Bernhardt Reading Response

Before You Read

In the news paper there is a picture of a woman and man walking on a track that surrounds a football field. The writing is written in columns. There is a main title and a few smaller headings. 

Summary

In "Seeing the Text" he explains that it helps to actually see the text. He is telling writers of all kinds to put visuals in their writings. Many people are visual learners and Bernhardt is expressing that the use of pictures, diagrams, graphs, etc. are very important in writing. This is defined as visually informative text. Bernhardt is expressing the importance of this because he wants readers to better understand the texts they are reading. 

Synthesis

Bernhardt's "Seeing the Text" extremely relates to McCloud's "Vocabulary of Comics." These two articles are so closely related because Bernhardt talks about the importance visuals bring to writing/reading and McCloud's whole article was a comic, a picture. Bernhardt's article contrasts with Allen's article "The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer." Allen describes the importance of writing and correcting writing over and over again; she does not have any connection to visuals in her article.

Thoughts

I thought this article was great! I relate because I am a visual learner. Some people think pictures and graphs distract readers, but it really just helps them understand what they have read. Pictures and charts keep me interested, they are almost like a break from reading.

After You Read

McCloud would have represented Bernhaedt's argument because his whole article was a picture(comic). McCloud talks about different types of basic and abstract pictures. He described how certain icons affect our thinking/imagination. This proves that Bernhardt is right, pictures keep the reader interested and their imagination flowing.

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
Bernhardt is proving his point that maybe we don’t see charts and graphs in school essays a lot, but we do see them everywhere else. Visuals help people understand the points.	“Thousands of informational pamphlets, brochures, and forms flow from government agencies, special interest groups, businesses and community groups, attempting to gather information, to sell ideas, to explain programs, to describe rights and responsibilities to an affected public, or to seek support for one program or another” (35).
He wants writers to think about how the reader actually sees the text.	“To attend to the layout of the text requires considering the text as a visual gestalt, focusing attention on the total visual impact of the text on a prospective reader” (39).
There are many ways to connect things. Use the same font and size for headings. Use a big font for the title. Readers connect these things.	“The fourth law of gestalt, the law of similarity, suggest that units which resemble each other in shape, size, color, or direction will be seen together as a homogenous grouping” (40).
Readers want to find information quickly. Visual information will help readers do this accurately.	“There are no hard and fast rules for designing effective visually informative texts, though empirical research has begun to offer some tentative findings” (42).