Technical Writing

Lecture 14
Using Illustrations
in Technical Reports

Design elements in a document

How to Prepare Effective Illustrations

Captions for Illustrations

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 Outlines
 Design elements in a document
 White Space
 Text
 Headings and Subheadings
 Font type
 Justifying and aligning text
 Common visuals / illustration:
1. Understand when to use illustrations
2. Understand what constitutes a helpful illustration
3. Know how to cite a referenced illustration in the text
4. Know how to write a proper caption.

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Introduction

 One goal of effective writing is ensuring that readers understand

the ideas and language presented in a document.
 Readers should have a clear understanding of the material and be
motivated to read it.
 One way to motivate readers is to write good with solid content
and good illustrations.
 Documents should be designed effectively to assist readers in
understanding the material as well as to engage them is the written
text.

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Reasons for Using Illustrations
• Illustrations should be considered in every technical document to:
 clarify points,
 help to explain information, and
 make the document more interesting and easy to read.

• Graphs, charts, and tables are often necessary when large

amounts of information are present.

• In presentations, use illustrations to clarify your points. Do NOT

use paragraphs in your presentation; instead, break them down
as points. 4
Design elements

 When planning, revising, and writing documents, writers should

consider document design as a way to increase reader’s
understanding of the material.

 Document design is important for several reasons, specifically the

following:
1. To gain attention of the reader

2. To show connections

3. To appeal to visual learners. 5

 1. To gain the attention of the reader
 The visual appearance of a document has an impact on
readers.
 Writers gain the attention of readers when the information
in a document is visually appealing.
 Example: Consider a car owner’s
 The manual contains information about the engine, brakes,
steering, maintenance, troubleshooting, and much more.

 If the manual refers to the steering column, but does not include
an illustration, readers might be confused as to the location of
this part on the car. 6
 2. To show connections

 Elements of effective page design can be used to emphasize key

points for readers.
 For example:
 An annual report is written to show the state of a company for the current year.
 Graphs like pie charts or bar graphs are often included to illustrate the revenue
generated over the past five years.
 Visuals assist readers in quickly seeing the financial state of a company over
the years rather then skimming through pages of text.

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3. To appeal to visual learners

 Today’s readers are visually oriented and are used to being

engaged in the visual elements of a document.
 For example:
 Consider the amount of information presented on a Internet site such as
The new work times Web site. The use of color, page design, and
appearance are all taken into consideration when designing a Web site.

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The main design elements in a document

 A document, no matter the length, has three main design elements

that have to be taken into consideration:
 White space, text, and graphics.

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White space
 White space is the space found between items on a page.

 A document that has no white space might seem complicated or

boring to readers.

 Technical documents typically use white space between headings

and subheadings and also allow space between paragraphs.

 Adjusting Space Between Paragraphs In Microsoft Word:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b85TIA4Bzho

 Margin in word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86LpuRagCKc 10

Text: Heading and subheadings

 Headings and subheadings increase a document’s readability, but

so do the choice of font and the size of the font.

 A heading is used when a new idea is presented in the document

and is a major point.

 Sub-headings: are used to show connection of related material to

the heading.

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Text: Heading and subheadings

 Guidelines for using headings and subheadings:

 Limit words in a heading or subheading.

 Include descriptive words. Select words that capture the main points of the

heading or subheading.

 Use bold font, color, or italic to draw attention to headings or subheadings.

 Consider varying font sizes to show hierarchy between headings

and subheadings.
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Text: Heading and subheadings

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Font types

 There are two basic types of fonts: Serif and Sans Serif.
 Serif fonts such as Times new Roman.
 Serif fonts are used for print publications, especially long technical
documents.
 Sans Serif such as : Arial.
 Sans serif are more modern and this font is easier to read on a
screen. Online publications and web sites usually used some sort
of Sans Serif.

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Font types

 Example fonts to use in technical documents:

 Times New Roman
 Century
 Arial
 Century Schoolbook
 Bookman old style
 Example fonts to avoid in technical documents:
 Script Bold
 Brush script

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Common visuals

 The purpose of using in technical documents is to clarify

information for readers.
 An ILLUSTRATION is a graphic or an image that conveys
information or a message.
 Visuals can be used to represent the following components in
technical documents:
 Numbers:
 Objects:
 Words:
 Ideas or Concepts:
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Common visuals/ illustration: Example

 A picture is worth a thousand words” is an old and worn cliche, but

it is still true.
 The following description has 150 words, and you probably still
cannot visualize what the house looks like.

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Common visuals/ illustration: Example

This photo replaces the 150 word paragraph,

and it captures the content in a more memorable
way.

Illustrations help make a document more

concise.

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Preparing Effective Illustrations

A. Photographs (Photos)
• Photos should be used when it is very difficult to describe something in
words or schematics.

• They are often more costly to reproduce than tables or line art, but
electronic photos are becoming more and more convenient for authors,
publishers, and printers.

• When photos are necessary, decide on the needed resolution (300 to 600
dpi), and then take the photo with proper lighting and background. 19
Photographs (Photos) : Types

• File extensions for some common types of image formats include:

 .tif for tagged images file format (TIFF)
 .jpg for joint photographic experts group (JPEG)
 .gif for graphics interchange format (GIF)

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Schematics

 Schematics are simplified sketches of a process or object. It is not

dimensionally accurate. It is made to present the concept of the device.

Circuit diagram Schematic of a device 21

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Charts

Charts are visual presentations of numerical or verbal information. Charts

differ from graphs in which they are less mathematical than graphs, and they
may not be appropriate for showing trends.

 Some types of charts:

 Pie charts
 Bar chart
 Organization chart
 Flowchart
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Pie charts

 Pie charts are a classic way to show the relative portions of a whole. They
are favorites for showing the sources of income and costs for organization
and businesses.

Pie Chart
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Bar Charts

 Bar charts are well suitable to illustrate relative properties of a number of

items. The bars can be horizontal or vertical, shaded or not; there can be
three or four bars for each item.

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Organization charts
 Organization charts are extremely helpful in technical communications
for showing department personnel or functions. They are also in
developing document distribution lists.

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Graphs

 Graphs are an necessary part of many technical documents. They interpret

data and serve as the basis for models and theories.

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Tables
 Tables are used to report data which is too complicated to be described in
the text.
 A table is more beneficial than trying to explain something through text.
 Guidelines for tables
 Display each table on a separate page.
 It is better to not use more than six rows or columns in a table because the
data will be crowded and difficult to understand.
 Uses fonts such as Arial, Verdana or Helvetica to make the numbers easier
to read.
 Include concise titles which quickly portray the purpose of the table.
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 Captions for Illustrations

• Generally captions are placed below figures, while table titles are placed

on the top.

• The caption should be phrased like a title for a paper. Just state in a clear,

concise phrase.

• If any further explanations are needed, include this information as

supporting sentences after the caption or as footnotes in a table. 28

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