Blog Post 2: Final Topic Choice and 7 Potential Sources
After further consideration, I have finalized my topic and decided to exlore the visual rhetoric of visual encyclopedias — more specifically, the technical illustrations and the unique information they're designed to convey in an encyclopedic format. Given their unique nature and the array of details and tactics they employ — cutaways, cross-sections, color-coding, multiple angles, and so on and so forth — they promote certain engagement in conjunction with text, annotations, and other media that visual encyclopedias "fold" together to create a unique, multimedia whole for readers to peruse.
Per the article title, my list of sources remains tentative and would benefit from others' input and recommendations. So far, they mainly concern technical illustration, design principles, and visual communication — sometimes in the context of pedagogical effectiveness, sometimes in the context of historical applications and examples. That said, while visual encyclopedias by themselves are accessible and easy to find with the right keywords online, I have found next to no scholarship discussing or analyzing what the layout of a visual encyclopedia itself is designed to convey or what it achieves rhetorically.
This introduces a unique challenge to my assignment, as I may be forced or encouraged to synthesize insights from those sources that are available and apply them to case studies in visual encyclopedias. Nevertheless, the relative wealth of resources on the individual visual elements (and technical illustration more broadly) does lay a foundation, often lending insight into how the assorted diagrams, drawings, and other depictions are structured, situated, and designed to convey information that either complements adjacent text and writing or substitutes it entirely.
7 TENTATIVE SOURCES
Berthouzoz, F., Li, W., & Agrawala, M. (2011, April 1). Design principles for visual communication. ACM Digital Library | Association for Computing Machinery. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1924421.1924439
Dwyer, F. M. (1970). Exploratory Studies in the Effectiveness of Visual Illustrations. AV Communication Review, 18(3), 235–249. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30217591
Mayer, R. E., Steinhoff, K., Bower, G., & Mars, R. (1995). A Generative Theory of Textbook Design: Using Annotated Illustrations to Foster Meaningful Learning of Science Text. Educational Technology Research and Development, 43(1), 31–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30220110
Oriana Gatta. (2013). English 3135: Visual Rhetoric. Composition Studies, 41(2), 78–97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/compstud.41.2.0078
Purnell, K. N., & Solman, R. T. (1991). The Influence of Technical Illustrations on Students’ Comprehension in Geography. Reading Research Quarterly, 26(3), 277–299. https://doi.org/10.2307/747764
Ross, S. (2017). Ocean-Liner Cutaways, Diagrams, and Composites: Technical Illustration as Mass Aesthetic in Popular Mechanics and The Illustrated London News. The Journal of Modern Periodical Studies, 8(1), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.5325/jmodeperistud.8.1.0001
Sless, D. (2019). Learning and Visual Communication (1st ed., Ser. Routledge Revivals). Routledge. September 1, 2025, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429021909/learning-visual-communication-david-sless
The titles of these sources seem promising. I would also look into if there are guidelines for publishing encyclopedias in general. Maybe there are certain requirements? I feel like this would be background knowledge, but necessary nonetheless. Good start, in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteI like Frances’ line of thinking. I’m certain there must be a style guide of sort for writing encyclopedias or at least some basic understanding of “this is how we write encyclopedias.” Let us know what you find in your literature review!
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a solid start, though as the guy who authored this post, here's the makings of a plan going forward:
ReplyDelete1. Revisit and Revise Your Sources: I've ound solid options, but only a few of them come from the TW;DR journals (see the Lit. Review rubric for details). Besides their immediate relevance, the upside of those is that they're vetted, peer-reviewed, and contain technical writing subjects without neighboring fields that might be "tempting but irrelevant". You don't need to get rid of the sources you already have, but you should certainly add to them and revise what kinds of sources to put in your Annotated Bibliography and such.
2. Consult with Dr. Bacabac over Zoom: She recommended this already, but this will help give extra guidance and point you in the right direction for how to refine your approach and flesh out an area that's not well-explored. As I've alluded to, rhetorical analysis of visual encyclopedias is a research gap that no one seems to address explicitly, which (as the blog notes) introduces a unique challenge that may force me to synthesize insights from preexisting sources and figure out how to apply them to visual encyclopedias. While not insurmountable, this is a big ask, so I'd like to set up an appointment with Dr. Bacabac soon.
3. Research Encyclopedia Style Guides: As Frances suggested and Mitski seconded (shoutout to both of 'em), there may be specific guidelines and conventions that visual encyclopedias (and encyclopedias in general) adhere to, whether in terms of layout or in terms of content. After all, they're designed to be a seemingly "complete" overview of an entire field of knowledge distilled into a book, so they likely have standards and rules-of-thumb for how to "jam-pack" that all into a few hundred pages at most (and harmonize the text and images well along the way). As such, this may be germane to your research, perhaps illustrating how guidelines and conventions for visual encyclopedias are tailored to achieve certain rhetorical ends and convey certain information to a readership that other formats do not.
Hi Ethan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your 2nd blog post and tentative sources! I really love your topic and yes, please consider adding TWDR sources here to frame the problem within the discipline (e.g., play around with keywords, such as visual rhetoric, etc.). Kindly email me (florence.bacabac@utahtech.edu) soon for a quick Zoom meeting to help with adding some TWDR journals in your repertoire, ok? Am here...
Looking forward to hearing from you soon,
Dr. B