Writing and Publishing Scientific Articles
8-2
Deciding Whether to Use Text, a Figure, or a Table Use text, a figure, or a table to show a set of data — but not 2 or all 3 to show the same data. Journals have space constraints — they want to publish as much as possible, so they want you to report your work as concisely as possible. Part of that is not repeating data in text, figures, and tables. The following subsections offer advice on choosing between text, figures, and tables for the presentation of your data. The suggestions in the bulleted lists are from Iverson C et al. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 10th edition. p. 82. New York, Oxford University Press, 2007.
When to Use Text
Sometimes you should describe data in the text instead of using a figure or table. In general, use text rather than a figure or table to
▪ Present quantitative data that can be given concisely and clearly.
▪ Describe simple relationships among qualitative data.
For example, a graph with 2 bars in which the control value is 100% and the test value is 60% (relative to the control) could easily be replaced with text: “The test value was 60% of the control value.”
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Control
Test
Figure 1. Test value relative to control value.
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software