files.

Hard disk is the part of the computer’s disk drive, which stores digitally encoded data.

Motherboard.

Mother board is a socket on the side of the computer, which is used to install or connect additional components.

Central Processing Unit.

Central processing unit is an electronic circuit that executes commands implied by computer program instructions.

Operating Description and Conclusion

A person operating a laptop can accomplish many different tasks, because its main function is to respond to commands that allow it to produce documents, retrieve information or communicate with others. Commands are typed into the keyboard, and are executed by the computer processor, these signals are then transmitted on the computer monitor.

In addition, a person can operate a mouse, and command the laptop to do certain tasks. For example, an individual can open and close files, or may also choose to design documents with the use of a mouse. The Laptop is very efficient because it can produce large projects. This makes it a very valuable tool for entrepreneurs, and the demand for portable computers has also grown in the past few years, because current laptops have greater storage capacity, and modern laptops can perform many of the same tasks as regular desktop computers.

Narrative Essays

Narrative: The spoken or written account of connected events; a story

Narrative Introductions

The introduction of a narrative essay sets the scene for the story that follows. Interesting introductions—for any kind of writing—engage and draw readers in because they want to know more.

Since narratives tell a story and involve events, the introduction of a narrative quite often starts in the middle of the action in order to bring the reader into the story immediately, as shown in examples 1, 3, and 5 below. Other effective introductions briefly provide background for the point of the story—often the lesson learned—as in 4 below and the first example on the reverse side.

Below are some strategies for writing effective openings. Remember your introduction should be interesting and draw your reader in. It should make your audience want to read more. If it's a person , begin with a description of the person and then say why that person mattered. If it's an event , begin with the action or begin by reflecting back on why the event mattered, then go into the narrative.

• "Potter...take off!" my coach yelled as I was cracking yet another joke during practice.
• Why do such a small percentage of high school athletes play Division One sports?
• It was a cold, rainy night, under the lights on the field. I lined up the ball on the penalty line under the wet grass. After glancing up at the tied score, I stared into the goalkeeper's eyes.
• My heart pounds in my chest. My stomach full of nervous butterflies. I hear the crowd talking and names being cheered.
• Slipping the red and white uniform over my head for the first time is a feeling I will never forget.
• "No football." Those words rang in my head for hours as I thought about what a stupid decision I had made three nights before.
• "SNAP!" I heard the startling sound of my left knee before I ever felt the pain.
• According to the NCAA, there are over 400,000 student-athletes in the United States.

Narrative Story

• Unified: Ensure all actions in your story develop a central idea or argument.
• Interesting: Draw your readers into your scene(s), making them feel as if they're experiencing them first-hand.
• Coherent: Indicate changes in time, location, and characters clearly (even if your story is not chronological).
• Climactic: Include a moment (the climax) when your ending is revealed or the importance of events is made clear.
• Remember the 5 W's : Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• Write vividly : Include significant sensory information in the scene (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) to make readers feel they are there
• Develop " Thick Descriptions "

Clifford Geertz describes thick descriptions as accounts that include not only facts but also commentary and interpretation . The goal is to vividly describe an action or scene, often through the use of metaphors, analogies, and other forms of interpretation that can emote strong feelings and images in your readers' minds.

"The flatness of the Delta made the shack, the quarters, and the railroad tracks nearby seem like some tabletop model train set. Like many Mississippi shacks, this one looked as if no one had lived there since the birth of the blues. Four sunflowers leaned alongside a sagging porch. When the front door creaked open, cockroaches bigger than pecans scurried for cover [...] walls wept with mildew."

—from Bruce Watson's Freedom Summer

Narrative Checklist

• Does the story have a clear and unifying idea? If not, what could that idea be?
• If the story doesn't include a thesis sentence, is the unifying idea of the story clear without it?
• Is the story unified, with all the details contributing to the central idea?
• Is the story arranged chronologically? If not, is the organization of ideas and events still effective and clear?
• Do the transitions show the movement from idea to idea and scene to scene?
• Are there enough details?
• Is there dialogue at important moments?
• Is there a climax to the story—moment at which the action is resolved or a key idea is revealed?

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The 3/5 Compromise: Impact and Implications on Early American Politics

This essay about the 3/5 Compromise explores its role as a critical yet contentious element in American history. Originating at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, it was a compromise that counted enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person for legislative representation and taxation, aiming to balance power between North and South. The essay examines how this compromise deepened the dehumanization of enslaved people and shifted the power dynamics in the U.S., contributing to divisions that led to the Civil War and leaving a lasting impact on the nation’s legacy.

How it works

In the intricate mosaic of American history, the 3/5 Compromise stands out as a complex and pivotal element, woven into the Constitution itself. This agreement served as a critical balancing mechanism between competing regional interests, leaving a lasting effect on the early political landscape of the United States. Its consequences, though sometimes minimized, echoed through the halls of governance, influencing the nation’s development and setting the stage for subsequent conflicts.

Originating in the heated environment of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the 3/5 Compromise was born from intense debate and ideological discord.

At the heart of the controversy was the issue of representation and the contentious practice of slavery. Southern states, whose economies were heavily dependent on enslaved labor, argued forcefully for counting enslaved individuals in population tallies for congressional representation. Conversely, Northern states, wrestling with ethical concerns over slavery, resisted this proposal.

