Creating Visuals

Designing and Integrating Visuals with Text Oliu, Brusaw, Alred


-Plan your visuals such as tables, graphs, drawings, charts, maps, before you start writing to make them the most effective

There are some guidelines to help you use graphics as effectively as possible:

• Why include your visual?
  Explain your audience why you used it, they may require an explanation of what it is if they are not familiar with the subject
  
  Is the information in your visual accurate?
  
  Is the lettering readable?
  
  Is there a figure or table number?
  If using more than five illustrations make sure they are labeled with a figure or table number
  
  Do visuals stand out from surrounding text?
  
  
  Tables
  
  -Able to show large amounts of related data in a small space
  
  Tables should contain:
  
  Number



• Title- describes what the table represents



• Boxhead - contains column headings



• Stub - left hand column lists the items in the body of table



• Body



• Rules - use of lines to separate various parts of the table



• Source Line - list data sources below the table



• Footnotes - used to explain an item in the table



• Continuing Tables

Graphs

-Present numerical data in a visual form but are considered less accurate than tables
-Are often accompanie by tables for this reason

Line Graphs

-Shows the relationship between two or more sets of figures

-Make sure the vertical and horizontal scales are proportional so the graph is not distorted

Bar Graphs

-Horizontal or vertical bars representing some quantity

-Labeling the top of the bars with quantities eliminates the need for a table.

Do not omit or distort the data in your visuals because it is unethical and can question the credibility of your organization

Pie Graphs

-The circle equals 100 percent or the whole of a quantity and the wedges represent various parts

-The information displayed is very general and the wedges should be displayed largest to smallest in a clockwise direction

-Pie graphs have a strong visual impact

Picture graphs

-Modified bar graphs that use picture symbols instead of bars to represent their data

-Work well for nonexpert audiences since it makes the data easier to understand and remember, they also add some entertainment value to the presentation

-Increase the number of symbols instead of making the symbols larger

Dimensional-Column Graphs

-Uses columns as three-dimensional pillars to display data but sometimes obscure the information

-The three-dimensional appearance can confuse the reader not knowing where they line up with the axes.

-The more complicated a graph looks the harder it is to read so simpler is better

Drawings

-Drawings are mainly used when you need to focus on details a photograph cannot provide

-Drawings can emphasize an object's appearance and its function such as internal parts of a piece of equipment

-When illustrating part of a system, show its relationship to the larger system of which it is a part

-Label important parts of each drawing

Flowcharts

-Diagram that shows the stages of a process from beginning to end and typically flow left to right or top to bottom

-Use arrows to show the direction of flow expecially if it is different from the normal direction

-Label each step in the process and leave adequate white space so the steps are not crowded.

Maps

-Can show geographic features of an area (roads, mountains, rivers) or it can show information according to geographic distribution (population, housing)

-Identify all boundaries within the map and include a scale of miles or kilometers, and also label which direction is north.

Photographs

-Can be used to show the surface appearance of an object or to record an event

-Make sure to capture the relative size of the object in the photo and make sure it fills your picture frame

-Readers sometimes need to know exactly what an object looks like so color reproduction is a must

-Can sometimes sacrifice contrast and vividness and is more expensive then black-and-white reproduction

Strategies of Persuasion David W. Ewing

-What choice of ideas should be used, the emphasis on pro and con arguments, and the establishment of credibility

-Good writers vary their approaches in response to their readings of different situations

1. Consider whether your views will make problems for readers

If your views turn out to be bad news for the reader, report them but use empathy and put yourself in their shoes.

2. Don't offer new ideas, directives, or recommendations for change until your readers are prepared for them.

Where in your report you should present new findings depends on your audience's resisitance to change and the amount of change you are asking for. It also depends on the "perceived threat" which is how much it will upset the values and interests of the readers.

-If a new promotion scheme is not very personal and important to the boss then you can be more straight forward about raising questions.

-In your writing you must be more explicit and thorough because a piece of writing lacks the expressiveness you used when you speak.

3. Your credibility with readers affects your strategy

-Credibility is a variable and can be influenced by the words of the communicator

-Given credibility may result from your position in an organization. A boss giving directions to someone under them has high credibility.

-Acquired credibility is earned by thoughts and facts in the written message. Someone higher up in the company may not know you different from another person but through your writings to them you can gain credibility.

-Cite ideas or evidence that are parallel with the reader's views, "my idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me."

-Cite authorities that rate highly in the mind of the reader

4. If your audience disagrees with your ideas or is uncertain about them, present both sides of the argument

-A one-sided presentation of a controversial questino is most effective.

-If your reader has not made up their mind or disagrees with you then use a two-sided presentation. By stating the pros and cons it helps the reader remember your view

5. Win respect by making your opinion or recommendation clear

-The two-sided approach is a means to an end and means you have definite views and seek to persuade your audience.

6. Put your strongest points last if the audience is very interested in the argument, first if it is not so interested

-Argument presented first has primacy and the argument presented last has recency.

