State, Explain, Link - An all-purpose writing technique
Introduction
State, explain, link is a basic style for organizing and explaining ideas in an understandable way. This technique may have many names, but in essence it is a way to organize paragraphs in roughly 3 sentences or more:
| Notions | Coverage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| State | breadth | introduce briefly about what the paragraph will cover |
| Explain | depth | go into depth about what you want to cover |
| Link | relation | link a related item such as giving an example |
Although this originally emerged to write concise paragraphs, the semantic style of the technique is seen almost everywhere, from theses to C4 diagrams.
How does it work?
Given any general statement, we can construct more detailed points and give examples to support it. State is in blue, Explain is in orange. Link is in purple
Here is a simple example concerning quality assurance through six sigma:
+ In an attempt to exceed the expectations of customers, many businesses have adopted the Six Sigma approach to quality assurance.
! Six sigma is a data-driven approach derived from statistical theory that uses methodologies to identify and drive out waste through lowering the amount of variation between business processes.
@@ Companies like Motorola and General Electric use six sigma to streamline processes like for contract pipelines and reviewing steps to ultimately reduce spending on inefficiencies.@@
For a more complex example that may take more sentences to explain a topic, take this statement:
+ Products that do not meet the needs or expectations of customers and producers are said to be substandard, and such products can be very costly to a business.
! If stakeholders depend on a company's attention to detail in their products, when the company releases a new product with poor quality, stakeholders will begin to lose trust in it. Customers will likely view products from competitors or wait on purchases. Since fewer customers are purchasing, producers won’t output as many goods and may have to change their product line or produce free goods to pay back customers.
@@ For example, Samsung had an issue with their Note 7 lineup which caused their phones to explode. This has forced Samsung to stop sales, recall, and compensate consumers, which has ultimately caused them to lose $10 billion in damage costs.@@
Other applications
You can basically apply this semantic technique anywhere there is English. It is extremely convenient for outlining ideas as your outline statements are essentially State scoped sentences in which you can derive Explain and Link later on or improvise during speaks. You may have done this naturally while looking at the outlines of a slide on your presentation.