GUIDELINES FOR GRAPHICS
Keep the following ideas in mind when you are designing graphics for your Technical
Writing assignments:
Use graphics whenever they add value to the document – to make the
document’s content easier to understand and skim.
Ensure your graphics are appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and
purpose.
Always discuss a graphic in the paragraph text that precedes it.
Intersperse graphics and text on the same page. In other words, include
graphics next to your discussion of the information they represent.
Place graphics as near as possible to the point in the text where they are
relevant. However, if a graphic does not fit properly on one page, put it at the top
of the next page, and continue with regular text on the preceding page. In other
words, don’t leave blank spaces to keep a graphic next to its associated text.
Use figure titles for graphics.
Use MLA citation to document any graphic you borrow, just like any other source.
Size graphics so that they fit within normal margins.
Leave at least two blank lines above and below the graphics.
Keep the following ideas in mind when you are designing graphics for your Technical
Writing assignments:
Use graphics whenever they add value to the document – to make the
document’s content easier to understand and skim.
Ensure your graphics are appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and
purpose.
Always discuss a graphic in the paragraph text that precedes it.
Intersperse graphics and text on the same page. In other words, include
graphics next to your discussion of the information they represent.
Place graphics as near as possible to the point in the text where they are
relevant. However, if a graphic does not fit properly on one page, put it at the top
of the next page, and continue with regular text on the preceding page. In other
words, don’t leave blank spaces to keep a graphic next to its associated text.
Use figure titles for graphics.
Use MLA citation to document any graphic you borrow, just like any other source.
Size graphics so that they fit within normal margins.
Leave at least two blank lines above and below the graphics.
