Visual Aids

Visual aids help a reader picture what you’re trying to say. The two types of visual aids, figures and tables, allow you to indicate things that might be difficult or tedious to describe with words alone. This handout describes some basic principles behind good graphic design.

What does an effective visual aid do?

An effective visual aid

• Emphasizes important results or relationships
• Compresses large volumes of data
• Illuminates the focal point of your report
• Encourages analysis and discussion

Visual aids are eye-catchers. They need to be used appropriately and moderately to be effective. They must always be titled, clearly labeled, and explained. Different types of visual aids emphasize different data relationships, so choosing the right type is very important. Keep in mind that whatever graph, chart, or illustration type you choose, you must represent your data truthfully and accurately. Distorted scales on graphs or misleading emphasis suggest weaknesses in your argument. This will only hurt your credibility. Think about your data, consider your purpose, and decide which type best illustrates your point.

Tables

Tables use rows and columns to give data or descriptions. They are useful when you want to compare many data points or represent a large amount of information. Dependent variables (what you want to compare) are usually placed as column headings. Independent variables (categories that do not change) are then listed as the rows.
An effective table supplements the text and other figures. Finding yourself making tedious lists in your text is a good indication that you should consider making a table.

Types of Figures

Figures are graphs, charts, or illustrations that emphasize data trends or specific technical aspects of an object or process. Figures should reveal information that might not be obvious in a table. There are several types of figures that are commonly used.

• Line graphs are great for emphasizing relationships or trends of data.
• Scatter graphs allow you to illustrate correlations between variables.
• Bar graphs are best for comparing amounts (usually for whole numbers).
• Pie charts allow you to compare parts (often percentages) of a whole.
• Organization charts are used to show hierarchies in an organization.
• Flow charts describe a process.
• Gantt charts allow you to show a schedule.

Illustrations are commonly used to show realistic aspects of events or processes.

• Photographs give a lifelike perspective the reader will easily remember.
• Drawings allow you to control what aspects are emphasized, as well as the amount of detail you present.
• Diagrams highlight how steps or parts of a process relate to the overall objective.

Use caution when considering using illustrations, however, as they tend to captivate an audience’s attention perhaps distracting from your point. Be aware that they require a specific context, and may not always be helpful or appropriate.

Revising

Once you have chosen and created your visual aid, you’ll need to revise it for clarity, simplicity, and style. Is your visual aid

• Cluttered, disorganized, or unclearly marked?
• Placed randomly or awkwardly on the page?
• Trying to express too many ideas at one time?
• Designed with extra features that are distracting (like a 3-D table)?
• Far away from the text describing or referring to it?
• Inconsistent in style or labeling with other visual aids?

All of these things need to be resolved before your visual aid can be most effective. In general, the best visual aid is as simple as it can be while still expressing your point.

Incorporating Visual Aids into Your Report

The reader needs to be able to follow your thought trajectory to understand how you reached a conclusion about the data. Visual aids are important in facilitating thought, but they are just meant to supplement a text, not take its place. Hence, you should use the text to present your argument, mentioning important figures to back up your claims. Let the visual aid act as enrichment and a complete evidence record, and refer to it where necessary. For example,

Our findings indicate a positive correlation between malarial incidence and increasing proximity to dams, with the peak incidence occurring less than a mile from water retention sites (see Figure 1).

Notice how the claim is made, and the most important finding is cited, while the details are left to the figure. In an actual report, “Figure 1” would most likely be a scatter graph relating the two variables. And of course, the statement would be preceded by background information and methods.

Additional Resources on Visual Aids
“How do I create Figures and Tables?” Chemical Engineering Communications Website College of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. 24 June 2005. .
Paradis, James G., and Muriel L. Zimmerman. The MIT Guide to Science and Engineering Communication. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1998.
Riordan, Daniel G., and Steven E. Pauley. Technical Report Writing Today. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

For an expanded, PDF version of this handout with sample graphics, click on the link below.

Attachment	Size
Visual Aids-long 09pdf.pdf	394.43 KB
Visual Aids-short 09pdf.pdf	242.13 KB