Following the recommendations and templates in Markel and Selber’s Chapter 20 (especially pages 547-555), write a technical description of the U.S. dime that is currently in circulation–in other words, the Roosevelt dime. Your finished description should be 400 to 600 words long.
Purpose: This project will give you practice in using “precise and informative” language to give a thorough and objective description of an object that you handle every day but may not have completely seen.
Skills: You must do research into the physical details of the coin as well as the historical and symbolic significance of the items on it. You must learn to use the vocabulary of numismatics. And you must decide on the clearest sequence for your description—spatial, functional, or chronological.
Knowledge: You will learn to observe carefully, conduct meaningful research, and use language to render an object as a camera would while also conveying the symbolic significance.
Your technical description should do the following things: