LECTURE 3 - CAPTIONS

Barrie Robison

2024-10-29

Writing About Data

A figure is worth 1000 words…. or some crap… I don’t know…

REMEMBER OUR THEME!

Who is the Audience? What is the goal?

Any general advice can be invalidated by your specific requirements. For example, the Associate Editor of the Journal Science won’t care what you learned in this class. They have guidelines and you must follow them.

SELF CONTAINED

The caption and the figure should create a stand alone entity that can be understood without reference to the main text of the document. Components may include:

  • Declarative Title.
  • Methods.
  • Statistical Information.

DECLARATIVE TITLE

… or not?

A Declarative Title summarizes your result or main finding. This may or may not be appropriate. Is the title clarifying the communication or biasing the reader?

METHODS AND STATISTICS

CAPTION vs LEGEND

SCOPE

1 Figure for 1 Question.

NOW YOU TRY!

Grab one of your figures from your previous assignments. Write a comprehensive figure caption.

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