Sometimes words aren't the best way to get information across to the reader. The eighth handout in the 24-part Writing the Paper series describes different type of figures and charts to display complex information in a paper. Additionally, writers find details on how to refer to graphic elements and tips for creating more effective visuals.

Concepts

text features, nonfiction text features, research writing, charts

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Find two texts on a similar topic, one that contains a lot of graphics (tables, charts, etc.) and one that does not, and then compare the information presented
• Read an article without images as a text and challenge learners to create a chart, table, or other graphic to enhance the content

Classroom Considerations

• Many images use color, but it is okay to print in black and white or grayscale

Pros

• Includes some visual examples to help illustrate each type of figure and chart described
• Provides a quick reference guide for writers to refer to without reading all of the text

Cons

• For a piece about figures and charts, the handout actually features more text heavy paragraphs than figures and charts

Common Core

W.9-10.6 W.9-10.8 W.11-12.6 W.11-12.8