Summarising Visual and Graphic Information

Section 1What graphic information is

Graphic information presents meaning through layout, numbers, images, labels, and symbols instead of ordinary paragraphs. It may appear as a chart, table, diagram, map, sign, poster, or cartoon. The thing to remember is that you still read it; you just read more than sentences.

Section 2Start with the frame

Before summarising, check the title, heading, labels, units, scale, legend, caption, and source. These parts tell you what the information is about and how to interpret it. Watch out: missing the unit can change the whole answer, especially with percentages, dollars, kilometres, or years.

Section 3Find trends and patterns

A summary should focus on the big pattern, not every number. Look for increases, decreases, highest and lowest values, similarities, differences, and surprising changes. Here's the trick: ask, "What would a reader need to know if they had only one or two sentences?"

Section 4Select key details

Use only details that support the main message. If a bar chart shows that water use increased every month, the trend matters more than naming all twelve monthly values. Include exact figures only when they prove an important point.

Section 5Summarising images and symbols

Posters, signs, cartoons, and diagrams may use symbols, colour, position, size, facial expression, or contrast to communicate meaning. Easy to mix up - describing what you see is not the same as summarising the message. A summary explains what the visual is mainly saying.

Section 6Writing the summary

Turn the graphic into clear sentences using your own words. Mention the main topic, the important trend or message, and one or two key supporting details. In plain words, do not dump the chart into sentence form; compress it into meaning.