UVW 312:

ENGLISH FOR TECHNICAL

COMMUNICATION
Week 4

INSTRUCTOR:
FATEN KHALIDA BINTI KHALID
CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES (CIL).
Semester 2, 2019/2020.
Graphics and Visuals

(Week 4)
 In pages of a restaurant menu…
What do you ‘see’ FIRST?

When you are browsing the bookstore shelves for novels…

What do you ‘see’ FIRST?
When you got off the plane at the airport…
What do you ‘see’ FIRST?
…pictures of delicious-looking food.
…’interesting’ picture on the front cover of the book.
…signs and symbols to guide me to get to where I want.
What do you ‘see’?
“I rarely think in words at all”
-Albert Einstein
• A cluttered document with poorly designed elements
can make it difficult for people to find what they are
looking for. Readers may be discouraged if they
cannot find the information they need quickly and
easily.
• When you write, you make many decisions- what to
write, which words to use and how to organize and
so on.
• Indeed, words are important to any writer, but in
technical writing, HOW THE WORDS LOOK ON THE
PAGE IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE WORD SAY.
If you want your readers to stay
focused, good technical writers
must learn to design pages that
are VISUAL FRIENDLY.
What do you know about graphics
and visuals?

How can it help your writing?

 What is Graphics?
• Graphics are commonly used in business
writing and technical communication.
• Used as VISUAL REPRESENTATION to support
and clarify information quickly.
• Most technical communications require more
than text to concisely and accurately
communicate the concepts and techniques.
Types of Graphics
Each graphics has its own functions
and can be used to represent these
elements.
Graphs/ Charts
Photographs
Drawings
Diagrams
Maps
Tables
Words
 Functions of Graphics
1. Attractiveness
2. Emphasis
3. Clarity
4. Conciseness

*Graphics help us to “see” better.

COLOURS
 COLOURS
• Colours can be a powerful and effective tool
for technical communication in many areas like
organizing information, providing signal cues,
and distinguishing hierarchical level in the text.
• More commonly used in online technical
writing such as web pages or help files than in
printed documents.
Uses of colours..
• Indicate a document’s organization.
• Emphasize or clarify an important point.
• To support your text’s meaning.
• Make document attractive.
DON’Ts
o Avoid the OVERUSE of colours.
o Apply colours CONSISTENTLY to elements
throughout a document.
o Avoid UNUSUAL COMBINATION of colours.
What Makes Effective Graphics?
“The best visuals give viewers the greatest
number of ideas as quickly as possible in the
least amount of conciseness.”
(Penrose, Rasberry& Myers, 2004)
 1. Integrated with text

Graphics complement the text; the

text explains the graphics.
 2. Approximately located

Preferably immediately following the

text refering to the graphics, not a
page or pages later.
3. Add to the material explained
in the text
Graphics should not be redundant
with the text.
 4. Communicate important
information that could not be
conveyed easily in a paragraph or
longer text.
 5. Effective size

Not too small, or too large.

6. Correctly labeled

Headings and titles.

 Integrating Graphic into Text
A. IN CONTENT
• Anything that is not text, equation or a table is a FIGURE.
• Number figures consecutively throughout the document.
Number tables consecutively, but separately from figures
throughout.
• Each table, figure should be introduced in the text before it
appears.
• An introduction consists of the visual number and description
of the content,
– E.g.:
Table 1 below illustrated how the output voltage and
magnitude gain decrease as the frequency increases.
 Integrating Graphic into Text
B. PLACEMENT/POSITION
• Place each graphic in a convenient place for the
reader to see.
• If the size is small enough (1/5 or 1/2 page), place it
on the same page as its reference.
• If it is more than half a page, place it immediately
following your reference.
• If the report has complex graphics, you may place
the graphics in an appendix – to avoid the graphics
from interrupting the flow of the report.
 Integrating Graphic into Text
C. LABELLING AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.
• Every graphic used in the document must be
given a title.
• Tables should be numbered and labelled with
simple caption above the table.
• All figures need to be numbered and labelled
with a simple caption under the image/ figure.
• Use titles that are specific so the readers
understand what they will learn from the
graphics.
 Integrating Graphic into Text
C. LABELLING AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.
• Give credit for a graphic if you do not compile
it yourself or using borrowed data.
• Place the word Source: below your figure.
• Include the bibliographical reference for the
source.
• Eliminate ‘visual noise’ (too many lines, bars
or colours) which can overwhelm and confuse
the readers.