As these opposing views threatened to derail the nascent unity achieved during the revolution, the 3/5 Compromise surfaced as a crucial, albeit contentious, solution. It proposed a pragmatic yet politically savvy formula: enslaved people would count as three-fifths of a person for both taxation and representation purposes.

On the surface, this compromise appeared to be a practical response to a challenging dilemma, acknowledging the reality of slavery while curtailing its impact on political representation. It aimed to mediate between North and South. Yet, this agreement also deepened the dehumanization of enslaved individuals, embedding their reduced status into the Constitution and reinforcing their perceived inferiority, thereby perpetuating the systemic exploitation fundamental to the Southern economy.

This compromise also had profound implications for the distribution of power in the federal government. It gave slaveholding states enhanced representation, solidifying their influence and perpetuating the imbalanced power dynamics that would dominate U.S. politics for decades. This imbalance fueled ongoing legislative battles and deepened the divisions that would eventually lead to the Civil War.

Despite its immediate effects, the 3/5 Compromise was a temporary and unstable foundation for national unity. As tensions over slavery grew, they culminated in the Civil War, underscoring the inadequacy of the compromise in resolving the deep-seated conflicts over slavery.

Reflecting on the 3/5 Compromise reveals its role as a significant but troubling aspect of American history. It highlights the difficult trade-offs and moral compromises made in the pursuit of political stability. Today, it serves as a somber reminder of past injustices and the complex legacy they left, urging a continued commitment to addressing historical truths and working towards a more just and inclusive future.

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The 3/5 Compromise: Impact and Implications on Early American Politics. (2024, May 12). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-3-5-compromise-impact-and-implications-on-early-american-politics/

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PapersOwl.com. (2024). The 3/5 Compromise: Impact and Implications on Early American Politics . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-3-5-compromise-impact-and-implications-on-early-american-politics/ [Accessed: 13 May. 2024]

"The 3/5 Compromise: Impact and Implications on Early American Politics." PapersOwl.com, May 12, 2024. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/the-3-5-compromise-impact-and-implications-on-early-american-politics/

"The 3/5 Compromise: Impact and Implications on Early American Politics," PapersOwl.com , 12-May-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-3-5-compromise-impact-and-implications-on-early-american-politics/. [Accessed: 13-May-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The 3/5 Compromise: Impact and Implications on Early American Politics . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-3-5-compromise-impact-and-implications-on-early-american-politics/ [Accessed: 13-May-2024]

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• Mechanism Description: Paper Stapler

Mechanism Description: Paper Stapler - Essay Example

• Subject: Miscellaneous
• Type: Essay
• Level: Ph.D.
• Pages: 2 (500 words)
• Downloads: 29
• Author: jrosenbaum

Extract of sample "Mechanism Description: Paper Stapler"

Paper Stapler: Mechanism There are hundreds of different types of staplers available, but for straightforward jobs there is no reason to invest unnecessary money to get a satisfactory tool. This paper stapler combines advanced ergonomics with precision manufacturing in an economical office tool for daily use. Office tools should do their jobs properly so users can concentrate on more important things than fussing with a stubborn stapler.Ergonomic Finger and Thumb GripsErgonomics is the science of making the workplace comfortable.

This paper stapler combines extensive research with thousands of hours of tests to ensure the comfort and convenience of the user. Hands are one of the most important assets in an office and if the tools people use make their hands tired, that cuts productivity. Whether it is used to staple two pages or twenty, this stapler’s ergonomic finger and thumb grips reduce fatigue and the possibility of injury.Arm and BaseBoth the arm and the base are made of sturdy metal with high tensile strength.

This stapler holds up well to everyday use and will not bend or dent. The arm protects the interior mechanisms from dust and damage, and the base provides a flat, non-slip surface whether the stapler is used on a desk or an unsteady pile of papers. The arm and base are held together by a pin which allows the stapler to swing open freely for reloading yet keeps it all together without worrying about the exterior coming apart when least expected.Spring Steel and ToothThe spring steel and tooth are the heart of the paper stapler, providing the toughness to drive staples home even through multiple pages.

Made of stamped steel, these parts are precision aligned to staple and then reset quickly and accurately. The tooth separates each staple in the magazine cartridge completely from the next, reducing the number of doubles or even triples that slow down the job and create much frustration.Carriage and SpringThe carriage and spring are the muscles of the stapler, providing just the right amount of pressure to ensure that each staple starts out straight and true. Lower quality staplers sometimes “spring” their springs after repeatedly opening and closing the stapler to reload, but this paper stapler is designed with a high quality spring that keeps the loaded staples straight and returns the plunger mechanism to its original position.

The carriage is an integral component of the magazine cartridge and they work together in harmony to deliver consistent stapling action.Magazine CartridgeThe magazine cartridge of this paper stapler holds a full strip so there are fewer delays stopping to add more. In addition, the magazine cartridge is optimally sized to be a perfect fit with the proper staples, resulting in less frustration for the user trying to guess which staples are the right size. The cartridge is easily accessible once the arm is swung open, making reloading a breeze.

ConclusionWhile there are hundreds of different kinds of paper staplers available, the features of this paper stapler combine ergonomics with quality manufacturing to produce a stapler that will be used for many years. This is an economical choice that makes the job of stapling easier. Count on this tool so you can concentrate on more important things.

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