Writing and Publishing Scientific Articles Course Workbook

Effective Figures and Tables

8- 21

Problems

▪ The 3-dimensional effect is not needed and adds confusion (where do you read the y-axis value?). ▪ The x-axis labels (key) are off to the side, not below the axis, and are hard to distinguish.

Abbreviations are not defined.

There is excessive labeling on the y-axis.

▪ The original number of mice in each group is not indicated.

100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240

CD

S

NS

Se

AF

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

FA

C

Figure 15. Numbers of mice surviving at the end of 4 weeks of treatment.

Solutions

▪ The 3-dimensional effect has been removed.

▪ The bar labels appear below the bars on the x-axis.

Abbreviations are spelled out.

▪ The number of labels along the y-axis has been reduced.

▪ The legend includes the original number of mice in each group.

240

210

180

150

120

90

60

30

0

Control

Fatty acid Arsenic free

Selenium enhanced

No Se Standard Cafeteria

Figure 15. Numbers of mice surviving at the end of 4 weeks of treatment for each diet group. Each group startedwith 225 mice.

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