Lesson

     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.

Questions for Reflection

     Forthcoming. 

Instructor's Lesson Plan

     Forthcoming will be a plan for instructors to incorporate this summary lesson into a class period of their course. Included with this plan will be discussion questions, student activities, and a comprehension quiz. ​​​

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 and Editors


​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
​For the academic year 2019-2020, we are collecting comments, questions, criticisms, and suggestions for the films, text, and quizzes of each lesson on scientific writing. To help us understand your input, would please let us know what your discipline is and whether you are a student, professional, or faculty member?