I thought that I would write a post to help guide students in the use of images in their essays. I will show you through example but first I think that it is important to say that the use of images should be illustrative not decorative. Images, especially when writing about a visual media like games are very important to reinforce your points but they should be there to illustrate your points not to decorate your essays, this is the same for graphs and charts.
So... how do you use images?
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Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (2007) shows innovation in it's level design, creating spaces of play that are immersive and atmospheric. One of the most engaging level designs to evoke tension and an overwhelming sensory experience takes place in a night club. As you enter the club atmosphere the level teems with people dancing to the heavy thumbing of a bass beat. The level is dark and confusing, as a player you are informed that you must traverse this disorientating environment in order to achieve the levels goals. The level is simple in its layout and structure but becomes complex as you try to manoeuvre through the crowds in this dark and bewildering space (figure 01).
figure 01 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men nightclub levelYou are required to move from one end of the level, achieve a goal and return to the club entrance again. On your return across the club it becomes necessary to shoot your gun which triggers mass panic and shifts the atmosphere of the space from one of disorientation to a explosion of unrest. The player is usually required to shoot their weapon while stood on a balcony overlooking the crowd, this event is deliberately triggered here so that the player can view the magnitude of the task ahead. The play now shifts to protecting your team mate within the crowd where it is hard to distinguish ravers in distress from opponents (figure 02).
figure 02 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men nightclub level in panic--------------------------------------------------------------------
After by Bibliography which will state all of my referenced texts i will have a page with a list of images which would look something like this
figure 01 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men nightclub level - http://www.gamingsteve.com
figure 02 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men nightclub level in panic - www.msxbox-world.com
figure 02 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men nightclub level in panic - www.msxbox-world.com
You don't need the full URL as these can sometimes be massive, if you have used google images then they usually have a short site URL under the image that you can cut and paste. If the image is a screen shot you have taken yourself or a graph that you have made from your findings then you just need to say where it has come from so you would write something along the lines of "screenshot of gameplay" or "graph composed of findings from ..."
You also need to reference tables in the same way, so if you have analysed data you need to but "table 01 collated research from questionnaire" and you can make reference to the table in the same way as you would an image.
