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Tables and figures instruction for doctoral capstone writers.

Basics

In APA style, a table is a representation of information that uses rows and columns.

Keep the following in mind when including a table in your capstone document:

  • Place the word "Table" and the table number above the table, flush left, and in boldface. (This is a change from APA 6 where the table number was not bolded.) Place the title of the table (in title case and italics), double-spaced, under the table number, flush left.
  • Double-space before and after the table. Information regarding abbreviations or symbols used in a table, copyright information, and probability must be located in a Note below the table. See APA 7, Section 7.14 for formatting information.
  • Provide copyright attribution and permission from the copyright holder(s) when reprinting (publishing as is) or adapting (modifying) tables and figures not in the public domain (APA 7, Sections 12.14 and 12.15). See APA 7, Section 12.17 for more information on the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law; if your use constitutes a fair use, you do not need to obtain permission from the copyright holder, but you still need to provide attribution. The copyright attribution, or credit, follows the citation underneath the table or figure; the permission documentation is placed in the appendices. See APA 7 Section 12.18, Tables 12.1 and Table 12.2, for guidance on how to format copyright attribution. Also see our page on Citing Sources for Tables and Figures for more examples.
  • If a table extends beyond one page, at the top of the new page, repeat only the column headings and not the table title (see APA 7 Section 7.18). See  APA 7 Section 7.21, Table 7.4 for an example.

For more on tables, see APA 7, Chapter 7.

Examples of Tables

In this example, the author created the table using statistics from a government website.

 

Table 1
 
Child ADHD Diagnosis by Age in 2016
 
Age range (years) No. of children (millions) height Weighted percentage ever diagnosed weight
 
2–5
 		  
0.388
 		  
2.4%
 
6–11
 		 2.400
 		 9.6%
 
12–17
 		 3.300
 		 13.6%
 

From “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Data & Statistics,” by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018 (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html).

In this example, the author created the table from original data.

 

Table 2
 
Comparison of Boys and Girls
 
Variable Average height Average weight Average behavior incident Average truancy
 
Boys (n = 60)
 		  
5 ft 1 in
 		  
120 lbs
 		  
14
 		  
6 days
 
Girls (n = 62)
 		 5 ft 2 in
 		 105 lbs
 		 4
 		 0.5 days
 

More Guidelines

  • Use plain type for column headings and row labels. Use sentence case for column and row headings and text, maintaining capitalization of proper nouns and names of scales, for example. Bold type may be used for emphasis of some table data (see APA 7, Table 7.14).
  • Limit the use of rules, or lines, to those necessary for clarity. Use horizontal lines only.
  • Table text may be single- or double-spaced; consider readability in your line-spacing decision.  
  • The font size used in tables and figures may be smaller than that used in the text; however, to ensure a professional appearance and legibility, it should be no smaller than 8 point and no larger than 12 point.