Use tables and figures sparingly, and only if the information contained in them is essential for understanding the text of your paper. Tables and figures should supplement, not duplicate, what is expressed in the text.

Mention the table or figure at the appropriate point in the text. Refer readers to the table or figure with words such as

as shown in Table 2, the results were . . .
configuration of parts (see Figure 1) depended upon . . .

Numbering and Placing Tables and Figures

• Table or figures are numbered in order of appearance in the text, and they are
numbered separately from one another (i.e. Table 1, Figure 1).
• Provide a title for each table and place the title above the table, after the table
number (see p. 149 of APA manual for illustration).
• Provide a caption for each figure and place the caption beneath the figure, after
the figure number (see p. 180 of APA manual for illustration).
• For APA style, place each table or figure on a separate, unnumbered page, after
the Reference page. All tables come before all figures.
• If the table or figure appears in an appendix, the appendix letter appears before
the number of the table or graph, e.g., Figure A2.
• In APA style, tables have horizontal lines but not vertical lines.

Citations for Tables and Figures

No citation is needed in the text or on the Reference page, only a comment to direct the reader to the table or figure (e.g., See Table 1).

Tables and Figures from Another Source [3.73].

If you obtained a table or figure from another source, you must, according to the APA manual, “give credit in the figure caption to the original author and copyright” (p. 200).

• Place the citation below the reproduced table (or figure) itself. Do not include a
citation in the text or on the reference page unless the source is mentioned in your text. Do, however, point readers to the table or figure (e.g. See Figure 3).
• Examples of wording for such citations are provided in the APA manual
[3.73].(The author and the copyright holder may not be the same because the
publisher, not the author, usually holds the copyright.)