Introducing Charts and Graphics in College Papers

Introducing Charts and Graphics in College PapersIn a recent article we discussed why there is so much discussion around the use of graphics and charts in college papers. When researching this topic, I came across a statement made by a couple of college professors; they said they felt that the introduction of graphics and charts in college papers would likely lead to further decline in the quality of education being offered by their own colleges. And they were correct, this has indeed happened. So what's going on?The truth is that in high school I never really thought much about the use of charts and graphics in papers. We had colorful pictures of dogs and people running for the basketball team or our school's football team, and that was about it. As we entered college, we had much more interactive classrooms. However, what did change was the computer, which made the new high schools far more dynamic.One thing that my graphic design professors did not tell me, is that they wanted me to learn how to use graphics, when I entered college as a sophomore. Instead of an open discussion about what charts and graphics could do for a paper, I had to rely on someone else to 'show me' what would be best for my paper.Now of course, the increase in interactivity, both in the classroom and in our computers, has had a detrimental effect on the quality of college professors, who have tended to rely on graphs and charts to illustrate the concepts presented in their papers. Now they want you to just 'read their paper' and figure it out. To these graphic design professors, this seems to be easier said than done, but it's the way things are done these days.In order to keep up with this trend, I decided that I needed to start incorporating charts and graphics into my papers. But this did mean I had to spend more time on them, which I didn't have. So I started to ask my classmates if they had any suggestions.Most California University students had no clue what I was talking about, b ut one female student did have some ideas. She said that she was a visual learner and believed that my presentation of charts and graphics would benefit me greatly. When I asked her to explain what visual learning was, she only laughed.I was still stuck, so I reached out to the new graphic design professor I had met that semester. She told me that I was having a difficult time learning the proper manner in which to use the graphics I used, and that I was missing out on the whole point of using charts and graphics in my papers. I told her about the troubles I was having, and she said 'what's the matter?'Then she suggested that I send her a couple of her graphics; I did, and she came back with some recommendations. The problem was, my professor wasn't going to approve of the charts and graphics I sent her. Instead, she told me that I needed to show her my charts and graphics. What this meant was that I was forced to learn how to use graphics, which took more time than I had originally anticipated.