English Specialties: Explaining a Process

In explaining a process, either how to do something or how something happens, present the steps in order and keep your audience’s background knowledge in mind. Different kinds of processes are explained in the two models that follow.

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Model I

If you’ve ever followed instructions for assembling a kit, sewing a blouse, or operating unfamiliar equipment, you know how important it is that the process be explained clearly and simply. In the model above, Marcus Romero explains how to make an essential piece of football equipment. Romero explains a fairly simple process that requires steps to be performed in a certain order.

In the next model, however, John McPhee presents a far more complex process involving years of interaction between rivers and rock to create the whitewater rapids of the expansive Grand Canyon.

Model II

Use the Writing Process Stages

To explain a process, the writer must first understand the steps involved. The chart below illustrates the writing stages that are used.

Know your audience

As you plan your composition, consider your audience.What do members already know about the process you are explaining? How much detail are they likely to need? Will you need to define unfamiliar terms? The excerpt below, explaining how bicycle derailleur gears work, comes from a book that describes the workings of machines for people with little technical background.

This simple explanation gives readers a basic understanding of a process, using vocabulary that most readers can understand. Notice how the explanation below provides more thorough information, using technical terms such as chainwheel and freewheel that the first writer found unnecessary. This excerpt comes from a book written for serious cyclists who may want to work on their bicycles.