Handling Attention Points:

Data, Charts and Graphics

Standards of what counts as good presentation in

reports are not static. They increase over time,

reflecting changing information technology

capabilities and practices in other large

organizations. ... Effective graphics and

presentation of data require close attention to

detail and zero tolerance of defects.

UK National Audit Office^1

W

hen readers first scan your text they will pay dispropor-

tionate attention to any organizers and summaries they

encounter, but also to visually distinctive ‘attention points’

which stand out from the main text – especially tables, charts,

diagrams, maps, photographs and text boxes. At this ‘eye-balling’

stage readers will often try to make sense of each attention point

on its own, without reading closely the accompanying text, since

they are trying to decide whether to focus down for serious study,

and where. If data presentation is important to your thesis, or

otherelements play a key role in the exposition (for instance, dia-

grams in a theoretical argument or photographs in project

work), then how you handle attention points will strongly

influence readers’ views of the professionalism of your approach.

Even if attention points are few and far between in your text,

PhD examiners and subsequent readers (such as journal editors

and reviewers) will expect them to be competently delivered.

Later, too, you will go to conferences, and have only 15 or

20 minutes to give an oral presentation, or possibly secure only

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