Bedford Researcher Ch.18 - Understanding Design Principles

                In ch.18 of The Bedford Researcher, informs you of how to properly design your document. They emphasize the importance of how the design of your paper will impact the ability of your reader to interact with and understand your research writing project. The first section of this chapter is titled, “How can I use design effectively?” and they highlight four design aspects to focus on: Understanding design principles, designing for a purpose, designing for your readers, and designing to address genre conversation. Understanding design principles is just knowing how to work with a word processor to create a sleek, professional looking paper. Designing for a purpose is just what it sounds like, designing your paper that effectively represents and informs your reader of your purpose as a writer. Designing for your readers is just to help your readers comprehend, navigate, and utilize your design easily to gain as much information as possible. Addressing genre conventions is just “[creating] a document that meets the expectations of your readers.”

                The second section of ch.18 is called, “What design elements can I use?” and it enlightens you of the vast amount of features you can use on your document. The most important features writers use are: fonts, line spacing, and alignment. These features simplify your document so it becomes easier to read. The Bedford Researcher then talks about the importance of placing your text, illustration, columns, foot notes, etc. in an organized manner. “Coloring, Shading, Borders, and Rules” (291) are qualities of your paper that can affect the “attractiveness” (291) of your paper. Then they inform you of the different kinds of illustrations that can contribute to your paper in a good way. Photographs set mood, charts and graphs portray your information visually, tables can visualize more difficult information, and other digital illustrations bring the different aspect of sound and movement to your paper that most people won’t have. The Bedford Researcher emphasizes the value of using illustrations for a purpose, not just looks, placing them near the ideas of your illustration that are in your paper, and explaining the illustration using a brief summary/caption or title.