Integrating Text with Charts, Maps, and Visuals

Combine information from visuals and written text to build a complete understanding.

Informational texts often split information between words and visuals. A chart, map, timeline, or diagram may contain details the paragraphs do not mention, or it may support a claim in the text. Integrating them means reading both and connecting them. Start by reading the visual's title, labels, legend, and units. Then ask: What does this show? How does it connect to the text? Does it add, support, or complicate what the words say? Imagine an article stating, 'Recycling in our city has improved.

' A bar graph beside it shows recycling rose from 20 percent to 35 percent over five years, but another bar shows trash produced per person also rose. The text's claim is supported, but the graph adds a complication: people are making more waste overall. A reader who skipped the graph would miss that. Visuals are not decorations; they are evidence, and they deserve the same careful reading as sentences.

• 1Visuals can add, support, or complicate the text.
• 2Read titles, labels, legends, and units first.
• 3Treat visuals as evidence, not decoration.