TABLES

• A table is a group of rows and columns of

numbers and/or words.

• A table gives many details in an organized way.

 Title of a Table
• Every table must have a title.
• It appears on the top of the table.
• It should be short (preferably one line), clear,
and self-explanatory.
• A subtitle, if necessary, could be given in
parentheses.
• Titles and subtitles should follow the rules of
capitalization
 Table Number
• Every table is referenced by a table number.

• In a short document, table numbers are 1, 2, and so on.

• In a big report that is organized in many chapters, table

numbers are 1.1, 1.2, and so on in Chapter 1, 2.1, 2.2, and
so on in Chapter 2, and so on.

• Tables in Appendixes are A1, A2, and so on in Appendix A,

B1, B2, and so on in Appendix B, and so on.

• Two related tables may be numbered 5.1a and 5.1b.

• Table numbers are assigned in the order of their first

reference or appearance in the text.
• The table number precedes the title of every table.
• The word “Table” (followed by the table number, a
colon, and a space) precedes the title of each
table:

Table 5.1: Population of Metropolitan Cities (in million persons)

• The entire line containing the table title and the

title number is usually centered.
 Reference to a Table
• Every table must be referred to in the text by its table
number, either directly or parenthetically, with T in capital:

City names and their populations are given in Table 2.1.

Each city has its own population (Table 2.1).
Table 2.1 gives the names of the cities and their populations.

• Do not refer to a table as “the table above/below” or “the

table on page 45”.
 Discussion on the Table
• Discuss the table contents in the text.

• Interpret and analyze the table contents.

• Highlight their significance and relationships.

• Data, not discussed in the text, may be

redundant. Remove such data. Many output
tables of software packages fall in this category.
• Every column of a table has a heading that
defines the contents of that column.

• Each row may have its row heading.

• Whenever meaningful, the units of measure

should be given within parentheses to all column
and row headings.

• Center the column headings when the column

entries are numerical or even two- or three-letter
words, but left-align them if the entries are text.
 Rows in a Table
• Ideally there should be only two rows.

• The row of headings can be split if needed.

• The first row contains the column headings.

• The second row can have many rows of

entries.
 Justification
• The first column entries should be left justified.
• The other entries in the first row are centered.
• The entries in the other columns are

- centered if they are numeric

- centered if the text is alphabetic characters

and small in length,

- left justified otherwise.
 STUB TABLE TITLE
COLUMN HEAD
STUB xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
HEAD

... ... ... ...

ROW ... ... ... ...
HEAD

... ... ... ...

Notes:
Source, General, Specific, and Probability Notes
 Entries in the Columns
• The unit of measure of each entry in a column must be
the same as that in the column heading.

• Right-align numbers in a column if they are integers.

• If the numbers contain decimal points then the

numbers should be decimal-aligned.

• Examples:

Correct Incorrect Correct Incorrect

345 345 23.46 23.46
22 22 2.30 2.30
Expt. No.

1. 34.25 2
2. 2.50 3
3. Was not measured. 4
4. The instrument was
dysfunctional during use.
 Precision Level of Numerical Entries
• If the whole number part of a number is very large, the
decimal fraction containing many digits may not be
meaningful.

• Conversely, if the whole number is very small, the

decimal fraction containing many digits may be
meaningful.

Examples:

Improper Proper
12 456.235 12 456.2 or 12 456
1.2 1.244
• If the entries in a column are text material and
are short in length, they are centered; otherwise
the texts are left aligned.

• If all data in a table column are not of the same

unit, the entries should be left justified.

• When dealing with large (or very small) numbers

write, for example, × 103 (or × 10-3) along the
unit lines and give a footnote to explain.

Examples:

* Actual values equal reported values times 103.

**Reported values equal actual values times 10–3.
• The number of digits after the decimal point
should be the same for every entry in a column to
reflect the same level of precision to which all the
items are specified.

• One may add insignificant zeroes to have the

same decimal places in a column.

Examples:

Correct Incorrect
23.45 23.45
22.20 22.2
• You may use standard abbreviations and
symbols:

No. for number, % for percent

2, µ, and 2

• In case a cell in a table does not have an entry

(empty cell), put a dash in that cell and explain
it in a general note to the table.
 Footnotes
• A special point can be made as a footnote to
the table to clarify ideas related to the table as
a whole, a particular column, row, or
individual entry, or to the results of tests of
significance.

• Footnotes can be source notes, general notes,

specific notes, and probability notes.
• They should appear immediately after the table
on the same page as the table.

• They should be left justified.

• They should appear in the following sequence:

Source note,
General note,
Specific note,
Probability note.
 Source Notes
• Source notes give details of the source of the data contained
in a table:

Source: Government of India Department of Water Resources

Publication, 2006.

• If you have reproduced a table from someone else’s work,

give the reference (in the usual referencing style) along with
the page number, as a source note and take permission of
the author of the source before reproducing the table.

Write “With permission from . . .” as a footnote to the table.

 General Notes
• General notes highlight general characteristic
about the nature of data/information
contained in the table:

Notes:
1. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey.
2. The number of respondents was 50.
 Specific Notes
• Specific notes expand on specific features of a column
variable or a specific entry in a cell:

aThis value indicates the opinion of the respondents.

bThe figure indicates the result of an analysis.
#It is a village in the district of Koraput in the state of Orissa.

• In case of a numeric entry, an alphabetic characters is

used.
• In case of a word entry, a special symbol, such as #, †,
or ‡, is used.
• Note that the superscripts a, b, and the special symbols
# are also given along side the corresponding entries in
the table.
 Probability Notes
• Probability notes give the level of significance in
the tests of hypotheses:

*þ < .05 ** þ < .01

• Usually asterisks (*)are used for probability notes.

• Because probability is always less than or equal

to 1, “0” does not appear before the decimal
point.
 Location of a Table in the Text
• A table should appear after, and close to, the
text where it is first referenced.

• A table should not spill over to a second page.

• If it is too long, break it up into two or three

different tables.
In case a long table cannot be split,

– The message “Continued on the next page” should appear

at the foot of the page;

– A message (e.g., “Table 14.1–continued”) should appear

on the top of the following page;

– The source note and the general note appear on the first
page, whereas the specific note and the probability note
are put on the relevant pages; and

– The table number is not printed on the second page, but

the column headings are.
• Leave at least a two-line gap before the table title and
after (the footnote of) the table.

• Intersperse the table and the text on the same page;

don’t leave space on a page just because a table
appears there.

• Don’t leave half a page blank because the text on the

page refers to a table that cannot be fitted on that
page and instead appears on the next page.

• Fit the table within normal margins, if required by

reducing the font size.

• If a table is too wide to fit the width of a page, it may

be printed in a landscape mode.
 Font Size
• Table titles and the words “Source” and “Notes”
appearing in the footnotes are in the same font
as that of the text.
• the body of the table may be of less font size but
should not be less than 8-point size.
• The font size of the text in the footnotes (except
the words “Source” and “Notes”) should be one
point less than that of the body of the table but
should not be of less than 7-point size.
 Source of Variation Sum of Degrees of Mean Fo
Squares Freedom Square
Extrusion pressure 166.14 3 55.38 7.63
Batches of raw material 189.52 5 37.9
Error 101.7 14 7.26
Total 457.36 23
 Table 3.1: ANOVA for the Experimental Design

Source of Variation Sum of Degrees of Mean Fo

Squares Freedom Square
Extrusion pressure 166.14 3 55.38 7.63
Batches of raw material 189.52 5 37.90
Error 101.70 14 7.26
Total 457.36 23

As a convention, no dashes are put in the empty cells.