Seeing is believing: Using visual guides to support text understanding

Graphs, tables, and charts are often used to help us understand numbers in texts. For example, if you wanted to help readers understand the decrease in a certain type of bird over time, you might make a graph showing the number of times the bird is spotted each year. For certain types of information, graphs, tables, and charts provide a quicker and more effective way of understanding than words alone.

Images and illustrations often help in a similar way. They can communicate certain kinds of information much better than words by showing instead of just telling. For example, imagine trying to build a kite or make a paper airplane for the first time without images. It would be pretty tough with only a text to instruct you! Images can also, for example, help you

visualize

what a character, historical figure, or setting might look like.

How do visual guides support text?

• Visualizing data can make an argument stronger: Let’s say a scientist wants to argue that a species of sea bird should be protected. The scientist wants their nests on the beach to have a fence around them so they can’t be disturbed by people. A chart showing how much the bird’s population has shrunk over the years can make the scientist’s argument stronger.
• They can sometimes convey information more effectively than words alone: At times, communicating information works much better by showing instead of just telling. A text might say, “The great white shark has large jaws and teeth that make it one of the most fierce predators in the ocean.” But an image of a great white shark fiercely attacking prey with those large jaws and teeth may better help readers understand and visualize this information.
• Visual guides can help to express complicated ideas: For example, if a team of scientists wants to demonstrate how much ocean temperatures have increased in different parts of the world, a graph showing this data may help our brains process it more easily and efficiently than simply reading a text with the same information.

How to use visual guides in reading and understanding texts

• Identify how the visual guide supports the text. Ask yourself what the text is mainly discussing and what the author’s purpose is. Does the graph or image help you visualize that information?
• Determine what the text says that makes the visual guide important. An image of a big polar bear standing on a small piece of ice in the sea might seem majestic by itself. But if that image accompanies a text that describes how melting ice in the arctic is threatening the survival of polar bears, the image takes on a more urgent meaning.
• Carefully read the title, labels, units, key or legend. Remember, tables, charts, and graphs show amounts of things. Pay attention to what units are being used, like dollars, percent, or inches. Every part of a graph or table tells you important information. For example, the key or legend tells us what things like symbols, shapes, or colors represent.

Try it!

Remember!