A diagram shows how parts connect, so a viewer sees the structure at a glance instead of reading to find it. Use one when your slide describes a process, a set of parts or a relationship. Keep a paragraph only when the content is a single idea that cannot be drawn.
This lesson uses the hierarchy from choosing a readable text hierarchy and sits in the Presentations module. Names, clubs and numbers in this lesson are invented practice material.
How do you turn text into a diagram?
- Find the nouns and the links. In the text, underline the things (boxes) and the words that join them (arrows, such as “then” or “leads to”).
- Choose a shape of diagram. A row of boxes with arrows for steps, a circle of arrows for a cycle, a central box with branches for parts of one idea.
- Shorten the labels to one to four words each.
- Align and space. Equal box sizes, equal gaps, arrows that touch the boxes.
- Read it aloud. If you can say the original sentence from the diagram alone, it works.
Worked example
Invented paragraph on a slide: “After the club collects the bottles on Saturday morning, they are taken to the school gate, where members separate clear bottles from coloured ones, rinse them, and the volunteers then take them to the recycling bin outside the town hall.”
That is 40 words and five actions.
Step 1, nouns and links: collect, take to gate, sort, rinse, deliver. Order is the key idea, so the shape is a row of steps.
Step 2, labels: “Collect on beach”, “Take to school gate”, “Sort clear and coloured”, “Rinse”, “Deliver to bin”.
Step 3, layout: five equal boxes left to right with arrows between them. If five boxes are too wide for the slide, use two rows with a clear arrow from the end of row one to the start of row two.
Step 4, title: “Bottle recycling: five steps”. The title states the message, so no extra text is needed.
Check: reading the five boxes in order gives back all five actions of the paragraph. Nothing important was lost, and 40 words became 15 words of labels (3 + 4 + 4 + 1 + 3).
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken approach: the student draws five boxes but adds no arrows and leaves the labels as long sentences.
The viewer cannot tell the order, and the boxes are as hard to read as the paragraph was.
The correction is to show direction with arrows, shorten each label to a few words and keep the order obvious from left to right or top to bottom. Also check that every diagram has a purpose: if it could be removed without losing information, remove it.
Check yourself
1. Which content suits a diagram: (a) a definition of “backup”, (b) the four stages of making a backup, (c) a quotation?
Show answer
(b). Stages are a sequence, so a row of linked boxes shows them clearly. A definition or a quotation is a single statement and stays as text.
2. A diagram has six boxes with sentences of about 15 words each. What should you do?
Show answer
Shorten each label to one to four words and move any detail into speaker notes. Check the boxes remain equal in size and aligned.
3. Why do arrows matter in a process diagram?
Show answer
They show the order and direction. Without them the viewer must guess which step comes first.
Where this leads next
Once your slides carry diagrams, think about how the audience moves between slides in adding navigation only where useful. To practise on a whole task, try the Presentations practice set.
If you want a teacher to look at your slide and suggest the clearest version, see our online one-to-one ICT tuition.