Chapter 10 — Graphical Elements

Chapter 10 of Houp/Pearsall/Tebeaux's Reporting Technical Information, 9th ed. (New York: Allyn & Bacon, 1997), presents strategies for designing graphics for technical reports. Accompanying the textbook, this chapter of the online instructor manual provides the following:

Chapter Objectives

• Understand the role of graphics and tables in communicating technical information.

• Know how to integrate graphics and tables with text in communicating technical information.

• Understand the range of graphic elements that can be used in technical documents, and the appropriate applications and audiences for each.

• Understand basic design principles for the graphic elements presented in this chapter.

• Understand the function and design principles for tables.

• Develop an ability to evaluate graphic elements in technical documents.

One of our goals in a technical writing course is to insist that students begin using tables, drawings, graphs, and charts in their technical documents in an effective and intelligent way. Students need to learn how graphics combine with text to communicate technical information. They need to know the range of graphics that they can use and the strengths and weaknesses of each type. They need a process for planning graphics for their technical documents. They need to know some essential design principles for graphics. And finally they need techniques for producing these graphics and incorporating them into their own reports. Despite such a serious agenda, students brighten up considerably at the idea of putting graphics in their reports—it's fresh, new, and fun; the results are pleasing.

In the ideal semester, we have time for workshops on creating tables, line graphs, bar graphs, and circle graphs. Your students may be able to produce charts and graphs using mainstream word-processing software like Microsoft Word and Novell WordPerfect, which as of 1997 include tools for business graphics. Otherwise, your students may have to continue using a more common approach, that of importing graphics from other applications like Excel and Lotus.

As for diagrams and drawings, students will need access to those huge collections of clip art that are available on CD-ROM and, increasingly, on the World Wide Web. Sizing or other editing of clip art can be tricky though; few word-processing packages provide that capability. Students will have to use something like Aldus PhotoShop or Adobe Illustrator to edit the clip art.

Of course, such finagling with software and data takes us away from our main tasks—those writing and designing documents. A far less technology-intensive approach is for students to photocopy, trim, and paste graphics into the page of their own documents. You can show students how to leave room in their documents for graphics, tape them in (with appropriate source citation), and photocopy on a lighter setting such that pasted-in graphics look as if they had been professionally done.

What about freehand drawings? If students can't find any existing illustration of the objects they need, they can try freehand sketching. Recommend that they lightly sketch the object until it looks right; ink in the lines they want; erase the penciling; tape the finished sketch into their report like any other graphic; and then photocopy the page. Reassure these brave Leonardos that this is a writing course not a graphic arts course—their sketches needn't be perfect!

One last suggestion—not nearly as fun—is for students to insert a text box at each point in their document where they want a graphic and then describe the graphic they'd use at that point.

Here are some ideas for in-class exploration of graphics, tables, and other issues covered in chapter 10, including ideas for collaborative projects:

1. Give the initial quiz. Try giving the quiz at the beginning of your unit on graphics and tables. It's a good way to get discussion going on these issues. When students have completed the quiz and have turned it in, you can go through the answers with them as a group.

2. Incorporate graphics into a short report. For an in-class workshop, provide students with the text of a short report and, separately, the graphics to go into that report. Have students incorporate these graphics into the text by retyping the text, leaving room for the graphics, adding figure titles and cross-references, neatly taping in the graphics, and then photocopying the results (using a lighter photocopier setting). These cut-and-paste sessions can be fun: have students bring tape, scissors, glue, correct fluid, spare change for photocopying, and a sense of humor. This activity can also work well in a computer-equipped classroom—you can make the original text available on disk so that students don't have to retype, and you can help less computer-literature students get up to speed on their word-processing skills. (Making the graphics also available on disk so that students can embed them into their documents is an attractive but often technically difficult possibility.)

3. Plan graphics for a graphics-less report. A modification of the preceding idea is to strip the graphics and cross-references to them from a short technical document. Have students discuss the types, contents, and locations of the graphics they think are needed. After this discussion, show them the original with all the graphics in place. This activity is a good one for teams—students get to see an interesting variety of approaches to the same document, many of them equally valid. (A variation of this idea is to make the text available on disk in a computer classroom; have students insert text boxes with descriptions of the graphics they want.)

   To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:

   • Manager. Plans meetings, assigns roles, establishes a timetable for activities.
     
   • Team Members. Each reviews the text, makes notes about audience, and writes up suggestions for the kinds of graphics needed and their placement.
     
   • Scribe. Takes notes on the discussion.
     
   • Designers. Develop graphics determined at the meeting.
     
   • Editor. Incorporates graphics in the text, providing titles and a numbering system.
     
   • Reviewers. Review and comment on the usability of the revised text.

4. Build tables from raw data. Another good workshop activity is to provide students with raw data in paragraph form and have them transform it into tables. Include data for both simple tables as well as complex tables (ones containing subcolumns, and subrows, and other challenges). Conducting this activity in a computer classroom will give students a chance to develop skills for building tables with word-processing software.

