DSST Technical Writing flashcards
DSST Technical Writing · Build recall with a focused review session.
20 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Task-oriented structure
- An information arrangement organized around what intended readers must understand or do, including relevant prerequisites and decision points.
- Executive summary
- A concise account of the relevant issue, findings and implications for its audience, which must retain material limits and not replace supporting evidence.
- Usability observation
- Evidence about how intended users locate and interpret information in a bounded review, distinct from assuming a technically present sentence is practically usable.
- Applicable document version
- The controlled source or revision appropriate to the actual task, which must be distinguished from a familiar but obsolete instruction or screenshot.
- Front matter
- Introductory document material such as a title, summary or contents list under the chosen convention, whose composition follows the actual reader and purpose.
- Appendix
- Supplementary material placed outside the main discussion for reference, which should not hide an essential warning needed before an immediate consequential step.
- Glossary
- A collection of relevant defined terms supporting the intended audience, distinct from an automatic substitute for clear explanation at the point of need.
- Methods section
- An account of how relevant observations or analyses were obtained, allowing readers to assess assumptions, scope and evidence rather than only a final recommendation.
- Progress report
- A document communicating completed work, present status, remaining tasks, issues and relevant schedule implications for the intended project audience.
- Proposal
- A supported request or recommendation for an intended action, requiring appropriate purpose, feasibility, evidence and audience rather than mere enthusiastic wording.
- Substantive revision
- A change to purpose, organization, completeness or meaning that may require subject approval beyond routine correction of surface mechanics.
- Proofreading
- A late review for remaining surface and output errors, which cannot by itself prove technical accuracy, source validity or adequate confidentiality.
- Precise reference
- A word or cross-reference that identifies its intended object unambiguously for the reader, rather than relying on an unclear pronoun or missing link.
- Accessible encoding
- Presentation of essential meaning through suitable text, structure or redundant cues, so color alone or an unexplained image is not the sole communication path.
- Parallel structure
- Consistent grammatical arrangement of related items so readers can recognize their relationship and follow a list or comparison without avoidable ambiguity.
- Dangling modifier
- A modifying phrase whose intended actor or object is not correctly supplied by the sentence structure, which can create a misleading apparent relationship.
- Restrictive clause
- A clause identifying or limiting the relevant referent, whose punctuation differs from a supplementary nonrestrictive clause under the chosen writing convention.
- Source synthesis
- The integration and comparison of relevant sources around a controlling question, not merely listing unrelated summaries or declaring causation from observational agreement.
- Documentation style
- A chosen convention for consistent source acknowledgement and reference formatting, whose actual rules must be checked rather than mixing incompatible examples.
- Reverse outline
- A review that summarizes the actual main point of each existing paragraph to inspect organization and support, distinct from only planning before drafting.