Academic and Professional English

2023, Fall

Aidi Tang Assistant Professor

School of International Trade and Economics, CUFE

Last Updated：October 20, 2023

Unit 5 : Visual Aids
5.1: The Importance of Using Visual Aids

5.2: Visual Aids in Academic Presentations

5.3: Using Texts and Graphs

5.4: Using Fonts, Colors, Animations and Transitions

5.5: Practice What We Have Learned

5.1 The Importance of
Using Visual Aids
Discussion:

1. Which is the most effective for the audience to understand, and

why the presenter can get across information more easily and
more effectively?

2. What are the advantages of using the diagram in PPT?

What are visual aids?
Ø Visual aids are anything shown to an audience, such as an object
or picture, that is linked to the presentation topic.
Ø often used to convey data so the audience can easily understand
relationships from interpreting the content
Ø enhance a presentation and make it memorable if they are used
properly to strengthen understanding
Ø If used improperly, visual aids will distract or confuse the audience.
What can we do with visuals?

l Support what you say

l Add interest to what you

l Do less for more
l Make your presentation much
more memorable
l Do less for more
l Make your presentation much more memorable
Learners’ learning style
Ø Kinesthetic (动觉的) learners
Ø Audio learners
Ø Visual learners

What is your strongest recall means of this event?

a. your feeling (how you feel)
b. images (the picture you saw)
c. sounds (the voices you heard)
Downsides of visuals
Ø Be overcomplicated if there are too many confusing visuals
Ø Distract audience’s attention and lose the main theme
Ø Require presentation skills to deliver presentation with visual
aids.
 5.2 Visual aids
in academic presentations
Visual forms for PPT design

Ø 1. Texts
Ø 2. Tables
Ø 3. Audios/Videos
Ø 4. Diagrams
Ø 5. Graphs/Charts
 1. Texts

The importance of Visual Aids The importance of Visual Aids

We use visual aides because they can clarify • Clarify and simplify material,
and simplify material, emphasize some points, • Emphasize points,
illustrate some complicated passages by pictures, • Illustrate complicated passages,
sound or animation, help visual learners, add
• Help visual learners,
audience’s participation and engagement, save
• Add participation and engagement,
time, and serve as an outline for the trainees.
• Save time,
• Serve as an outline for the trainees.
 2. Tables
Dependent variables
COLUMN

Name Age Gender Eye Color

Independent
variables ROW
Kelly 26 Female Blue

Jim 52 Male Brown

Marge 87 Female Green

2. Tables

Table 1 Responses to “Should the government protect citizens from

the effects of second-hand smoke?”

Frequency Percentage

Number of People 125 62.5

Who Answered “Yes”

Number of People 62 31.0

Who Answered “No”

No Opinion 13 6.5
3. Audio / Video
Tips for incorporating audios or videos:
Ø Be directly relevant to the presentation topic
Ø Avoid showing any more film than you need
Ø Tell the audience clearly what to look for before watching
4. Diagrams
Steps to convert bullet points into an effective diagram

Identify the Capture the Visualize

objects relationship the objects

• Relationship by time
• Relationship by space
• Relationship by quantity
4. Diagrams
Ø Relationship by time
4. Diagrams
Ø Relationship by time
4. Diagrams
Ø Relationship by space
4. Diagrams
Ø Relationship by space
4. Diagrams
Ø Relationship by quantity Graphs or charts
Graphs/charts

Graphs
(1) Line graphs

Figure 1 – Average number of flowers blooming over time

(2) Bar graphs

Figure 2 – Insects at three plant densities

(3) Pie charts

Figure 3 – Percentage of plant species in Habitat

(3) Pie charts

Figure 3 – Percentage of plant species in Habitat

Misleading graphs: Example 1
Misleading graphs: Example 2

14%+9%+40%+27%=90%
Misleading graphs: Example 3
Misleading graphs: Example 4
Misleading graphs: Example 5

70% Websites 90% Websites

30% 10%
School School
Issues need to be avoided:

Ø Graph does not have a title to explain what it is about.

