Twelve Steps to Developing Effective Tables and Figures.

The purpose of tables and figures is to report data too numerous or complicated to be described adequately in the text and/or to reveal trends or patterns in the data. Tables and figures are critical. If readers go beyond the abstract, they are likely to examine the tables and figures next. Before writing the first draft of your manuscript, it is important to organize the data you plan to present in the manuscript. By preparing the tables and figures, their titles and legends, and appropriate statistical analyses, you will be certain of your results before you need to interpret them. At this time you will also be able to determine if you have all the data you need. Before writing the first draft, it is important to plan which results answer the questions you posed in your research and which data can be left out. 1. Decide which results to present, paying attention to whether data are best presented within the text or as tables or figures. 2. Limit the number of tables and figures to those that provide essential information that could not adequately be presented in the text. 3. Include only results which are relevant to the question(s) posed in the introduction, irrespective of whether or not the results support the hypothesis(es). 4. Design each table and figure to be understandable on its own, without reference to the text. 5. Number each figure and table in the order in which they are referred to in the text (figures and tables are numbered separately). 6. Organize the tables and figures in such an order that they tell a story. 7. Check with the targeted journal, but typically tables and figures are located on separate pages that follow the Reference section.