Creating non-text material

General

In many assignments it is essential to support your argument with non-text material. Some technical documents may be entirely non-text such as instructions for evacuating an airplane or the  sign.

Illustrations are an essential part of architectural documentations since architecture is to a large extent a visual entity and “consequently some form of illustrative material often plays an integral role in any discussion of it” (Borden  & Rüedi Ray, 2006).

Careful choice and creation of visual material is as important as choosing the right words accompanying them. The most important considerations in choosing and using non-text material are audience and purpose, as your material should help to communicate something more clearly. Use visuals to emphasise and/or condense information or to clarify abstract concepts.

We basically distinguish between tables and figures: figures are pictorial representations (charts, diagrams, photographs, maps) and are referred to as figures (e.g. fig.1) and are never labelled Diagram 1 or Graph 1. A table is not a figure, and therefore not referred to as one.

The visual should be able to stand alone; it should contain everything the reader needs to interpret it correctly, including a title. However,  visuals must be integrated into the text because their purpose is to drive the main argument.

Overall guidelines to consider when creating non-text material

• Less is more: Never include a visual in your report without a good reason: every figure should fulfil a purpose. So, ask yourself questions such as: What information does it show? Would it matter if I left it out? For example never construct a table or figure which could be explained in one sentence.

Type of visual:

• Tables are used to show exact numbers; they can illustrate contrasts between data points/samples or relationships between variables (e.g. income and voting preferences).
• Figures (or illustrations) some in various sizes and shapes. Photographs, drawings, flow charts, line graphs, bar graphs or pie charts are all referred to as figures in scientific texts. Figures, for example, illustrate certain trends of your data such as in a pie or bar chart.
• Types of figures for architects: A section, elevation or floor plan, an interior or exterior view, a sketch or photograph (which should also convey a certain atmosphere).

Design of visuals:

• Try to fit the visual on one page.
• Never crowd a visual into cramped space; use white space for balance.
• Place the visual where it will best serve the audience. The best place is either shortly before or after it is mentioned in the text.
• Tables: minimize rules (lines); ideally use horizontal lines only.
• Tables: organize like elements, or items you want to compare, so that they can be read down, not across.
• Explain axes (axes labels), units, symbols and abbreviations used on table or figure.
• Footnotes can be used to explain abbreviations or other details.They are placed immediately below. Use lower case letters (a,b,c, etc) or symbols (∗†§).

Integrationof visuals:

• Do not leave readers trying to visualize findings but refer to them as soon as they likely want to see them.
• Introduce the visual in the text just before it appears on the page, e.g. Table 1 depicts…, Table 4 displays…
• Summarize, explain, and/or interpret the visual just after it appears in the text. Highlight the most important elements (if you discuss every detail the table will be redundant). For more details on data commentary go to the Chapter on writing the results section.

If you are writing a lengthy work such as a Bachelor thesis you will need to provide lists of tables and figures, showing numbers, titles and page numbers after the contents page.

Labelling

• Figures and tables should be numbered (1,2,3 …) and given a title (also called caption or legend).
• Titles of figures and tables must be concise and informative. Unnecessary words are omitted.  A meaningful title which reads like an interpretive comment draws the reader’s attention to the most important aspects of the table/ figure.

Citing sources in tables and figures

• Always acknowledge the source of a visual that you did not produce yourself. Copying visuals without referring to the source is plagiarism. This can be avoided by stating at the end of the caption: (source: Dietrichs, 2017, p.x).
• If visuals have been adapted, revised or redrawn, this should be indicated by writing after the caption: based on Dietrichs (2017) or adapted from Phoolproof (2001, p.231) or redrawn after Noonan et al. (2004, Fig.3). As copyright applies to the form of the chart or diagram and not the data itself, permission is not required from the copyright owner to use the reformatted figure. However, failure to reference the source is plagiarism. For more see Avoiding plagiarism.

For more details go to citing non-text material in Guidelines on APA and DIN citation standard.

Colour/ shading/ borders and rules (lines)

• Colours: consider physical and emotional effect of colours. Too bright colours might have a negative effect. Some people for example associate red with danger.
• Use colours, shading, borders and rules consistently (Palmquist, 2006, p. 221).
• There should be sufficient contrast between colours and shades.
• Do not use more than three colours on one page.

Watch these slides on how to prepare effective graphs and tables.

Find more information on how to create figures and tables here.

Language focus to refer tables and figures

As mentioned above engineers need visuals to discuss data. This data is frequently displayed in a table, graph, figure, or some other kind of nonverbal illustration. The illustrations themselves carry captions, which provide brief descriptions of their content. The discussion of the data is generally incorporated in the accompanying main text.

Typically, when you are referring to charts and diagrams you will draw the reader’s or listener’s attention to important features and describe them (table 9).

Table 9: Some useful language when referring to visuals