Five Kinds of Illustrated Graphics for Health Care Textbooks

There are only two kinds of people in this world: Realists and dreamers.

Wait, wait.

There are only two kinds of people in this world: Generalists and specialists.

Sorry.

There are only two kinds of people in this world: Givers and takers.

Oh, this is ridiculous. There are way more than two kinds of people in this world, but from my perspective, there are five (maybe six) key kinds of illustrations that can be used in a health care textbook:

1. Statistical (charts/graphs, tables) 
2. Clinical (anatomy, physiology, pathology, comparative)
3. Schematic (how something works)
4. Storyline (recreates an event, page “decorations”)
5. Icons

Let's take a look at each one.

#1 Statistical

Statistical graphics convey quantifiable data. Mostly. There are a wide variety of statistical graphics commonly used in health care textbooks. This list, in fact, is enormous, but here are some of them:

• Maps
• Bar graphs
• Line graphs
• Histograms
• Area charts
• Pie charts
• Timelines
• Flow charts or algorithms
• Infographics

The more complex the data being presented, generally, the more complex the graphic.

#2 Clinical

Clinical graphics commonly take the form of one of four types:

• Anatomical
• Physiological
• Pathophysiological
• Comparative

Comparative graphics, such as the one at right, can be extremely helpful in clarifying pathology or surgical interventions.

#3 Schematic

Schematic illustrations are useful for showing how something works. Some schematics use some kind of anatomical illustration as the underpinning (below, left). Some are more architectural in structure, as in the example below, right.

#4 Storyline

Storyline graphics recreate an event of some kind, such as an office patient speaking with a receptionist, a physician taking a patient's blood pressure, or a nurse holding a newborn. Sometimes these kinds of images serve a real purpose, but often they're just page decorations and carry no content weight.

#5 Icons

Icons are used frequently in health care textbooks. They're generally quite small and tend to identify particular types of content, such as alerts, communication-related content, patient education, and so forth.

~ #6 Maybe one more — Infographics

We haven't used infographics much so far, but I think you'll begin seeing more used as time goes by. Infographics provide a mix of data types in, typically, a vertical format and are heavily illustrated.

So, there you go. Five kinds of illustrated graphics for health care textbooks.

Wait, maybe six.

Oh, bother.

3 Keys for Crafting a Solid Table of Contents

What kind of face do you want your health care textbook to present, this one?

How about  this one?

Correct, neither of those. You want to present one that looks like this:

The face you put on your book is all summed up in the table of contents, or TOC. The TOC provides an at-a-glance overview of the book, its structure and organization. It needs some thought behind it for the book to be successful.

Here are three keys for crafting an effective TOC.

#1  Never call your introductory chapter "Introduction."

Your first chapter should just jump right into the content. Yes, it's introductory content, almost certainly, but don't call it that. That would be as bad as calling the last chapter "Conclusion."

Try not to call that first paragraph "Basics of...," "Essentials of...," or, I don't know, "Prolemogena of..." 

Instead, identify the core point you're trying to get across in that first chapter, the main concept. The bulk of the chapter will, most likely, address that issue.

Title your chapter after that content.

#2  It's the sequence, silly.

Pay attention to the sequence of units and chapters. The sequence should make sense, meaning that a reader should be able examine the sequence and be able to determine with some confidence the author's intent in leading the reader through the book.

For instance, in a book organized by body system, you might choose to organize chapters by a head-to-toe sequence, one that starts with the neurological system, say, then special senses, then integumentary, digestive, respiratory, and so forth.

Or maybe you want a critical-to-less-important organization that starts with the respiratory system, then cardiovascular, neurological, endocrine, and so forth.

For books that don't cover organs, maybe you want to build from simple to complex. Or grand concepts to more minor concepts.

Whatever the organization, make sure you really think about it. Don't just throw down chapters as they enter your head.

#3  Make the titles parallel.

Your TOC should present a consistent, parallel tone and style, just like your writing. If you've got a body systems book, maybe you want "System" at the end of each title, as in:

1. Integumentary System
2. Respiratory System
3. Cardiovascular System
4. Gastrointestinal System

If so, then stick with that construct. Don't mix them up, as in:

1. Skin
2. Respiratory System
3. Cardiovascular System
4. Digestion

If you want to use, say, gerund titles (verbs with –ing), fine, just be consistent. Similar chapters should have similarly constructed titles.

Pay attention to your TOC, and you'll be better able to put your best face forward.

Top Ten Reasons Why Educators Should Never Use True-False Questions

Of all the types of test questions, which we in the trade call "test items," none is more insidious and ineffective as the true-false item.

Here, then, are the Top Ten reasons why true-false questions should be banished forever.

