Michael Alley, Penn State
Writing as an Engineer or Scientist
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        • 10: Incorporating Illustrations
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Lesson 10: 
​Incorporating Illustrations

Illustrations can be a powerful way to inform and persuade audiences. This lesson discusses strategies for designing effective figures and tables. In addition, this lesson discusses the expectations that technical readers have when you incorporate an illustration. More detailed information for this lesson can be found in lessons 2, 5, and 6 in The Craft of Scientific Writing.

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Lesson 10; Incorporating Illustrations

     Illustrations, which encompass tables and figures, provide a different perspective for communicating to audiences. When well designed and integrated with the text, illustrations can be not only memorable but also persuasive. In fact, many engineers and scientists build their most persuasive sections of documents around the illustrations. This lesson discusses the importance and integration of illustrations. ​(16 minutes)

Illustrations: Informing and Persuading Audiences.


Incorporating Illustrations into a Technical Document. This film discusses how to meet audience expectations when incorporating illustrations into a technical document.

References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 4th ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2018).
  2. Bernstein, Theodore, The Careful Writer (New York: Free Press, 1995).​​
  3. William A. Sabin, The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting, 11th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010).


​Sponsors

     Leonhard Center, College of Engineering, Penn State
​     National Science Foundation, NSF EAGER Award  1752096

​Faculty Editor
     
Michael Alley, Teaching Professor, College of Engineering, Penn State


Film Editors
     
Richelle Weiger, College of Engineering, Penn State
     Casey Fenton, College of Engineering, Penn State
Leonhard Center, Penn State 
University Park, PA 16802

Content Editor:

Michael Alley
​
mpa13@psu.edu