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1、APA Style -- APA Tables and Figures 1

Note: This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. The equivalent APA 7 page can be found here.

The purpose of tables and figures in documents is to enhance your readers' understanding of the information in the document. Most word processing software available today will allow you to create your own tables and figures, and even the most basic of word processors permit the embedding of images, thus enabling you to include tables and figures in almost any document.

General guidelines

Necessity. Visual material such as tables and figures can be used quickly and efficiently to present a large amount of information to an audience, but visuals must be used to assist communication, not to use up space, or disguise marginally significant results behind a screen of complicated statistics. Ask yourself this question first: Is the table or figure necessary? For example, it is better to present simple descriptive statistics in the text, not in a table.

Relation of Tables or Figures and Text. Because tables and figures supplement the text, refer in the text to all tables and figures used and explain what the reader should look for when using the table or figure. Focus only on the important point the reader should draw from them, and leave the details for the reader to examine on their own.

Documentation. If you are using figures, tables and/or data from other sources, be sure to gather all the information you will need to properly document your sources.

Integrity and Independence. Each table and figure must be intelligible without reference to the text, so be sure to include an explanation of every abbreviation (except the standard statistical symbols and abbreviations).

Organization, Consistency, and Coherence. Number all tables sequentially as you refer to them in the text (Table 1, Table 2, etc.), likewise for figures (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). Abbreviations, terminology, and probability level values must be consistent across tables and figures in the same article. Likewise, formats, titles, and headings must be consistent. Do not repeat the same data in different tables.

Tables

(Taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., Section 5.19)

• Is the table necessary?

• Does it belong in the print and electronic versions of the article, or can it go in an online supplemental file?

• Are all comparable tables presented consistently?

• Is the entire table single- or double-spaced (including the title, headings, and notes)?

• Is the title brief but explanatory?

• Does every column have a column heading?

• Are all abbreviations; special use of italics, parentheses, and dashes; and special symbols explained?

• Are the notes organized according to the convention of general, specific, probability?

• Are all vertical rules eliminated?

• Are confidence intervals reported for all major point estimates?

• Are all probability level values correctly identified, and are asterisks attached to the appropriate table entries? Is a probability level assigned the same number of asterisks in all the tables in the same document?

• If the table or its data are from another source, is the source properly cited?

• Is the table referred to in the text?

Tables

Data in a table that would require only two or fewer columns and rows should be presented in the text. More complex data is better presented in tabular format. In order for quantitative data to be presented clearly and efficiently, it must be arranged logically, e.g. data to be compared must be presented next to one another (before/after, young/old, male/female, etc.), and statistical information (means, standard deviations, N values) must be presented in separate parts of the table. If possible, use canonical forms (such as ANOVA, regression, or correlation) to communicate your data effectively.

Table Structure

The following image illustrates the basic structure of tables.

Numbers. Number all tables with Arabic numerals sequentially. Do not use suffix letters (e.g. Table 3a, 3b, 3c); instead, combine the related tables. If the manuscript includes an appendix with tables, identify them with capital letters and Arabic numerals (e.g. Table A1, Table B2).

Titles. Like the title of the paper itself, each table must have a clear and concise title. When appropriate, you may use the title to explain an abbreviation parenthetically.

Example: Comparison of Median Income of Adopted Children (AC) v. Foster Children (FC)

Headings. Keep headings clear and brief. The heading should not be much wider than the widest entry in the column. Use of standard abbreviations can aid in achieving that goal. All columns must have headings, even the stub column (see example structure), which customarily lists the major independent variables.

Body. In reporting the data, consistency is key: Numerals should be expressed to a consistent number of decimal places that is determined by the precision of measurement. Never change the unit of measurement or the number of decimal places in the same column.

Specific Types of Tables

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Tables. The conventional format for an ANOVA table is to list the source in the stub column, then the degrees of freedom (df) and the F ratios. Give the between-subject variables and error first, then within-subject and any error. Mean square errors must be enclosed in parentheses. Provide a general note to the table to explain what those values mean (see example). Use asterisks to identify statistically significant F ratios, and provide a probability footnote.

Regression. Conventional reporting of regression analysis follows two formats. If the study is purely applied, list only the raw or unstandardized coefficients (B). If the study is purely theoretical, list only the standardized coefficients (beta). If the study was neither purely applied nor theoretical, then list both standardized and unstandardized coefficients. Specify the type of analysis, either hierarchical or simultaneous, and provide the increments of change if you used hierarchical regression.

Notes in Tables

There are three types of notes for tables: general, specific, and probability notes. All of them must be placed below the table in that order.

General notes explain, qualify or provide information about the table as a whole. Put explanations of abbreviations, symbols, etc. here.

Example: Note. The racial categories used by the US Census (African-American, Asian American, Latinos/-as, Native-American, and Pacific Islander) have been collapsed into the category “non-White.” E = excludes respondents who self-identified as “White” and at least one other “non-White” race.

Specific notes explain, qualify or provide information about a particular column, row, or individual entry. To indicate specific notes, use superscript lowercase letters (e.g. a, b, c), and order the superscripts from left to right, top to bottom. Each table’s first footnote must be the superscript a.

Example: a n = 823. b One participant in this group was diagnosed with schizophrenia during the survey.

Probability notes provide the reader with the results of the tests for statistical significance. Asterisks indicate the values for which the null hypothesis is rejected, with the probability (p value) specified in the probability note. Such notes are required only when relevant to the data in the table. Consistently use the same number of asterisks for a given alpha level throughout your paper.

