Tables and Charts
Introduction
Whenever you use other people's words, ideas, images or data you need to provide a source. If you don't provide a source you are claiming that the work is completely your own. Failing to acknowledge the sources of data in tables and figures may be considered to be plagiarism or academic dishonesty.
All tables and figures need both a label and a number (e.g. Table 1, Fig. 2), a caption (with an in-text citation), and a reference for the full source in your works cited list (unless you have created the data yourself).
Don't include tables figures for decorative purposes in an academic report or essay. If you includes tables or figures, they should be there to support your argument.
Tables and figures should be placed as close to the relevant part of the text as possible. If you refer to them in your text (e.g. see fig. 1, see table 2), then the table or figure shold be appear as close as possible to this.
Try to create your own tables and figures rather than using screenshots taken from sources.
If you do reproduce a table directly, use the word "Source:" in your caption and include enough information about the source to allow the reader to easiliy find the complete citation in your works cited list.
Use the phrase "Adapted from:" if you have made significant changes to the original.
Tables in MLA
Tables use rows and columns to display data. Format tables that use data from a source in the following manner:
Table 1
Most Popular Influencers on Douyin
| Infuencer | Number of Fans (Millions) |
|---|---|
Yang Ge (Crazy Xiaoyangge) | 65.34 |
Ares Cheng | 51.01 |
Chen Xiang | 49.14 |
Li Ziqi | 47.31 |
Sun Hongliang (Monkey Bro) | 38.80 |
Adapted from "Number of Fans of the Leading Influencers on Douyinâ.
Include an in-text citation in your caption to allow the reader to find it in your works cited list. In the above example there is no author, so the title would be used in the in-text citation, and there is no need to repeat the title of this source as it has been used as the description in the caption. You also need to include the full reference for the source in your works cited list.
"Number of Fans of the Leading Influencers on Douyin (Tiktok) in China as of May 13, 2022 (in Millions)." Statista, 13 May 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/1227126/china-most-followed-influencers-on-douyin-chinese-tiktok. Accessed 13 May 2022.
If you have generated the data yourself, there is no need to cite a source (unless there is any ambiguity).
Table 2
Books Borrowed from VSA Secondary Library in April 2022, by genre
| Genre | Checkouts |
|---|---|
Young Adult | 84 |
YA Mystery & Thriller | 78 |
Light Novels | 26 |
Manga | 25 |
Horror | 14 |
If you need to include a note for your table, use lowercase letters:
Table 3
Books Borrowed from VSA Secondary Library in March 2022, by Genre
| Genre | Checkouts |
|---|---|
Fantasy | 142 |
Science Fiction | 73 |
a. Including YA Fantasy
Other notes about using tables:
If you have created the table yourself with your own data, you do not need to include any source information below the table, though you should make sure it is clear in your writing that you have done the research yourself.
Each table should be labelled âTableâ (with a capital T) followed by a number (arabic numeral) in sequence e.g. Table 1, Table 2, Table 3 âĻ
When referring to the table in your writing use a lowercase t e.g. (see table 1).
No fullstop is required at the end of the table title.
Capitalise table titles in the same way as titles in your works cited list.
Figures in MLA
In MLA any illustration or data that is not presented in columns and rows is called a figure.
Figures include charts, diagrams, graphs, maps, photos or any artworks.
All figures require a caption, which should be placed below the image and precede by Fig. 1 for the first image in your work, Fig. 2 for the second, and so on.
Note: In the MLA handbook figures are also referred to as illustrations.
Fig. 1. Adapted from "Distribution of Bitcoin Mining Hashrate from September 2019 to January 2022, by Country" (Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance).
Include an in-text citation in your caption to allow the reader to find it in your works cited list. You also need to include the full reference for the source in your works cited list.
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. "Distribution of Bitcoin Mining Hashrate from September 2019 to January 2022, by Country." Statista, 17 May 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/1200477/bitcoin-mining-by-country. Accessed 23 May 2022.
You can refer to a figure in your writing like this:
... an exodus of bitcoin miners from China to Kazakhstan (see fig. 1).
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