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Using Visuals

Using Visuals. A Mostly Complete Guide. Key Points to Remember. Visuals should enhance your text by telling us something that words can’t. Every visual needs a caption that labels the visual (“Figure 1”), explains what it is, and gives the parenthetical citation.

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Using Visuals

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  1. Using Visuals A Mostly Complete Guide

  2. Key Points to Remember • Visuals should enhance your text by telling us something that words can’t. • Every visual needs a caption that labels the visual (“Figure 1”), explains what it is, and gives the parenthetical citation. • You should discuss your visuals in your paper, like so: Blah blah fact (see Figure 1). • Visuals can come in the body of your text OR, if you’re having trouble with formatting, you can list them at the end before your works cited page. • There are specific MLA and APA guidelines for using visuals. Make sure you cite them correctly.

  3. Why use visuals in a paper? • Visuals enhance your text • To present information in a more salient way; research shows that the more ways we present information (audio, visual, etc.) the more likely it is to stick • A picture is worth a thousand words 

  4. Design is a Rhetorical Decision • Don’t just throw crap in. Every picture, chart, or graph you include should be the result of a conscious, deliberate choice. • Consider youraudience: isthisappropriate for an academic paper? • Remember your purpose: your visuals should say something that your text can’t. Every picture/graph/etc. should support your thesis.

  5. Clip Art • From the Perdue OWL: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/691/04/ • “Very little commercially-available clip-art looks good or has any type of sophistication…Clip-art is often cartoony and silly, or abstract and general to the point of being useless…Because clipart is often stylized and colored, it may be hard to find some that really works well with your design, and manages to pull off the kind of ethos you’re striving for.” • Seriously? No. Just no.

  6. Charts and Graphs • Allow readers to make comparison • Great for showing data, or change over time • Can more effectively show a pattern in data or a change over time than just explaining something with words

  7. Pie Charts • Useful for showing parts of a whole • If your data is not in percentages, then this might not be the most useful chart

  8. Photos • Make sure to use high quality (pixelated photos will bring down your ethos) • Again, consider your audience and purpose. These two pictures of Lincoln say something different. • Do you need permission to use a certain photo? When in doubt, give credit.

  9. Drawings and Illustrations • Often used in technical/scientific writing • Usually needs labels • You can use your own drawing, but again: consider your ethos. Is it professional-looking? Do you have software to create the drawing?

  10. Using Visuals in Your Paper • Your visuals need to SAY something your words CAN’T. • Use a sandwich, just like with quotes: introduce the image, present the image, then explain it and how it relates to your thesis. You can think of it like a “picture frame.”

  11. Citation • MLA format for in-text citation: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/14/

  12. I’m watching you! • Visuals enhance. Don’t rely on your visuals to carry the text—your words should do most of the work. • Your image should take up no more than half a page.

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