As you develop visuals for your report, you will want to also consider where they should be placed and what information you will need to provide in the body of your report to adequately prepare your readers for the message within that graphic. Minimally, consider the following:

• Introduce the information appearing in a graphic in clear sentences in the paragraph preceding the visual. That is also a good place to provide the source material for the information in the graphic, if applicable.
• Give the visual a name, even if that is simply “Table 1” or “Figure 1” for easy reference.
• Make sure the information within the graphic is clear and easy to understand.
• Provide source information at the bottom of the graphic.
• Write some follow-up text after the graphic. This might be an interpretation or a final comment about the implications of the information in the visual.

Chapter Attribution Information

This chapter was derived by Annemarie Hamlin, Chris Rubio, and Michele DeSilva, Central Oregon Community College, from Online Technical Writing by David McMurrey – CC: BY 4.0