5. Analyze the graphics in exercise 1. Hold a classroom discussion on the three graphs in exercise 1 in the textbook.

6. Create graphs for the table in figure 10-52. Have your students design line, circle, or bar graphs for the heat-input data in the table in textbook exercise 2. If a software application like Microsoft Excel is not available, sketching these graphs or using graph paper works also. When students have generated their graphs, discuss which graphic approach works best for this data.

7. Adjust the graph. Using textbook exercise 3, have your students redraw the line graph in figure 10-53 by trying different adjustments to the vertical axis. Have them create a nearly flat version and a version that shows sharp variations.

   To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:

   • Designers. Prepare different versions of the graph for discussion.
     
   • Content Experts. Review the purpose and content of the original graph.
     
   • Moderator. Leads a discussion of the different versions of the graph.
     
   • Scribe. Takes notes on the discussion and writes up a summary of comments about the uses and accuracy of each revision.

8. Create graphs for the sales data. Use textbook exercise 7 to generate graphs for total sales as well as sales according to different regions, divisions, or products.

9. Evaluate graphics shown in chapter 10. Use textbook exercises 8 through 12 to help students develop their critical perspectives on graphics. Each of these exercises focuses on a problem graphic in chapter 10.

10. Brainstorm graphics for report projects. Have your class discuss graphics for various report projects. If they have just started working on the technical report, this will be a good time for individual students to explain their topic, audience, purpose, and situation and then list the graphics they think they might need. Other students may chime in with good suggestions. Another possibility is for you the instructor to pose report projects and then have the class brainstorm them. In either case, press students to be as specific as possible about their graphic ideas: get them to provide details about type, content, even things like x- and y-axes and labels.

    To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:

    • Manager. Arranges for the meeting, selects a report for discussion, distributes copies to all team members.
      
    • Team members. Each reads and takes notes about the audience, purpose, and graphic requirements of the report.
      
    • Moderator. Leads the brainstorm session.
      
    • Scribe. Takes notes on the session and writes up the suggestions for graphics as a short report.

11. Create "wordless" instructions. A fun activity for the classroom—and one that explores the boundaries and limitations of graphics and text—is to have the class imagine writing "wordless" instructions for the assembly or operation of some hardware product. Wordless instructions have an important role in industry where products are shipped to international customers. Your students will get a kick out of this idea, especially in a technical writing class. Consider simple tasks such as changing the lamp in the overhead projector, tying a tie, or setting the time on a digital watch. Either in teams or in full class session, try to sketch what the individual illustrations of the wordless would look like.

    To turn this into a collaborative project, suggest that student teams organize themselves into these roles:

    • Manager. Selects a procedure to be developed as "wordless" instructions, distributes a copy to all team members, arranges for meetings and deadlines.
      
    • Editors. Define the audience and needs of such a procedure.
      
    • Moderator. Leads the meeting to discuss the use of graphics and the meeting to review the design.
      
    • Designers. Develop graphics to support the team's suggestions.
      
    • Scribe. Takes notes at both meetings and writes summaries.
      
    • Editor. Incorporates any group suggestions.

Here are some discussion questions related to this chapter:

Choosing Graphics (pages 270-279)

• What kinds of graphical elements would be helpful in a university catalog? What would the different kinds of elements to show for student readers?
• In what ways do graphics make documents more effective?
• Is the attractiveness of graphics important for the readers of technical documents? Why or why not?

Designing Tables (pages 280-282)

• What kinds of technical information call for tables rather than other kinds of graphical elements?
• What are the ways in which design can simplify tables?
• How can a table best be integrated with discussion?

Designing Graphs (pages 283-299)

• In what ways do the examples on pages 283-296 use color? How does it highlight the main point of each graph?
• What are some design errors that can make graphs confusing for readers?
• How can graphs be usefully integrated as part of overall document design?

Designing Other Forms of Graphics (pages 300-303)

• What do you consider the advantages or disadvantages of using photographs over line drawings?
• In what ways should a technical author consider simplifying diagrams?

Designing Graphics for Accuracy and Effectiveness (pages 304-310)

• In what ways can graphics mislead readers about the information they convey?
• Where have you seen the design of graphics overshadow text?
• What publications have the best and most accurate graphics? Why? For what audience?

The following are some suggestions for journal entries related to this chapter:

• Are attractive graphical elements essential to technical information?
• In what ways does a unified graphic design make a document more effective?
• Where have you seen different kinds of graphics designed to support a report or article?
• In what ways do graphics in popular publications differ from graphics in technical or professional ones?

See the workshop ideas in the preceding. Your semester will probably be overloaded with writing projects such that a separate project spotlighting graphics and tables may not be feasible. You'll probably prefer in-class discussion and graphics workshops to out-of-class assignments. If not, most of the preceding workshop activities can be redesigned for formal, out-of-class projects, including collaborative projects.

The following cases draw upon the concepts and strategies presented in this chapter:

• Team Spirit
• A Taxing Problem
• Big Talk

The following point summaries focus on key points in this chapter of Houp/Pearsall/Tebeaux's Reporting Technical Information: