Writing Research Papers:  Tables

   The advantage of using a table or graph to report data is that a large quantity of information can be presented completely and accurately in a table or graph. Tables or graph should be constructed in such a way that the reader can easily understand the information. Remember, it is the responsibility of the author of a paper to present data in such a way that it easily conveys information to the reader. To help you do this, here are some conventions to follow in constructing tables in a research paper.

  1. Tables should be numbered (e.g. Table 1, Table 2, etc.) so the author can refer to the table number in the text of the paper. For example, "Table 1 shows that . . . ."

  2. Tables should have a title that clearly and briefly describes the contents of the table.

  3. The rows and columns of the table should be clearly labeled so the reader doesn't have to guess what the numbers in the table are or what they mean.

  4. The numbers in the cells of a table should be clearly identified as percentages, dollars,or other types of numbers so the readers doesn't have to guess what the numbers in the cells of the table mean. You can accomplish this by using the appropriate symbol (e.g., $, %)in the first row of the table.

Here is a sample table which demonstrates each of the conventions listed above.

 

*ratings represent the percentage of time a Representative votes with an interest group's position.
SOURCE: http://www.projectvotesmart.org
Table 1

Interest Group Ratings* of Selected Members of Congress
Interest Group Truman

D-3

 Kennedy

D-8

 Johnson

D-22

 Carter

D-37

 Nixon

R-5

 Ford

R-18

 Reagan

R-45

 Bush

R-52
Guns for Fun 50 8 55 17 60 75 100 100
Mothers & Others 100 100 95 87 0 40 0 0
Students for Learning 100 100 95 100 80 100 96 100
Farmers for Farming 40 0 20 95 0 70 0 10

Use the same table format to report campaign contribution data. Once again, place the names, party affiliation, and district numbers of each Representative across the top of the table.

In the left hand column of Table 2 instead of listing the name of the Special Interest Group rating a member of Congress, label each row of the Table as follows:

In each of the cells of Table 2 substitute the appropriate dollar amount or percentage.

You can use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excell, or WordPerfect to create a table. If you're not sure how to do this please come to my office hour and I will be happy to show you. You can also insert footnotes in the appropriate places using either Word or WordPerfect.

Comparing the Parties: After you have collected the data, group the Democrats and the Republicans together. Don't arrange the Members of Congress in terms of their district numbers. By arranging the data this way, you can simply "eyeball" the data to come to conclusions about the differences between the parties.

If you are not comfortable doing this, another way to compare the parties is to compute an average rating for Republicans and an average rating for Democrats for each of the Interest Groups reported in Table 1. You can also compute averages for the campaign contribution data in Table 2.

There are at least two ways of reporting party averages.

  1. Add two columns to each table; one column for the Democrat's average, and the second column for the Republican's average.
  2. Report the party averages in a separate table or graph.

Other important things to remember in writing a research paper:

  • use capitals for proper nouns (i.e., Democrat or Democratic and Republican);  the names of the political parties are ALWAYS capitalized;  "District 1", for example is a proper noun because it is the proper name of a district, and should be capitalized;  "Congress" is ALWAYS capitalized.

  • keep all of a table on the same page;  NEVER split a table between two pages.

  • use formal titles such as "U.S. Representative" (or just "Representative") or "Member of Congress" that are gender neutral rather than  terms such as "Congressperson", "Congresswoman", or "Congressman".

  • In a formal academic paper NEVER refer to a Member of Congress by his or her first name.

  • Watch grammar--especially sentence structure and punctuation.  Be careful of "run-on" sentences with comma splices;  write shorter sentences with periods if you are not sure.