10 Placement and numbering
Placement
Place figures, tables and embedded media immediately after the paragraph in which they are first mentioned.
Numbering
Figures and tables
Where there are few figures and/or tables in your text, you may not need to number them.
However, you may choose to number your figures and tables for clarity if:
- numbering is standard in your academic field
- there are more than a few in the one chapter
- if they are mentioned multiple times throughout the chapter
- if they are mentioned in more than one chapter.
Tip: In Pressbooks you can use the Anchor tool to link back to any place within your book from any other place. If your figure or table is mentioned in multiple places, you could use this to aid navigation, with or without numbering.
If you choose to number your figures and tables, do so using a decimal system based on the chapter number:
- The numeral(s) before the decimal point is the chapter number where the figure or table appears.
- The numeral(s) after the decimal point is the sequential figure or table number within that chapter.
The words Table or Figure will be capitalised, and in bold and italics. See Chapter 11 for details on setting out captions.
Examples
Table 2.1: Historical population changes
(First table in chapter 1)
Figure 3.4: Anatomy of the scapula
(Fourth figure in chapter 3)
