Visual Representation refers to the use of visual elements -- e.g., drawings, graphs, illustrations, tables, or models -- to represent something or someone the use of drawing and diagramming as a way to encourage imaginative thinking. Synonymous Terms Model Blueprint Graph Figure Table Drawing Illustration Related Concepts: Elements of Art; Principles of Design; Visual Literacy Photo Credit: "Painter and paintings, Dafen Oil Painting Village, Shenzhen, China.JPG" by gruntzooki is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
What is Copyright? In the United States, copyright law protects creators of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and other intellectual works, against unlawful copying, distribution, performance, display, and derivatives (Copyright Act of 1976, 2001). In other words, when you compose any kind of work, whether it's an alphabetical text or some sort of visual work (e.g., a picture, information graphic, or painting), copyright protects your works from theft and derivative works that you do not approve. Why Does Copyright Matter? Copyright protection exists from the moment...
Related Concepts: Best Search Tools for Images The first step to finding images for your project is to question whether or not your effort is commercial or noncommercial. Images, like words, have value: they are governed in society by conventions such intellectual property law. These laws are very important to society: they are designed to foster creativity and to incentivize entrepreneurship. Copyright policies protect the rights of authors and creators. And yet copyright policies may also inhibit the free flow of information, data. Proponents of open data, open networks, open...
What are the Best Search Tools for Images? There are loads of very good search tools for finding images on the internet, including Creative Commons SearchGoogle ImagesWikimedia Commons In order to reuse an image you find on the internet, you need to ensure the copyright license associated with it permits reuse. Publishing copyrighted information without permission is unethical and can result in fines and legal consequences.Images, like other forms of intellectual property, have value. Some copyright licenses prohibit any reuse without some financial remuneration to the writer, speaker, knowledge worker...
What is Empathetic Information Literacy? Empathetic Information Literacy is a method of information literacy that consists of five moves: Pausing before accepting or rejecting a claimAsking questions about the claim, especially about whether it's trueCaring about the people involvedChecking the accuracy of the claim through credible sourcesActing on what you learn The goal of Empathetic Information Literacy is to better verify or "fact check" claims through attending not just to intellectual factors but also to affective factors—not just thoughts but also feelings. Writers, speakers, knowledge workers . . . may...
What is Interpretation? Interpretation is the act of literacy, the human process of making inferences, of ascribing meaning to signs and symbols, the act of signification. People make interpretations of texts and events in order to make sense of world. Interpretation is a deeply subjective process. Different people can see the exact same event and infer contrasting interpretations. Critics often disagree about the relative merits of movies, songs, and other texts. For readers, listeners, users, interpretation is challenging. At any given moment, people experience a tsunami of information coming at...
Academic Dishonesty Academic dishonesty is synonymous with cheating. Cheating can refer to a situation in which authors ask others to write a part of a document or the entire document. High schools and colleges in the U.S. have unique policies for addressing plagiarism. Some colleges, for example, expel students after their first offense; others place an "FF" on the student's transcript, creating a permanent blemish on the student's academic record. Students are guilty of academic dishonesty when they Secretly arrange to have an entire document written for them by other...
Types of Evidence are types of information, data. Key Concepts: The CRAAP Test (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) The types of evidence that writers, speakers, knowledge workers . . . use to substantiate claims and analysis vary across discourse communities (aka communities of practice). Scientists, for instance, are likely to view anecdote as static, as noise in the communication space. For the scientific community, evidence is considered more authoritative if it has been vetted through rigorous scientific methods, including, in order of authority, observational research (case reports, case studies, cohort...
Connecting Evidence to Your Claims highlights ways to link evidence to claims in a reader-based way. Many emerging writers struggle with connecting sourced material to their claims and to their thesis. Oftentimes, this is because they’re too close to their work and think that the connection between claim and evidence is completely apparent to the reader. Even if the connection is readily visible, authors should still follow up a piece of sourced material with an explanation of its relevance to the author’s point, purpose, and/or thesis. Such connections (“analysis”) should...
What are Citation Tools? Citation Tools (aka bibliography tools or citation managers) are software tools that facilitate the processes of finding, tagging, and annotating sources automate the formatting processes for citations and bibliographies. Important: Make sure to check generated citations for accuracy and edit as necessary. Types of Citation Tools Some managers, such as Bibliography.com are lightweight: they don't require a login and password and can be quickly used when you just need to format a citation or two. Other citation managers are more multifaceted, offering a variety of services,...
