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Slices, Bars, Lines, and Cells:

Slices, Bars, Lines, and Cells:. More Information on Visuals. By Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie Business Writing. Using Visuals. Always: Give it a table or figure number Provide a short descriptive title

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Slices, Bars, Lines, and Cells:

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  1. Slices, Bars, Lines, and Cells: More Information on Visuals By Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie Business Writing

  2. Using Visuals • Always: • Give it a table or figure number • Provide a short descriptive title • Refer to it in your text while letting the reader know what they should be looking for (introduce & interpret it) • Provide a caption (optional, but necessary if the visual is not interpreted within the text) • Label tables as tables and all other visuals as figures

  3. Examples of the correct use: In the survey, I also asked for year in college so I could compare differences based on college experience. Because the survey technical communication course is a sophomore-level course, I expected the largest number of students to be sophomores. However, there were equal numbers of sophomores and juniors who participated in the second level of research, 12 each. There were fewer first year students and seniors, four and five students respectively.Figure 4.4 shows a pie chart of the participants’ year in college. Figure 4.4: Participants’ Year in College The cream text shows the interpretation, the pink text shows my introduction of the visual.

  4. Tables • Best for organized lists of data • May be harder to understand • Two categories: • Numeric: present quantitative information • Prose: present qualitative information • Use to: • present exact numbers/values and see exact comparisons • organize data so people can see relationships themselves

  5. Tables: Numerical Example Table 4.1: Stratified Categories of Participants in Level Two by Gender and Sex

  6. Tables: Prose Example Table 1.1: Methods Used for the Research Questions and Corresponding Areas

  7. Graphs: • Display numeric relationships between data sets • Translate numbers into visuals • Display approximate values • Good for making judgments about data • Best for comparisons, changes over time, patterns or trends • Horizontal axis list categories to be compared • Vertical axis displays range of values • 2 major types…

  8. Graphs: Bar Graphs • Show discrete comparison • Each bar represents a change in quantity • Best used to either • Focus on one value OR • Compare values that change over time intervals

  9. Graphs: Bar Graphs Example Figure 4.1: Stratified Categories of Participants by Gender and Sex

  10. Graphs: Line Graphs • Can accommodate more data points than a bar graph • Help readers synthesize large bodies of info where exact values are not important • Display data with values that change over time

  11. Graphs: Line Graphs Example Table 1: Patrons Trends for 2003

  12. Charts • Figures that displays relationships • Several types: • Pie Charts • Organizational Charts • Flowcharts • Gantt & PERT Charts • Pictograms

  13. Charts: Pie Charts • Show parts or percentages of a whole • Normally easy to understand • Allow easy comparison of parts to each other and whole • When creating make sure: • Parts add up to a whole (100%) • Number of segments range from 2-8 • Small segments can be combined into “other” category • Keep labels horizontal for ease of reading

  14. Charts: Pie Charts Example Figure 4.2.A: Distribution of Females into the Four Genders

  15. Charts: Organizational Charts • Divide organization into management or administrative parts

  16. Charts: Flowcharts • Traces process or procedures from beginning to end • Shows the steps in process http://www.ldolphin.org/SciMeth2.html

  17. Charts: Tree charts • Shows how parts of concept or idea relate to each other (outlines, family trees).. From: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/skywalker/

  18. Charts: Gantt and PERT Charts • Gantt: • Shows process as a function of time • Illustrates a schedule • Includes start and finish dates • Good for planning and tracking time • PERT: • Related to Gantt • Used for scheduling activities on a project From: http://www.me.umn.edu/courses/me4054/assignments/gantt.html

  19. Charts: Pictograms/Pictographs • Show numerical relationships with icons or symbols of the measures instead of bars or lines • Good for non-technical and multicultural audiences (as long as the icon transfers) From: http://www.mathstutor.com/DataCharts.html#anchor590137

  20. Graphic Illustrations • Show physical relationships, instead of numerical relationships • Include: • Diagrams • Maps • Drawings • Photographs From: http://www.rollaway.com/3000_ex_diag.htm

  21. What do you think of this? From:http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/

  22. The End

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