Cleveland State University ESC 720 Research Communications Lecture 8 – Graphics and Tables Dan Simon

Graphics: Figures and Tables 1.Introduction 2.Figures 3.Copying from the Internet 4.Color and Captions 5.Graphics Font 6.Referring to Graphics in the Text 7.Tables 2

1. Introduction “A picture is worth a thousand words” Catch the reader’s attention Communicate information that is difficult to put into words Clarify and emphasize information 3

1. Introduction 4 People studying a text with graphics learn 1/3 more than people without graphics (Markel, p. 293). People remember 43% more if a document includes graphics (Markel, p. 293)

1. Introduction People studying a text with graphics learn 1/3 more than people without graphics (Markel, p. 293). People remember 43% more if a document includes graphics (Markel, p. 293) 5

1. Introduction 6 Information is much easier to assimilate if it is presented in graphical format. “The price of soybeans is $1.45 per pound in Zambia and $1.67 in Sweden. The price of rice is $0.65 per pound in Zambia and $0.63 in Sweden.”

1. Introduction SoybeansRice Zambia$1.45$0.65 Sweden$1.67$ Information is much easier to assimilate if it is presented in graphical format. “The price of soybeans is $1.45 per pound in Zambia and $1.67 in Sweden. The price of rice is $0.65 per pound in Zambia and $0.63 in Sweden.” Table 1 – Price per pound of soybeans and rice

Graphics: Figures and Tables 1.Introduction 2.Figures 3.Copying from the Internet 4.Color and Captions 5.Graphics Font 6.Referring to Graphics in the Text 7.Tables 8

2. Figures Figures should be simple but informative 9 What’s wrong with this figure?

2. Figures Figures should be simple but informative 10 Too cluttered Font too small No units on axis

2. Figures Graphics should be simple but informative 11 What’s wrong with this figure?

2. Figures Graphics should be simple but informative 12 Too cluttered Font too small No units on axis Ambiguous labels

2. Figures Graphics should be simple but informative 13 What’s wrong with this figure? Control Cost (Watts per hour)

2. Figures Graphics should be simple but informative 14 It’s better than the previous figures, but still not perfect. How will it look in black and white? Control Cost (Watts per hour)

2. Figures Use clear labels, traces, and captions 15 Figure 1 – Experimental results Figure 1 – Results of unconstrained control experiments averaged over 50 Monte Carlo simulations. Error margnitude (mm) Time (seconds) BadGood

2. Figures 16 Error margnitude Error margnitude (mm) Dishonest graph with confusing legend Same data as on left! Honest graph with clear legend Do not use graphics to misrepresent data.

2. Figures Don’t waste space in your plots. 17 What’s wrong with this figure?

2. Figures Don’t waste space in your plots. 18 Half of this plot is wasted space! (20 to 40 seconds)

2. Figures What’s wrong with this figure? 19

2. Figures Don’t just cut-and-paste figures from your graphics software (lazy). Customize the figure to make it more readable. 20

Graphics: Figures and Tables 1.Introduction 2.Figures 3.Copying from the Internet 4.Color and Captions 5.Graphics Font 6.Referring to Graphics in the Text 7.Tables 21

3. Copying from the Internet Create your own graphics, if at all possible. To use copyrighted graphics, you need written permission from the copyright holder. If you create your own graphics based on something previously published, include an acknowledgment. For example: – Based on [2] – Adapted from [2] – See next slide for an example 22

3. Copying from the Internet 23 Figure 1(a) – Immigration curves for islands that are far from, or near to, a mainland source; and extinction curves for islands that are large or small; adapted from [Whi98, p. 119]. (b) BBO immigration and emigration curves. (a)(b)

Graphics: Figures and Tables 1.Introduction 2.Figures 3.Copying from the Internet 4.Color and Captions 5.Graphics Font 6.Referring to Graphics in the Text 7.Tables 24

4. Color and Captions Do not overuse color!!!(Too much) Do not overuse color.(Better) You should use color but not rely on it, unless you are sure that it will always be available (for example, in a presentation). 25

4. Color and Captions Captions should be as self-contained as possible. Most captions are too short (although this can be a personal preference). Captions consist of a title, followed by a period, followed by explanatory sentences. Figure 1: Results. Figure 1: Experimental results. The graph shows the average performance of 50 simulations of each algorithm. Averages were computed by weighting each simulation’s performance with its control cost. 26

Graphics: Figures and Tables 1.Introduction 2.Figures 3.Copying from the Internet 4.Color and Captions 5.Graphics Font 6.Referring to Graphics in the Text 7.Tables 27

5. Graphics Font Use fonts larger than necessary in your graphics. 28 Figure 1 – Results of unconstrained control experiments averaged over 50 Monte Carlo simulations. Error margnitude (mm) Time (seconds) Figure 1 – Results of unconstrained control experiments averaged over 50 Monte Carlo simulations. Error margnitude (mm) Time (seconds)

5. Graphics Font Use a different font for captions than for the written text. This helps set the graphics apart from the text. Use ample separation between the graphic and the caption, and between the caption and the following text. 29

30 5. Graphics Font

Graphics: Figures and Tables 1.Introduction 2.Figures 3.Copying from the Internet 4.Color and Captions 5.Graphics Font 6.Referring to Graphics in the Text 7.Tables 31

6. Referring to Graphics in the Text All tables and figures must be referenced and thoroughly discussed in the text. Tables and figures should appear as soon as possible after their first reference in the text. (This is the opposite of equations, which should be referenced only after they appear in the text.) 32

6. Referring to Graphics in the Text When you use the word “Table” along with a number, the word “Table” should be capitalized and should be on the same line as the number. As a simple example from my report template, Table 1 shows soybean prices, but this sentence is not correct because the word “Table” and the number “1” are on separate lines. Same thing for “Figure,” “Chapter,” “Section,” “Appendix,” “Equation,” “Theorem,” … MS Word: Ctrl-Shift-Space = non-breaking space LaTeX: ~ = non-breaking space 33

6. Referring to Graphics in the Text But when using these words without a number, they are lower case. – The flux capacitor mechanism is illustrated in Figure 3. – The flux capacitor shown in the figure was built at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. However, the words “Figure” and “Table” should usually appear in your paper with a number. Do not use phrases like “the following figure …” or “the table below …” 34

Graphics: Figures and Tables 1.Introduction 2.Figures 3.Copying from the Internet 4.Color and Captions 5.Graphics Font 6.Referring to Graphics in the Text 7.Tables 35

7. Tables Many of the rules for figures apply to tables – Font size different than text – Include engineering units – Content simple but informative – Descriptive captions – Refer correctly to tables in the text – Etc. 36

7. Tables Use fewer borders, not more. “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler” (Einstein). 37 SoybeansRice Zambia$1.45$0.65 Sweden$1.67$0.63 SoybeansRice Zambia$1.45$0.65 Sweden$1.67$0.63

7. Tables Use consistent formatting. Use a reasonable number of significant digits. 38 SoybeansRice Zambia Monaco20379 Sweden Table 1: Annual imports (tons) SoybeansRice Zambia4565 Monaco20379 Sweden Table 1: Annual imports (tons)

Conclusion A good engineer is detail-oriented and double checks his or her work. A good writer is detail-oriented and double checks his or her writing. 39

Acknowledgments Technical Communication, by Mike Markel academic.csuohio.edu/simond/courses/ReportTemplate.pdf Remember that this template is not a template for the reports due in this course, but is a template for general use 40