Abstract
There is an old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” In truth, only a well-prepared, self-explanatory picture is worth a thousand words. The same holds true for research studies, for which 1 of the main methods we use to communicate our message is in figures and graphs. Figures and graphs tell much of the story by giving readers a visual anchor to help them see, understand, and remember information. Think about a report that you recently read and found useful. You likely do not remember the text used to state the results, or even the actual numbers, but you can recall much about the trends, relationships, outcomes, categories, or general experimental parameters shown in a graph. Despite the fact that you no longer have much recollection of the text, you can draw a reasonable representation of a graph from the published report and tell what you remember from it. In this educational article I discuss line graphs and scattergrams and use examples to illustrate how to put your best figure forward so readers will remember you and your message. The components of a graph include axes, labels, scales, an origin, tick or reference marks, symbols, and a legend. Beyond these basics, however, a good graph has several attributes: 1. It draws attention to the data and not the graph itself. 2. The data points (symbols) and connecting lines are easy to read and distinguish. 3. Both the numbers and labels for the axes are readable and their meaning is clear. 4. The lengths of the 2 axes are visually balanced (ratio of x axis to y axis = 1.0 to 1.3). 5. The scales used on each axis match the range of the data. 6. Tick marks are used appropriately. 7. The legend is clear and concise. 8. The reader can understand the message without …
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