Writing Technical Definitions
http://english.heinle.com/burnett/resources/exercises/pdf/define.pdf

Burnett, Rebecca E.
Thomson
2001

Abstract:

Regardless of what industry you work in, as a professional communicator you will encounter the difficulty of defining a new or unfamiliar term for your readers. How will you explain a new concept like random access memory? How would you even know where to begin? Technical Communication/4e presents several options you have for writing technical definitions, providing examples of both short and extended definitions. For this exercise you will construct a technical definition for a specific audience. The strategy you choose for defining the concept depends on the audience(s) you select, that audience’s need(s) for the information, and the type of document in which the definition would appear.