Charts and diagrams are now a critical component of modern research and reporting. Today, researchers use many means such as histograms, boxplots, and scatterplots to better understand their data. They are effective for displaying and summarizing large amounts of numerical data, and they are useful for showing trends, patterns, and relationships between variables. They are also used to improve reporting and communication. Charts often provide vivid colors and bring documents to life, while simplifying narrative and complex data.

Charts – How you can use them

You can use them to represent the following elements in your technical writing:

Objects: If you are describing a fuel injection system, you will probably need a drawing or diagram of the object. If you are explaining how to graft a fruit tree, you will need some illustrations of how this is done. Photographs, drawings, diagrams, and schematics are the types of charts that show objects.

Numbers: If you are discussing the rising cost of housing in Austin, you can use a table with the columns corresponding to five-year periods since 1970; the rows can be for different types of housing. You can display the same data in the form of bar charts, pie charts, or line charts. Tables, bar charts, pie charts, and line charts are some of the main ways to display numerical data.

Concepts: if you want to show how your company is organized, the relationships of the different departments and officials, you can set up an organization chart with boxes and circles connected with lines that show how everything is ordered and hierarchically related. This would be an example of charts for a concept: this type represents non-physical conceptual things and their relationships.

Words: and finally charts are used to represent words. You’ve probably noticed how textbooks put key definitions in a box, perhaps with different colors. The same can be done with key points or extended examples. It’s not the most aesthetic form of but it still qualifies, and it’s good to note as a useful technique in certain situations.

Types of Charts Representation

There are different types of chart representation. Some of them are the following:

Bar Charts – Used to show category of data and compares data using solid bars to represent quantities.

Frequency table: the table shows the amount of data that is within the given interval.

Pie Chart: Also known as a pie chart that shows the relationships of the parts of the whole. The circle is considered with 100% and the occupied categories are represented with that specific percentage as 15%, 56%, etc.

Stem-and-leaf plot: In the stem-and-leaf plot, the data is arranged from the lowest value to the highest value.

Box-and-whisker plot: The plot plot summarizes the data by dividing it into four parts. The box and whisker show the range (extent) and the mean (median) of the data.

General rules for charts

There are certain rules to effectively present information in charts. They are:

Proper Title: Make sure it is given the appropriate title that indicates the topic of the presentation.

Unit of Measure: List the unit of measure.

Appropriate scale: To represent your data accurately, choose a suitable scale.

Index: Indexes the appropriate colors, shadows, lines, and layout in charts for better understanding.

Data sources: Include the source of information when necessary at the bottom.

Keep it simple: build a chart in an easy way that everyone can understand.

Clean: Choose the correct size, fonts, colors, etc. in such a way that it is a visual aid for the presentation of information.

Charts in mathematics

In mathematics, a graph is defined as statistical data, which is represented in the form of curves or lines drawn through the coordinate point plotted on its surface. It helps to study the relationship between two variables where it helps to measure the change in the variable quantity with respect to another variable within a given time interval. It helps to study the distribution of series and the distribution of frequencies for a given problem. There are two types of charts to visually represent information. They are:

From Time Series – Example: Line Chart

Frequency Distribution – Example: Frequency Polygon Graph

What is content analysis and in what research use it?

Principles of Charts representation

Algebraic principles apply to all types of charts. They represented by two lines called coordinate axes. The horizontal axis is denoted as the x-axis and the vertical axis is denoted as the y-axis. The point where two lines intersect is called the “O” origin. Consider the x-axis, the distance from the origin to the right side will take a positive value and the distance from the origin to the left side will take a negative value. Similarly, for the y-axis, the points above the origin will take a positive value and the points below the origin will have a negative value. Generally, the frequency distribution is represented in four methods, namely.

Histogram

Smoothed frequency graph

Circular diagram

Cumulative frequency graph or warhead

Frequency polygon

Advantages of Charts use

It is easily understandable to everyone without any prior knowledge.

Save time

It allows us to relate and compare the data for different periods of time. It is used in statistics to determine the mean, median and mode for different data, as well as in the interpolation and extrapolation of data.

General guidelines

Use them whenever they are needed; do not weaken because it seems like a problem. But at the same time, don’t get obsessed with creating perfect charts.

If a certain chart is difficult to produce, discuss the problem with your instructor (they may be able to leave a blank with a descriptive note in the middle).

Make sure your charts are appropriate for your audience, topic, and purpose; don’t overwhelm readers with advanced, highly technical charts they can’t understand.

Collate charts and text on the same page. Don’t put charts on the pages by themselves; do not attach them to the end of the documents.

Use figure titles for all charts (just a few exceptions to this rule).

Please indicate the source of any charts you have borrowed; This includes tables, illustrations, charts, and graphs. Whenever you borrow a chart from some other source, document that fact in the title of the figure.

What other aspects should we take into account

Includes identifying details such as illustration labels, axle labels, keys, etc. But don’t write them by hand: use the labels from the original photocopy or type them.

Make sure they fit within the normal margins; if not, enlarge or reduce the copies. Leave at least 2 blank lines above and below the charts.

When you record graphs in your report, photocopy the entire report, not just the pages where the recordings occur. Provide the complete photocopied document, not the original and not a mix of original and photocopied pages.

Do not manually add color or other details to the pages of the final copy you want to send; in other words, don’t draw on the final copy. Any details like these must be added before photocopying. If you must have color, use color photocopying equipment.

Place them as close to where they are relevant in the text as is reasonable. However, if it doesn’t fit properly on one page, place it on top of the next and continue with the normal text from the previous page. Don’t leave a half page blank just to keep a graphic close to the text it’s associated with.

Except for those that don’t need a figure caption, cross-reference all of the appropriate text graphics. Except for those that don’t need a figure caption, cross-reference all of the appropriate text graphics.

Bibliographic References

Fienberg, S.E.: Graphical method in statistics. Am. Stat. 33, 165–178 (1979) CrossRef. Google Scholar

Royston, E.: A note on the history of the graphical presentation of data. In: Pearson, E.S., Kendall, M. (eds.) Studies in the History of Statistics and Probability, vol. I. Griffin, London (1970). Google Scholar

Schmid, C.F.: Handbook of Graphic Presentation. Ronald Press, New York (1954). Google Scholar

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Chart types

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