Figures

It is often useful to include pictures, schematics, drawings, graphs, etc. in reports. These help diminish the verbiage that would be required to describe complicated apparatus or important details. The cliché, a picture is worth a thousand words, is certainly true in reports. Keep your figures simple. They should not be used as flashy distractions. Line drawings are preferable to black and white (b&w) plates(photographs). Black and white photos are favoured over colour. Many figures are usually more profitable than one large one trying to show everything. Take a hint from the cinema. Scenes start off with a long shot to put the viewer in context. Mid-range shots are then used at the beginning of conversations to identify who is talking to whom. Finally close-ups are used to catch expressions or emotions. Details of parts should not be thrust upon the reader out of context. Ensure that what is wished to be shown is clearly visible in the illustration. Pictures of polar bears in a snow storm are not informative. It is also a good idea to describe each figure in a few sentences to make sure the reader understands what the author believes to be significant about the figure.

Due to their complexity, the format of graphs will be treated in a separate chapter (Chapter 7). Nevertheless, the following rules for figure identification apply for all types of illustrations including graphs.

• All figures in a report must be referenced in the text. Conversely do not refer to a figure that is not included in your report.

• Locate the figures as closely as possible to where they are described in the text, usually on the same page or the next page. Never put a figure on a page preceding its reference in the text.

• All figures must have one and only one caption. This is the title that identifies your figures. Titles to graphs made in your graphing software should not appear as the caption is its title. Only when the title contains more than one sentence is it ended by a period.

• Captions of figures are placed below the figure.

• Figures should be referenced in the text using a double numeration scheme. The first number being the chapter and the second number its ordinal, i.e. the twelfth figure of chapter 4 would be referenced as Figure 4.12. The fifth figure in appendix B would be Figure B.5.

• Captions of figures are placed below the figure and are ended by a period.

• The caption should be an explanation of what the reader is looking at. Compare the following:

  Figure X.X Camshaft.

  Figure X.X Premature wear on a camshaft lobe.

  For inspiration, when writing captions, reflect upon the reason the figure is important enough to be included.

• The list of figures should contain the caption that is actually below the figure and the page number on which the figure appears. Word processors automatically handle this task if so configured.

• It is sometimes useful to separate the list of figures into categories such as plates, graphs, drawings, etc. This is left to the author's discretion.

• Figures should not spill over into the margins. Use a complete page if necessary. Rotate them if that aspect ratio is more suitable.

• For rotated figures (landscape as opposed to portrait), they should be oriented such that the reader rotates the document clockwise to view the figure.