Ø Scale values or labels missing from the graph.
Ø Data is left out.
Ø Graph is not labeled properly.
Ø Incorrect scale is placed on the graph.
Ø Vertical axis skips numbers, or does not start at zero.
Ø Pieces of a Pie Chart are not the correct sizes.
Task

Ø Think about what is the best visual aid form to illustrate

the following topic.
1. To show the route of the circulation of blood through the body.
2. To give the definitions of two academic terms.
3. To show the major professions students take interest in.
4. To compare one year of average monthly temperatures of
different cities.
5. To show the various contexts in which the word “bar” is used.
(1) To show the route of the circulation of blood through the body

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(2) To give the definitions of two academic terms

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(2) To give the definitions of two academic terms
(3) To show the major professions students take interest in

Page 16
(4) To compare one year of average monthly temperature
of different cities

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(5) To show the various contexts in which the word “bar” is used
(5) To show the various contexts in which the word “bar” is used
5.3 Using Texts and Graphs
 1. Using texts

Using effective visual aids

Text as a visual aid

• limit your slides to six lines

The same
• limit six words for each line
No more
grammatical • separate each point for each line than 6 lines
form
• avoid paragraphs and quotations
• use bullet points, not sentences

No more than 6 words 6-by-6 rule

1. Using texts

How to Use Powerpoint Bullets

 1. Using texts

The shared title

Using effective visual aids Using effective visual aids

Solutions
Problems
• Determine important points
• Slides loaded with text
• Create bullet points with key words.
• Slides with no bullet points
• Transform paragraphs into bullet points
• Long sentences in a small font
 1. Using texts

Using effective visual aids Using effective visual aids

Name some of the visual aids. What are the

Name some of the visual aids. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of some
advantages and disadvantages of some
frequently used visual aids? Taking PPT for
frequently used visual aids? Taking PPT for
example, have you ever complained about a
example, have you ever complained about a
PowerPoint Presentation? What may be the
PowerPoint Presentation? What may be the
problems? What do you suggest to solve those
problems? What do you suggest to solve those
problems? What’s the principle of using Text
problems? What’ s the principle of using Text
Slides? What are the dos and don’ts when
Slides? What are the dos and don’ ts when choosing fonts and colors for PPT slides?
choosing fonts and colors for PPT slides?

Left aligned
1. Using texts
Powerpoint Do’s and Don’ts
1. Using texts

Do’s:
a. Narrow the focus of your speech to a handful of key points.
b. Use one idea or one image per slide.
c. Supplement your ideas with images to drive your messages to
the audience to remember.
d. Use PPT as a visual to make your ideas come alive.
e. If possible, email the information-loaded PPT slides to listeners
in advance as a handout.
f. PPT projected on a screen should be stripped away from words.
1. Using texts

Don’ts:
a. Gather every single fact and cram it all into your PPT slides.
b. Quickly read all the gathered information to the audience.
c. Use a PowerPoint as a way of throwing up a lot of text.
d. Use a lot of text rather than image.
e. Have lots of bullet points in a slide.
2. Using graphs

Ø Consider using graphs for the easier understanding.

Ø Try not to use irrelevant Clip Art (剪贴画).

Ø Choose a high quality for scanned images.

Ø Make sure graphs are relevant to your presentation.

Ø Ensure that the images are simple and clear enough to be easily
read at a distance.
 5.4 Using Fonts, Colors,
Animations and Transitions
1. Using fonts

Ø Don’t mix up your fonts and font sizes

Ø Use Sans-serif fonts like Verdana or Arial.

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1. Using fonts

Ø Use a font which is large enough.

Ø Ensure that your text is at least 24 point size.

Ø Use bold for a clear and simple form of emphasis and

headings rather than UPPER CASE, italics or underlining.
2. Using colors

Ø Use a bold color contrast.

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 2. Using colors

Ø Dark text on a light background works best.

Ø Black and white can be too glaring for the audience.
Ø Red-green combination should be avoided.

Black and white can

Dark text on a light Avoid red-green
be too glaring for the
background works best. combination
audience

Ø Be consistent.
Ensure the same or similar background images and color
schemes.
 3. Using animations and transitions

Ø Be conservative
Make sure that any animation you use serves a clear purpose.
Ø Be consistent
Use similar types of transition for similar functions.
5.5 Practice What We Have Learned
Task 1

Make comments on each of slides by giving a reason in

terms of the following ideas:
Ø amount of information;
Ø choice of font;
Ø size of typeface;
Ø overall design on page;
Ø graphs;
Ø background;
Ø color use.
 Task 1

Slide A

• too many sentences

• the font size
 Task 1

Slide B

• small font size

• weak color contrast

• not left aligned

• grammar mistakes

sadness
 Task 1

Slide C

• irrelevant picture
• inconsistence
• mix up fonts
 Task 1

Slide D

• long title
• long text without bullets
 Task 1

Slide E

• color contrast
• over-decorated
• language mistakes
 Task 1

Slide F

• problems in visibility
• weak color contrast
• small font size
Task 1

Slide G
 Task 1

Slide H

• overly complex diagram

with too small label size
Task 2
For each slide, read the description of what it is trying to show
carefully and then decide whether A or B is the better slide for
the presentation.
Task 2

Slide A Slide B
Task 2

Slide A Slide B
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