Informational Reports for Non-Expert Readers: Define Jargon

You will inevitably need to include some jargon in your informational report. However, when you do so, you should define it. There are three approaches you can take to defining within your report:

• Parenthetical Definitions
• Sentence Definitions
• Extended Definitions

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Parenthetical Definitions

The quickest of the lot both to produce and to read, parenthetical definitions are exactly what their name suggests: fast one to five or so word explanations “that occur within a sentence and are set off in one of three ways:

• parenthetically,
• with commas, or
• with long or double dashes.

They are used when the situation calls for immediate and brief definitions of a term, including jargon or those of a professional nature.

Here are examples of parenthetical definitions:

The locket was made of amber and electrum (nickel silver).

In ancient Greek marriage ceremonies, the paranymph — today known as the bridesmaid — was given the responsibility of escorting the bride to her waiting groom.

The pathologist found traces of a hematozoon, a blood-dwelling para-site, in the body of the bear.

When a term or concept cannot be explained adequately in a few words, a slightly more developed definition is called for. In that case, you might consider devoting a whole sentence to explanation.

Sentence Definitions

Sentence definitions, also called formal definitions, take their time to explain a term or concept because they need to provide more information. This type of definition takes the process one step further by providing information on the class and features of the term or concept being defined.

Such a sentence thus includes three components:

1. the term’s name,
2. its class, and
3. its features.

You should consider creating a sentence definition, such as the following, if you need to provide a fuller explanation of a term, concept, or process:

A parallelepiped [term] is a prism [class] that has six faces, all parallelograms [features].

A torsion balance [term] is an instrument [class] for measuring small forces, as electric attraction, by determining the amount of twisting they cause in a slender filament [features].

Osteomalacia [term] is a condition [class] characterized by softening of the bones caused by calcium, phosphorus, and Vitamin D deficiencies [features].

Sometimes, though, even a sentence definition isn’t complete enough. That’s when you’ll most likely need to create an expanded definition.

Table 1: Glossaries Can Be Used To Collect Short Definitions

Glossaries for Short Definitions If you have several short definitions you need to provide, you have the option of setting up a glossary that defines all words at once, in a central location at the end of the report or in a sidebar. If you choose this technique, remember to make the term being defined stand out in some way for the reader. Make it bold or bold in color. You will also want to insert a key at the beginning of your report or in a footnote explaining that words in bold (or in bold color) are defined in the glossary.

Expanded Definitions

The longest of the three forms, at a length of 500 to more than a 1000 words, an expanded definition can stand alone as an article, paper, or essay. If you’ve ever visited Wikipedia Links to an external site., then you are very familiar with the concept of the expanded definition.

When you need to present your readers with an in-depth definition and enough detail that they will gain a thorough understanding of a process, term, or concept, this is the method you should choose. Check out, for example, these expanded definitions of an electron microscope Links to an external site., CRISPR Links to an external site., and thermosetting polymer Links to an external site..

 

Table 2: Sidebars Can Be Used to Set Apart Extended Definitions

Sidebars for Extended Definitions If you want to provide an extended definition for a term, you can do so  in a sidebar that sits on the same page as the term being defined. If you choose this technique, remember to make the term being defined stand out in some way for the reader. Sidebars sit at the side of the page (vertically) or at the bottom (horizontally).

 

Figure 1: Using Sidebars to Set Extended Definitions Apart from the Text.