If you need to distinguish between two-tailed and one-tailed tests in the same table, use asterisks for two-tailed p values and an alternate symbol (such as daggers) for one-tailed p values.

Tables from Other Sources

If using tables from a source, copy the structure of the original exactly, and cite the source in accordance with APA style.

2、APA Style -- APA Tables and Figures 2

Figures

Figure Checklist (Taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., Section 5.30)

• Is the figure necessary?

• Is the figure simple, clean, and free of extraneous detail?

• Is the figure title descriptive of the content of the figure?

• Are all elements of the figure clearly labeled?

• Are the magnitude, scale, and direction of grid elements clearly labeled?

• Are parallel figures or equally important figures prepared according to the same scale?

• Are the figures numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals?

• Are all figures mentioned in the text?

• Has written permission for print and electronic reuse been obtained? Is proper credit given in the figure caption?

• Have all substantive modifications to photographic images been disclosed?

• Are the figures being submitted in a file format acceptable to the publisher?

• Have the files been produced at a sufficiently high resolution to allow for accurate reproduction?

As tables supplement the text, so should each figure.

Types of Figures

Graphs are good at quickly conveying relationships like comparison and distribution. The most common forms of graphs are scatter plots, line graphs, bar graphs, pictorial graphs, and pie graphs. For more details and specifics on what kind of information, relations, and meaning can be expressed with the different types of graphs, consult your textbook on quantitative analysis. Spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel, can generate the graphs for you.

Scatter plots are composed of individual dots that represent the value of a specific event on the scale established by the two variables plotted on the x- and y-axes. When the dots cluster together, a correlation is implied. On the other hand, when the dots are scattered randomly, no correlation is seen.

Line graphs depict the relationship between quantitative variables. Usually, the independent variable is plotted along the x-axis (horizontally) and the dependent variable is plotted along the y-axis (vertically).

Bar graphs come in three main types: 1) solid vertical or horizontal bars, 2) multiple bar graphs, and 3) sliding bars. In solid bar graphs, the independent variable is categorical, and each bar represents one kind of datum, e. g. a bar graph of monthly expenditures. A multiple bar graph can show more complex information than a simple bar graph, e. g. monthly expenditures divided into categories (housing, food, transportation, etc.). In sliding bar graphs, the bars are divided by a horizontal line which serves as the baseline, enabling the representation of data above and below a specific reference point, e. g. high and low temperatures v. average temperature.

Pictorial graphs can be used to show quantitative differences between groups. Pictorial graphs can be very deceptive: if the height of an image is doubled, its area is quadrupled. Therefore, great care should be taken that images representing the same values must be the same size.

Circle (pie) graphs are used to represent percentages and proportions. For the sake of readability, no more than five variables should be compared in a single pie graph. The segments should be ordered very strictly: beginning at twelve o’clock, order them from the largest to the smallest, and shade the segments from dark to light (i.e., the largest segment should be the darkest). Lines and dots can be used for shading in black and white documents.

Charts are used to represent the components of larger objects or groups (e. g. military ranks), the steps in a process (as in a flow-chart), or the schematics of an object (the components of a cell phone).

Drawings and photographs can be used to communicate very specific information about a subject. Thanks to software, both are now highly manipulable. For the sake of readability and simplicity, line drawings should be used, and photographs should have the highest possible contrast between the background and focal point. Cropping, cutting out extraneous detail, can be very beneficial for a photograph. Use software like GraphicConverter or Photoshop to convert color photographs to black and white before printing on a laser printer. Otherwise most printers will produce an image with poor contrast.

Preparing Figures

In preparing figures, communication and readability must be the ultimate criteria. Avoid the temptation to use the special effects available in most advanced software packages. While three-dimensional effects, shading, and layered text may look interesting to the author, overuse, inconsistent use, and misuse may distort the data, and distract or even annoy readers. Design properly done is inconspicuous, almost invisible, because it supports communication. Design improperly, or amateurishly, done draws the reader’s attention from the data, and makes him or her question the author’s credibility.

The APA has determined specifications for the size of figures and the fonts used in them. Figures of one column must be between 2 and 3.25 inches wide (5 to 8.45 cm). Two-column figures must be between 4.25 and 6.875 inches wide (10.6 to 17.5 cm). The height of figures should not exceed the top and bottom margins. The text in a figure should be in a san serif font (such as Helvetica, Arial, or Futura). The font size must be between eight and fourteen point. Use circles and squares to distinguish curves on a line graph (at the same font size as the other labels). (See examples above.)

Captions and Legends

For figures, make sure to include the figure number and a title with a legend and caption. These elements appear below the visual display. For the figure number, type Figure X. Then type the title of the figure in sentence case. Follow the title with a legend that explains the symbols in the figure and a caption that explains the figure:

Figure 1. How to create figures in APA style. This figure illustrates effective elements in APA style figures.

Captions serve as a brief, but complete, explanation and as a title. For example, “Figure 4. Population” is insufficient, whereas “Figure 4. Population of Grand Rapids, MI by race (1980)” is better. If the figure has a title in the image, crop it.

Additionally, if the image is reproduced from another source, include the citation at the end of the caption.

Graphs should always include a legend that explains the symbols, abbreviations, and terminology used in the figure. These terms must be consistent with those used in the text and in other figures. The lettering in the legend should be of the same type and size as that used in the figure.

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