#10  Unless great care is taken, true-false questions are just too ambiguous. Like Tilda Swinson's gender.

#9  They can test only specific, typically unimportant details. Yes, the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. Who cares?

#8  It's too easy for any clueless nabob to guess and be correct at least half of the time. Right, Lindsey?

#7  They deal in too many absolutes, and nothing in health care is absolute. Well, not many things, anyway.

#6  They can't discriminate between someone who knows and someone who doesn't. And as Mel Gibson might say ... Discrimation? Bad.

#5  The written T looks too much like the written F. It's that one little line that'll getcha.

#4.  It's too easy to write a bad one.

#3  Measures only the lowest learning levels. I'm talking lower than Amanda Bynes' self-esteem.

#2  Students generally think they're unfair. And they would be right.

And the #1 reason true-false questions should be banished forever:

Ain't nuttin' better for students who cheat.

5 Tips for Writing Great Textbook Captions

Open any book and go to an illustration or photograph.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

I'll bet you read the caption before you really looked at the graphic. Am I right?

Of course I am. Duh.

Captions  — or legends, as we call them in textbook publishing — are small but extremely important bits of information. They're not terribly difficult to write if you keep just a few tips in mind.

#1  Decide on the style.

Decide on the legend style you and your publisher prefer. For textbooks, we tend to use a quite brief style, with just a few words explaining the image. However, some books require more comprehensive legends.

Here are two images, one with a brief legend and one with a more comprehensive one.

Normal chest X ray

This X ray shows the heart and lungs in a patient
without lung or cardiac conditions.

If you use a brief style, make sure to avoid articles, such as the, a, and an, and conjunctions, such as and, but, or, or nor.

#2  Maintain a consistent style.

Whichever style is used, make sure every legend is consistent in format and tone. Try not to flippity-floppity from one style to another.

The exception is for multi-part images, such as the one below. Most legends in this particular book are brief, but a number of them add comprehensive descriptions of selected parts of the image.

#3  Explain all callouts and labels.

From Practical Radiology: A Symptom-Based Approach

Make sure your legend explains all callouts and labels. A callout is a brief bit of text connected by a line (usually an arrow) pointing to a piece of an illustration, a photograph, or another kind of graphic.

In the image at right, the callouts are "Fractured rib" and "Hemothorax".

The text "Right lung" is a label. Labels are used to identify large sections of a graphic or to distinguish one part from another part.

If your image has callouts, make sure to explain them in the caption. (I would have been happier if the image at the right had mentioned the fractured rib, which the running text did but not the legend. Oh, well.)

#4  Make references to items in image clear and uniform.

When you have more than one item you're highlighting in an image, make sure the references to those items in the legend follow a clear, logical progression. Here's an example:

Notice how the legend takes on an A-B-C sequence. Do the same thing for callouts in, say, an illustration of the femur. If the callouts start at the top and work their way down, do the same with any reference to the callouts.

#5  Double-check all legends on page proofs.

Always — ALWAYS — double-check legends when you have final art. You would be amazed at the number of ways such a little item can get all bunged up.

Legends may be little, but they're key elements of a solid textbook.

Pet Peeve: Colons in Headings

No, not THAT kind of colon.

Are you one of those people who puts a colon at the end of a heading?

(Listen up, friends and colleagues at F.A. Davis!)

You know the type I mean. They're the people who bold and underline an all-cap heading, and then stick a colon at the end, like so:

CORPORATE STRATEGY:

You know the type? Of course you do.

STOP DOING THAT!

No, I mean it, stop it. Right now. Don't ever do it again.

Using a colon in such cases is utterly redundant. You've already set up the words as a heading, what with all that bold and capitals, so what's the colon for?

Stop the madness, and just say NO.

And don't even get me started about that whole underlining thing. What, you don't know Control-I?

Okay, that's my rant on colons after headings.

The Key to Introducing a New Section of Content

Textbooks are essentially a collection of discrete sections of content.Take a chapter on, say, medical records in a doctor's office.

First comes an introductory section that provides an overview of the topic. From there will come a series of headings, each announcing what's to come in that section.

The key to writing that little introductory section is to write it first and last.

Here's what I mean.

Write It First

Take a stab at what you'll be covering in the section to come. Then pay it no mind.

Write the rest of the section. Put in all your subheadings, bulleted lists, and whatever else is required to cover the content.

Then go back to the intro.

Write It Last

Now rewrite your intro, listing or otherwise addressing each major subsection in order of appearance. That's important; it helps the reader focus on what's to come.

My guess is that your original sequence wasn't terribly close to the final sequence.

So by just throwing down an intro, planning all along to return to it, you'll free yourself to write the really good stuff. And after finishing the content section and revising the intro, you'll have the perfect setup for the reader.

So go forth! And then back again.