9.1: Understanding Graphics

What Are Graphics?

The term “graphics” refers to the visual or non-textual elements of technical communications. Graphics include tables and figures. The term “figures” encompasses graphs, charts, illustrations, diagrams, and photographs.

Why Are Graphics Used in Technical Communication?

Graphics are important in technical communication. We learn more from a document when graphics are included (Gatlin, 1988). In fact, people learn about 1/3 more from a document with graphics than without (Levie & Lentz, 1982). A study found that readers learn faster and are better able to use the information they learn when the text includes graphics (Große, Jungmann, & Drechsler, 2015). That does not, of course, mean that you should place graphics randomly into every spot possible in a report. On the contrary, graphics should be used selectively, carefully and correctly. 

What Are the Guidelines for Using Graphics?

Here are ten guidelines for using graphics:

1. Identify areas in your text where you discuss data to consider if it would be better shown as a graphic (e.g., a table or graph).
2. Watch out for areas in your text where you define a series of terms; this may be better shown as a table. 
3. Make sure the complexity of your graphics is appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and purpose.
4. Use a title and number for each graphic.
5. Indicate the source of data/information in graphics using APA-style documentation
6. Intersperse graphics and text on the same page. Don’t put graphics on pages by themselves and don’t attach them to the end of documents unless they form part of an Appendix.
7. Include identifying details on the graphics such as illustration labels, axis labels, keys; your reader should understand the graphic easily.
8. Place graphics as near as possible to the point in the text where they are relevant; however, if a graphic does not fit properly on one page, put it at the top of the next, and continue with regular text on the preceding page. Don’t leave half a page blank just to keep a graphic near the text it is associated with.
9. Cross-reference all graphics from the appropriate text. In the cross-reference, give the figure or table number, indicate the subject matter of the graphic, and provide explanatory information as necessary.
10. Discuss graphics in the text of your report/communication. Don’t just throw a table, graph, or chart out there unexplained. Orient readers to it and explain its significance.