Seeing The Text

Summary: In his article "Seeing The Text", Stephen A. Bernhardt attempts to explain to scholars and writers that using visual text as well as written text will help students better understand what they are reading. He argues that using the visuals in writing a paper helps organize the writing and make the transitions smoother.

Synthesis: This article relates to Scott McCloud's article because he discusses how icons and images give people better comprehension over the reading. Visuals give people something to relate to and to look at while still reading the text. They're more engaged in the reading rather than just focusing on words and words alone.

1) The advantages would be that it gives a clue or idea as to what the next section of the reading will be about. It creates a good transition from one topic to the next. Visuals in headings would be appropriate to use when your paper has a great deal of information and it breaks it down for you and gives a better directive as to what is being said. The writer can then look back to the visual and carry on with their writing.

2) I feel like I write the same papers because they are organized in the same fashion every time. There is nothing to give it any spice. With the visuals, it gives flavor and as the old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Bernhardt would recommend my doing this in putting the visuals in my text to grasp the interest of my readers and to help my organization of an essay.

This article is helpful for me because I understand that visuals can still be included into essays. I was always under the impression that when writing papers, you're not allowed to use pictures or graphs to use for a "filler" in space. I'd still be a bit timid before I would use a visual unless I knew it would be useful. I was a great public speaker in my class and I was able to apply visuals to my power points, but putting it in text will be a bit more difficult for me to get used to.