Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010
Choosing verbal or visual representations
Presenting evidence in tables and figures
Writing your paper
11.1 Choosing Verbal or Visual Representations
11.2 Choosing the Graphical Form That Best Achieves Your Intention
11.3 Designing Tables and Figures
11.3.1 Tell Readers What Your Graphic Shows
11.3.2 Keep the Image as Simple and Informative as Its Content Allows
At an early stage in your development as a researcher, you are unlikely to have assignments that require you to collect and report large sets of numerical data. But if you do, your readers will grasp those complex numbers most easily if you present them graphically rather than in words. You can present the same numerical data in different graphic forms, but some forms will suit your data and message better than others. In this chapter, we show you how to choose the right graphic form and to design it so that readers can see both what your data are and how they support your argument.
A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY
We use the term graphics to name all visual images offered as evidence. Traditionally, graphics are divided into tables and figures.
✵ A table is a grid with columns and rows that present data in numbers or words organized by categories.
✵ Figures are all other graphic forms, including graphs, charts, photographs, drawings, and diagrams.
Figures that present quantitative data are divided into two kinds:
✵ Charts typically consist of bars, circles, points, or other shapes.
✵ Graphs typically consist of continuous lines.
11.1 Choosing verbal or visual representations
Few new researchers work with the kinds of data that are best presented graphically. So chances are that you can present your data in sentences rather than in tables or charts. Readers can understand numbers like these without the help of graphics:
In 1996, on average, men earned $32,144 a year, women, $23,710—a difference of $8,434.
You need graphics only when readers have to deal with more than five or six numbers, particularly if they have to compare them. For example, most readers would struggle to see the important relationships among the numbers in a passage like this:
Between 1970 and 2000, the structure of families changed in two ways. In 1970, 85 percent of families had two parents, but in 1980 that number declined to 77 percent, then to 73 percent in 1990, and to 68 percent in 2000. The number of one-parent families rose, particularly families headed by a mother. In 1970, 11 percent of families were headed by a single mother. In 1980, that number rose to 18 percent, in 1990 to 22 percent, and to 23 percent in 2000. Single fathers headed 1 percent of the families in 1970, 2 percent in 1980, 3 percent in 1990, and 4 percent in 2000. Families with no adult in the home have remained stable at 3—4 percent.
Such data are best presented graphically.
For most of you, our advice is to avoid graphics and stick to words, at least at first. You have enough to keep in mind in learning how to get the words right. But if you do have to present data too complex for words, this chapter will show you how.