-When you put weaker points first it creates rising reader expectations and end with your strongest argument that way you do not let your readers down. This mainly works when the audience is deeply interested in your topic.

-If your audience is not very interested in your topic use an opposite approach by grabbing thier attention right at the beginning.

7. Don't count on changing attitudes by offering information alone

-With people wo already agree with the persuader, information alone may be enough to reassure them on their position with the argument

8. "Testimonials" are most likely to be persuasive if drawn from people with whom readers associate

-A person's attitudes and opinions are strongly influenced by the groups to which he or she belongs

-Study at a boy's camp with shooting and canoeing

-Same as been done with celebrities through media

-The more attached your readers are to a group the more that group is going to influence them

9. Be wary of using extreme or "sensational" claims and facts

- Write in terms of the real world how you and the reader will percieve it and not like a flashy journalist

-You want to grab the reader's attention but in the right way

-Believable, realistic statements carry more weight than any other kind

10. Tailor your presentation to the reasons for reader's attitudes, if you know them

-You will have a better chance of persuading your audience if you plan your argument to meet the feelings, prejudices, and reasons for their beliefs.

11. Never mention other people without considering their possible effect on the reader

-The use of names may affect the power of your message

-A reference to the actions of another person could alter your relationship with the reader

Sizing up your readers

-Think of yourself as the intended reader so you can decide intelligently what information and ideas to emphasize

-Write as if you are talking with your reader, not talking to them

Poposals Phillip C. Kolin

Guidelines for writing a successful proposal:

1. 
   
   Approach writing a proposal as a problem-solving activity - your goal is to solve a problem that affects the reader


2. 
   
   Regard your audience as skeptical readers - examine your proposal from the reader's point of view


3. 
   
   Research your proposal carefully - use concrete examples and don't base your proposal off of a few well-meaning , general suggestions


4. 
   
   Prove that your proposal is workable - analyze and test each part of your proposal in advance if possible, should be well thought out, "Will this plan work?"


5. 
   
   Be sure that your proposal is financially realistic - "Is it worth the money?"


6. 
   
   Package your proposal attractively- make sure your proposal is inviting and easy to read, the appearance can determine if it is rejected or accepted

Internal Proposals

-Offers a realistic and constructive plan to help your company run its business more efficiently and economically.

-An informal, in-house message such as a brief memo

-Should be sensitive to office politics and written with the needs of the audience in mind, you do not want the reader to feel threatened by the plan

-A change for your department or offic may have negative effects on another department in the company

The Introduction
A brief statement on why you are writing to your boss

Background of the Problem
-The more you show how the problem affects the boss's work the more likely you are to persuade him or her to act

The Solution of Plan
-Describe the change you want approved
-The reader will expect to find factual evidence
-Raise alternative solutions and discuss their disadvantages

The Conclusion
- Remind the reader that the problem is serious and the reason for change is justified with a paragraph or two at the most

Sales Proposals

-Most common type of external proposal and its purpose is to sell your company's products or services for a set fee

-Readers of a sales proposal will evaluate your work according to how well is meets their needs and how well it compares with the proposals submitted by your competitors

-You must convince readers that your company is more reliable and efficient that any other firm

Writing proposals with style Richard Johnson-Sheehan

-Setting an appropriate tone and weaving themes into your work that appeal to your reader's emotions and values.

-Plain style is for instruction and demonstration, middle style is for persuading people to take action and grand style is for motivating people to do something they already know they should do

Writing Plain Sentences

-Plain style needs to be used when the writer is trying to instruct the reader

-Writing plainly is a skill that requires practice

Guidelines to write plainer sentences:

1. The subject should be what the sentence is about - the sentence needs a clear subject stating in one word what it is about
2. Make the "doer" the subject
3. State the action in the verb - the active person or thing usually makes the best subject of the sentence
4. Put the subject early in the sentence - with the subject early in the sentence the readers immediately know how to connect the sentence with the subject, longer introductory phrases should be moved to the end of the sentence
5. Eliminate nominalizations - nominalizations are perfectly good verbs and adjectives that have been turned into awkward nouns.
6. Avoid excessive prepositional phrases - look for places where prepositional phrases are chained together and try turning some of them into adjectives.
7. Eliminate redundancy - using two words to do the work of one
8. Make sentences "breathing length" - sentences shouldn't be too long to say in one breath, if it is too long readers are more concerned getting through it than understanding it

Writing Plain Paragraphs

Transition Sentence - makes a smooth bridge from the previous paragraph to the present paragraph

Topic Sentence - claim or statement that the rest of the paragraph is going to prove or support

Support Sentences - sentences that contain reasoning and examples and prove the claim made in the topic sentence

Point Sentences - restates the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph, should only be used when a particular claim needs to be reinforced

Aligning Sentence Subjects in a Paragraph

-Line up the subjects so that each sentence in the paragraph stresses the same things

The Given/New Method

-Based on the assumption that readers will always try to fit new information into what they already know

-The given information should appear early in the sentence and the new information should appear later in the sentence so that the given information provides a familiar anchor.