How to Read a Visual Text - continued

In looking at visual text there are some questions you can ask yourself to find meaning. Look at the visual texts below and apply these questions.

• What is the visual’s purpose—to instruct, persuade, or create interest? (For example, the floor plan below instructs people that the bathroom can be accessed from both the master bedroom and family room.)
• What type of information, numbers, shapes, concepts, or sequence does this visual depict? (For example, the Professional Hockey Player Stick Breakage chart below depict how many sticks each player has broken.)
• What judgment, conclusion, or interpretation is being emphasized? (For example, the Professional Hockey Player Stick Breakage chart indicates that Ron breaks the most sticks.)

It is important to read the written information in visual text such as titles, labels, legends, and notes.

For example, in the hockey stick diagram there is a title that tells you what the diagram represents: “Professional Hockey Player Stick Breakage”. The legend at the bottom gives more important information (“one hockey stick equals 10 sticks broken in a season”) so we know Joe broke 60 sticks, not 6.