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Subject:Re. Visuals with text From:Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Thu, 26 Oct 1995 13:46:04 LCL
Jennifer Connors asked where to place visuals in a
presentation for her graduate class. The rule of thumb is
that visuals should appear on the same page (or in a
publication, on the same two-page spread) where they are
cited. This way, readers don't have to flip pages to find
out what you're talking about. With modern word processors
and desktop publishers, it should be pretty easy to do
this.
The traditional practice of putting all the visuals at the
end of a manuscript arose from submissions to peer-reviewed
journals. Most authors either hand-drew their graphics
(thus, couldn't include them in a wordprocessor file), had
them drawn by a graphic artist, or lacked the software to
include them in the text. Thus... put them at the end. I've
never heard that this desperately inconvenienced any
reviewer, but speaking as an editor, I find it much more
convenient not to have to flip 60 pages to find a graphic
and see if it says what the author claims in the text.
(Often, it doesn't.)
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of our
reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.
