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Tables and Figures: Home

Introduction

In the body of your capstone document, information that does not appear in textual form must be formatted and labeled as either a table or figure. (APA 7 does not use other words like graph, illustration, or chart.)

Tables and figures must fit within the margin specifications. Do not separate a title or caption from the table or figure it identifies.

If your table or figure is for a course paper with no intention of publication, you do not need to get permission to include it; that's considered fair use.

The Writing Center webinar, "Presenting Data and Describing Analysis," is presented regularly, and you can view past recordings of that session in the webinar archive.

Tables and Figures in Doctoral Capstone Studies

  • Tables and figures are to be numbered without a suffix or indicator of the chapter in which they appear: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3; Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, and so on. In the text, capitalize the words "Table" or "Figure" when referring to them (for example, Table 12). Refer to the specific table number, not to the page number on which it appears or by its relative location (for example, "the table below").
  • In doctoral capstone studies, tables and figures are inserted into the narrative as close to the text that introduces them as is practical.(Although APA 7, Section 7.6 allows for tables and figures to be placed on pages following the references, in Walden capstone documents, these should be placed in the narrative by their callout.) Do not split a table unless it is too large to fit on one entire page. Placing a table on its own landscape-oriented page is permissible. Do not place any text on a page if a table or figure takes up 75% or more of the page.
  • A copyright attribution is necessary for all tables and figures that have been adapted (modified) or reprinted (published without any modification) from other sources, including your own published work (see APA 7, Section 7.7). Include an entry for the source in the reference list, too. For examples of copyright attributions, see APA 7, Sections 7.21 and 12.18 (tables) and APA 7, Sections 7.36 and 12.18 (figures). APA 7, Section 12.16 includes information on the different types of copyright status (e.g., standard copyright, Creative Commons, public domain, and no copyright indicated). See ProQuest's website for more information on using copyrighted material in your study.
  • In APA 7, if you adapt or reprint a table or figure that is in the public domain or that has a Creative Commons license, you do not need to obtain permission to include the table or figure in your document. If you adapt or reprint a work that has a copyright symbol or no copyright indicated, you may need to provide permission from the copyright holder. See APA 7, Section 12.17 for more discussion of the fair use doctrine in U.S. copyright law.
  • Include permissions, if required, in an appendix.
  • If you created a table or figure using information from a source, as opposed to reprinting or adapting a table or figure created by that source, you will cite the source using APA’s author-date format in the narrative rather than provide a copyright attribution (see APA 7, Section 12.14).