Intro to pro-comms - Part 6: Visual communications

How to visualize objects

Use drawings diagrams, or schematics to explain how a given object works

How to visualize numbers

Use tables columns, or charts to display numerical statistics or information

How to visualize concepts

Use organization charts, i.e. Boxes and circles connected with lines showing how everything is related

How to visualize words

Putting key definitions in a box possibly with different color in the background

Guidelines for graphic usage

• Use titles and labels for graphics

• Utilize graphics whenever necessary

• Make sure graphics are appropriate to the audience, subject matter, and purpose

• Put graphics and text on the same page; Put graphics as close to the point in the text where they are relevant as is reasonable

Guidelines for graphic usage (con’t)

• Include identifying detail such as illustration labels, axis labels, keys, etc

• If graphics don’t fit properly on one page, put it at the top of the next, and continue with regular text on the preceding page

• Orient readers to the graphic and explain its meaning

• Discuss graphics in nearby text preceding the graphic

Formatting requirements for graphics

• Label words and phrases with pointers to the parts of the things being depicted

• Indicate shadings, colors, line styles, or other such details that have a special meaning for the graphic in a key or legend in an unused corner of the illustration

• Allow the equivalent of at least two blank lines above and below the graphic without them spilling over into the margins

• Cite graphics in text and in the bibliography

Emphasis

The use of typographical effects to call attention to text; must be used strategically and consistently

e.g. Italics, bold, all-caps, quotation marks, color, etc

Emphasis (con’t)

Attracts the attention of the reader (or “cues” them) to actions they must take or to information they must consider carefully

Headings

The titles and subtitles seen within the actual text of much professional scientific, technical, and business writing; are like the parts of an outline that have been pasted into the actual pages of the document; they occur within the document

Headings (con’t)

They’re important as they alert readers to upcoming topics and subtopics, help readers find their way around in long reports and skip what they are not interested in, and break up long stretches of straight text

How are headings useful for writers?

They help to keep organized and focused on the topic; they should be visualized before writing begins, and should be inserted during the writing process

General guidelines for headings

• Use headings to mark off the boundaries of the major sections and subsections of a report.

• Make the phrasing of headings parallel.

• Avoid “stacked” headings—any two consecutive headings without intervening text

• Don’t use headings as lead-ins to lists or as figure titles

General guidelines for headings (con’t)

Avoid “widowed” headings where a heading occurs at the bottom of a page and the text it introduces starts at the top of the next page. Keep at least two lines of body text with the heading, or force it to start a new page

When possible, omit articles from the beginning of headings.

e.g. “The Pressurized Water Reactor” can easily be changed to “Pressurized Water Reactor” or, better yet, “Pressurized Water Reactors.”

Format and style for headings

Pay close attention to details such as vertical and horizontal spacing; capitalization; use of bold, italics, or underlining; and punctuation

Lists

Help readers understand, remember, and review key points, follow a sequence of actions or events, and break up long stretches of straight text; they can be either horizontal or vertical

Guidelines for lists

Use lists to highlight or emphasize text or to enumerate sequential items.

Use a lead-in to introduce the list items and to indicate the meaning or purpose of the list.

Make sure that each item in the list reads grammatically with the lead-in.

Make list items parallel in phrasing.

Avoid overusing lists because using too many lists destroys their effectiveness.

Have horizontal lists occur at the end of sentences

The difference between bulleted lists and numbered lists

Numbered lists imply the items have varying degrees of importance, while bulleted lists imply the items are of equal importance and the order doesn’t matter

Colon usage in lists

Colons should be used to introduce lists only if a complete sentence precedes the list

e.g. For this project, you need tape, scissors, and white-out

Semi-colon usage in lists

Punctuate the horizontal list items with semi-colons if the items are in complete sentences

Vertical list guidelines

• Introduce the list with a lead-in phrase or clause. Use a colon to introduce the list items only if the lead-in is a complete sentence. Omit the colon if the lead-in is an incomplete sentence.

• Avoid using headings as lead-ins for lists.

• Use consistent spacing, indentation, and punctuation.

• When a separate notice or explanatory paragraph follows an item, indent that separate material to the text of the parent list item

Vertical list guidelines (con’t)

• Use the “hanging indent” format for list items two or more lines long.

• Use sentence-style capitalization on list items.

• Punctuate list items only if they are complete sentences that complete the sentence begun by the lead-in.

• When possible, omit articles (a, an, the) from the beginning of non-sentence list items

The problem with lists that are too long

Lists with more than 6-8 items may come off as overwhelming and hard to read; this can be solved by consolidating the list

Tables

Rows and columns of (mostly) numbers and words. They permit rapid access to and relatively easy comparison of information

e.g. Trends, activity patterns, figures, etc

Matrix

A special type of table where qualitative data is described

e.g. Words

Table usage guidelines

• Don’t overwhelm readers with a large number of rows and/or columns

• Include measurements and other indicators in parentheses in the column or row heading

• Cite all info in the table

• Normally, words in columns are left-justified (although you will occasionally see columns of words all centred).

• Column headings are centred over the columns of numerical data (forming a T-shape). When the table contains text rather than numbers, the column headings are left-aligned.

Formatting guidelines for table usage

• Indicate what the x and y axes represent for bar charts

• Indicate what colours, shadings, line styles, etc, mean in a bar chart; translate them in a key (a legend) in some unused place in the chart or graph

• Label charts and graphs

• Cite any graphs used by someone else both in text and in the works cited page