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Figures and tables. Good Visual Is the Key. The most important part of your paper. Many readers don’t read the text, but look at figures and tables first. Tables Presents lists of numbers/ text in columns Figures
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Figures and tables Good Visual Is the Key
The most important part of your paper • Many readers don’t read the text, but look at figures and tables first. • Tables • Presents lists of numbers/ text in columns • Figures • Visual representation of results or illustration of concepts/methods (graphs, images, diagrams, etc.)
Figures and Tables Easy to understand Make before writing the manuscript One figure or table per page Do not repeat the same result in table and figure Make sure every figures and tables are mentioned in the text!!
Dependent vs. Independent Variables • Dependent Variable = what you are measuring (data) • Independent Variable = what you are testing or what you are in control of or what you manipulate • "if x is given, then y occurs", where x represents the independent variables and y represents the dependent variables. If the_____________ is _____________, (Independent Variable) (increased/decreased) then the _____________ will ___________. (Dependent Variable) (increase/decrease)
Table Dependent Variable Independent Variable Trial One Trial Two Trial Three Average control Drug A Drug B
Figures Dependent Variable Independent Variable
Guidelines for figures • What’re the acceptable format (eps, ai, tiff, pdf…. Many journals don’t accept ppt file) • Representative and best quality • Least non-data ink • Lettering • Uniform, lower case • Minimize but clear • After reduction, 2-3 mm high • Reduce the whole figure to 1 column size (8.5 cm) to check the clearity • Original (for submission) should be > 2x final
Drawing and diagrams • Drawings illustrate anatomy, apparatus, and other concrete things • Diagrams illustrate concepts such as flow systems.
Diagrams • Keep them simple with just enough information readers need to know • Labels should be large enough but not overwhelming
Drawings • For animal and apparatus, drawings are preferable to photographs, because drawings can eliminate unnecessary detail and emphasize important features
Primary evidence • Photographs of patients and tissues, radiographs, micrographs, experimental records ( gel, cell morphology, spectrophotometer curve…) • Show at least some of the primary evidence to convince readers • To indicate the quality of your work (select your best recording for publication).
Pictures of subjects • Cover the facial features whenever possible to prevent identification of the patients.
Micrographs • Best quality • Clarity- print out on different printer and ensure that prints have sufficient contrast to make the features of interest clear.
Labeling • Use arrow, letters, symbols and numbers to indicate the important parts. • Define the labels in the figure legend. • Since labels cover up and detract from the data, make them few and just big enough to be readily visible. • A scale bar should be place to indicate the magnification, usually at lower right corner.
Gel electrophoretograms • Make the photograph of the gels sharp and clear • Identify material in each line • Identify important bands by adding labels along the side • Place molecular weight markers along the side
Polygraph recordings • Eliminated the unnecessary grid • Label each axis clearly
Line graph • A 2-axis graph on which curves, data points, or both show the relation between 2 variables. • Independent variable is on the X-axis, the dependent variable is on the Y axis.
General guidelines for figures • Black and white are the easiest to distinguish • The easiest data point symbol to distinguish are ○and ● • If you need 3rd and 4th symbols, use ∆and ▲ • If you need 5th and 6th symbols, use and • But keep away ● from • Try not to put more than 6 lines in one graph
Scatter gram A 2-axis graph that plots individual data points and fits a mathematical function to the points to show how strongly 2 variables are correlated.
For 2 variables plotted together, they should be easily to distinguish
Bar graph • A 1-axis graph that compares amounts or frequencies for classes of a discontinuous variables. • Could be vertical or horizontal • Bars should be all the same width, should be as wide or wider than the space between them. • No tick marks should be used along the baseline, or take out X-axis • No grid. • Make sure different bars are easy to distingue
Clear labeled Ab 0 0 10 10 10 10 10 NAD 0 30 0 1 3 10 30
Make the font size large Size – Make them large enough to show the important features clearly. Crop the photograph to show only the necessary information
Individual value bar graph • Individual data point are shown • For paired data, lines can be drawn to show the direction of changes
Histogram • A 2-axis graph that shows a single frequency distribution by means of a series of contiguous rectangles. • The rectangles should be equal widths
Frequency polygons • A 2-axis graph that uses data points joined by lines to show single or multiple overlapping frequency distributions.
Figure legends - title • Put at the end of the manuscript (after reference) • Title for a drawing • Ex: Apparatus used for measuring intrapleural pressure. • Title for a diagram • Ex: Schematic diagram of the …… • Title for primary evidence • Ex: Micrograph of a segment of a bacteria filament showing…. • Title for experiment • Ex: Effect of X on Y in Z, Y in response to X in Z • Title that state a point • Ex: Inhibition of X on Y in Z
Figure legends - title • Title for experiment • Effect of X on Y in Z. Ex 8.4: Effect of increasing concentrations of doxorubicin on release of histamine and lactate dehydrogenase from dog mastocytoma cells. • Y in response to X in Z. Ex 8.5: Release of 14C-labeled lipid and lactate dehydrogenase in response to increasing concentrations of the ionophore A23187 in alveolar type II cells. • Y during X in Z. Ex 8.6: Mean arterial pressure before, during and after stimulation of the carotid nerve in young and old piglets. • Y in Z. Ex 8.7: Endocytosis of fluorescent ligands
Figure legends - title • Title that state a point • Inhibition of X on Y in Z. • Ex 8.8: Inhibition of antiviral response in MDA-MB-231 cells by oxyphenbutazone. • Ex 8.9: Elevation of acute-phase reactants after a single 3-hour exposure to UV. • Parts of a composite figure identified in the title • Ex 8.10: Representative sactchard plots of the dose-response of [125I] T3-binding to lung nuclei from (A) adult and (B) 28-day-old fetal rabbit.
Figure legend - others • Experimental details • Give just enough info to permit reader to understand the figure • Ex 8.12: Nuclear T3-binding capacity in rabbit lung during prenatal and postnatal development. Dose response experiments were done with isolated nuclei (50-120 mg of DNA) under optimal conditions, data were analyzed by scatchard analysis, and results were corrected for released receptor. • Definitions • ○, APP knockout mouse;●, control • Avoiding repetition. Ex 8.13: Abbreviations as in Fig. 1. • Statistical information • *p<0.05, **p<0.01 vs. control by ANOVA • Value are means SD for 8 samples
Other information • Unusual features • Ex 8.17: …… the curve were plotted from the data in fig. 3 and 5. • Ex 8.18: …… Note how the anterior border of the left ventricular cavity approaches the anterior border of the heart, which as been retouched for clarity. • Republishing figures • You MUST get permission from copy right holder (publisher) and the author. In your paper, give credit to the source and the publisher. • Ex 8.19: From Fraser el al. (1975), with permission. • Ex 8.20: From ref.7, with permission from the American Review of Respiratory Disease. • Ex 8.21: Redraw from Fraser el al. (1975), reproduced with permission.
Figure details • Try to make drawing and diagrams simple. • Read the journal guideline first • Make primary evidence in the best quality and big • B&W vs. color image? • Labels should be clear but not overwhelm the data. • The order of figure and in the text MUST consistent.
Table • Two types • Info: all patients background listed individually • Data: keep as condense as possible • Two purposes: • To present individual data for all the subjects or studies • To make point