Presenting data in tables 2: Table title

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Presenting data in tables 2: Table title

Every table in a research paper needs a title.

The title of a table follows its number and tells readers what the table is about and gives the unit of measurement if it applies to all entries in the table, as in "Monthly mean precipitation (mm) in five European cities." If applicable, the title also specifies the year or years the data relate to, as in "Breakdown of typical system costs (in US dollars per watt) of photovoltaic systems in 2006 and 2010."

Presenting data in tables 2: Table title

Make table titles concise yet informative. Keep in mind that tables are often looked at independently, that is without reading the accompanying text, which is why it is important to ensure that table titles provide all essential information for readers to make sense of the numbers that make up the table.."

Presenting data in tables 2: Table title

Titles of tables in research papers are rarely given as complete sentences; titles of tables in presentations, should you decide to include tables in your presentations, can be written as sentences that highlight the main finding or point of a given table. Compare the two versions of a fictitious table title: "Speed (km/h) achieved by sprinters on different surfaces" and "Artificial grass is better than natural grass for sprinting.”

Presenting data in tables 2: Table title

Pay attention to how your target journal handles table titles. Some journals print table numbers and table titles on separate lines whereas most journals use the "run-on" style: a table title follows the table number on the same line, typically with a space or a colon to separate the two. Although table titles are not complete sentences, many journals place a full stop (period) at the end of each table title. Journals also differ in how they handle capitals: some journals capitalize every significant word in a table title (the so-called title case) whereas some journals follow normal capitalization.

Presenting data in tables 2: Table title

Lastly, a trivial detail that you can ignore: when a table title runs to two lines or more, some journals indent the second and subsequent lines whereas other journals do not. This is one of the few formatting details that you can leave it to the journal to attend to.

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