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Illustrations

Illustrations are used to present information in a way that is easy for the reader to understand. Though they can improve the look of a report, their aim is not merely ornamental. The main goal of an illustration is to complement the text. Among other things, you should use them to:


Illustrations are typically used in longer, more formal reports. They are especially useful in things like proposals, feasibility studies, investigations, and evaluations.

In this lesson, we are going to show you how to choose illustrations, and how to position them appropriately. We are also going to discuss some of the different illustrations available to you, and when to use them.

Illustration Basics

Illustrations are always referred to as "Figure" or "Fig." in a report, and given a number for easy identification by the reader. The numbers should be given to the illustrations in the order that they appear in the text. So, for instance, the first illustration in a report would be called "Figure 1," the second "Figure 2," the third "Figure 3."

You should introduce each illustration in the text. Do not leave your readers wondering why it is there or what kind of information they are supposed to extract from it. You can say something like: "Figure 3 shows our share of the soft drink market growing, while our competitors' share decline."

Give each illustration a brief, but explanatory, title. For example: "Fig. 3. Our rate of growth compared to our competitors." You can even tell your readers what conclusions you want them to draw from the illustration with a caption: "The curves show our market share climbing through the last quarter, while our competitors' steadily declined."

Creating Illustrations

Illustrations include images, charts, graphs, diagrams, and other image and drawing files. Nowadays, you can create most charts, graphs, and diagrams right inside of your favorite word processor. The tools are usually intuitive and allow you to customize them to your heart's content. But as a general rule, you should keep your illustrations simple, easy to understand, and useful. A reader should be able to interpret them at a glance.

Positioning Illustrations

Usually, the best place for an illustration is right next to the words that introduce it. That way a reader will not have to hunt for it. They can glance quickly over at it, and then back, without breaking the flow. Sometimes, though, that just is not possible, especially if an illustration takes up an entire page.

If you need to use a full-page illustration, there are two ways you can do it.

  1. You can place it between pages, or in the appendix at the end of the report.

  2. You could stick a simplified and scaled-down version of the illustration near its reference in the text and the full-page illustration in the appendix. If you do that, though, be sure to let your readers know.

If you refer to the same illustration more than once, place it near the text that would most benefit from it.

With modern word processors, it is incredibly easy to move, rotate, re-size and crop graphics. Usually, it is just a matter of clicking on the illustration, holding the mouse button, and dragging it to where you want it. In most cases, the text will even automatically re-flow around it in real time as you move it around.



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