Technical Argument and Structure

Abstract

“Technical Argument and Structure” discusses the steps involved in constructing a report. For a technical story to be told coherently, the audience must be given the context they need to appreciate the work that has been done. The first part of this chapter covers a straightforward formula to achieve this. The argument starts by presenting the vision (goal) for the work and then narrows down to the reason why progress was needed, the specific technical problem or obstacle that needs to be tackled to make this progress, the prognosis, and the competing solutions (and why the status quo is not good enough in these particular circumstances). This then leads perfectly to a discussion of the new solution. The second part of the chapter talks about overlaying structure on top of that: specifically, how to think about introductions, titles, and conclusions in the context of the technical argument.