If the text is crystal clear without the chart, question your decision to use it. Maybe it's not really necessary. Sometimes as a writer we put so much effort into our work that we hate to cut anything out, so you may have to step back to really answer the question honestly. If the text is incomprehensible without the chart, perhaps you are expecting the chart or table to do your work for you. The visual cannot make your point; it can only help you illustrate it.

Be sure to lead the reader into and out of your list, chart, or table by introducing it and concluding it in the text itself. In most cases, if there is an illustration, there should be an explanation. Both should be clear enough to serve the writer's purpose in meeting what he considers to be the needs of his reader.