Let Your Ideas Flow: Using Flowcharts to Convey Methods and Implications of the Results in Laboratory Exercises, Articles, Posters, and Slide Presentations

In the world of 10 second to 3 minute videos, information is pressed into shorter time frames and fewer words. Images, specifically flow charts, can explain relationships of size, time, and cause and effect within a small space. Diagrams enhanced restudy and recall of biology concepts in 10th grade biology students, and even clinicians prefer flow charts for reviewing new guidelines. Flow charts and flow diagrams use both symbols and text to clarify detailed or complex concepts and relationships. We present 3 common uses for flowcharts and diagrams. Scientists, communicators, and teachers can use the seven basic conventions of diagrams, the tips, and the tools with examples for making diagrams that explain complex relationships and processes in a simple, engaging manner for peer-reviewed journals, presentations, and biology/chemistry education. To enhance student engagement, teachers and professors can incorporate flow charts into class by asking students to make a flow chart to describe the protocol for each laboratory session and to draw a flow diagram on a biological concept for a review paper. Effective diagram design helps all readers navigate diagrams and enables readers to comprehend and apply the displayed scientific concepts toward future biological and microbiological knowledge and research.