Importance of Labeling

When life starts getting confusing, labels are always a good idea. They help identify important parts in a setting, describe their location, or tell what that part's function is. Without labels, the rest of the world may not understand your ideas. For example, I needed to ask my math TA for help. He told me to meet him in his office in Altgeld. What a helpful statement. I ended up venturing around Altgeld for half an hour trying to find my TA's office. My hunt led me all over the place, ending in a small basement room.

Two elements would have aided my quest: a better description and a physical label. My TA gave me a major hint in finding his room - it's his office. However, he failed to mention where it was in Altgeld. And though a room number gets the job done in most cases, it would be reassuring if his name was somewhere on the door. Not only then would I know it's an office, but HIS office. Both additions would probably condense my epic journey into a minute or two.

In my ENG 198 discussion, my TA stated that engineers sometimes throw labels at people without properly explaining them OR just giving them poor labels to begin with. Labels should be simple - broken down to the point where everybody can understand them. A good label should give the audience an idea of what something does. Also, labels must distinguish from other parts in a system. Telling someone to go to their office does just as well as telling someone to find 'book' in a library. Great help