Mary H Briscoe - Collected Quotes

"A good chart delineates and organizes information. It communicates complex ideas, procedures, and lists of facts by simplifying, grouping, and setting and marking priorities. By spatial organization, it should lead the eye through information smoothly and efficiently." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"A graph is a system of connections expressed by means of commonly accepted symbols. As such, the symbols and symbolic forms used in making graphs are significant. To communicate clearly this symbolism must be acknowledged." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"A slide is usually seen for less than 30 seconds, so its impact has to be immediate. For this reason, figures for slides must be especially simple and succinct. A good slide makes no more than three points, and these points augment, emphasize, and explain the speaker's words." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"An axis is the ruler that establishes regular intervals for measuring information. Because it is such a widely accepted convention, it is often taken for granted and its importance overlooked. Axes may emphasize, diminish, distort, simplify, or clutter the information. They must be used carefully and accurately." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"Because 'reality' and 'truth' are essential in these figures, it is important to be straightforward and thoughtful in the selection of the areas to be used. Manipulation such as enlargement, reduction, and increase or decrease of contrast must not distort or change the information. Touch-up is permissible only to eliminate distracting artifacts. Labels should be used judiciously and sparingly, and should not hide or distract from important information." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"Good ideas do not communicate themselves. Ideas must be organized. Highly complex ideas need to be clarified and simplified whereas diffuse data may benefit from being combined. Ideas and data must be made interesting and comprehensible to those not familiar with them." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations:  guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"If you have a choice of presenting your information in tables or graphs, choose the graph. A graph conveys the information more quickly and easily than a table. It also shows the information more impressively and memorably. However, if the information can be said in one or two sentences or if the absolute numerical values are necessary in the presentation, use words or tables. To emphasize essential numerical data, use a graph with the table." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"Information for tables should be simplified as much as possible. Leave out data that have no bearing on the point you want to make. […] When simplifying by eliminating information, consider carefully the purpose of the table. If the intention is to summarize findings, the use of means and standard errors would be most effective. If the findings are to be compared and related, use only the pertinent data sets. Be selective about the number of data sets if documentation or facilitation of calculation is the goal. For reproduction of the experiment, two or more tables may be better than one if the information is long and complicated." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"Labels should be complete but succinct. Long and complicated labels will defeat the viewer and therefore the purpose of the graph. Treat a label as a cue to jog the memory or to complete comprehension. Shorten long labels; avoid abbreviations unless they are universally understood; avoid repetition on the same graph. A title, for instance, should not repeat what is already in the axis labels. Be consistent in terminology." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"Often many tracings are shown together. Extraneous parts of the tracings must be eliminated and relevant tracings should be placed in a logical order. Repetitious labels should be eliminated and labels added that will fully clarify your information." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)

"Putting a box around items serves to isolate and emphasize them. Because a legend needs no emphasis, this is not a good idea. Do not add extra lines to a graph unless you have a good, functional reason for it. The simpler and less cluttered your graph is, the better it will communicate." (Mary H Briscoe, "Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentations, and publications" 2nd ed., 1995)