In APA style, graphical depictions of data—such as pie charts, bar graphs, or scatterplots—are referred to as figures. They are used to efficiently present large sets of results. Three general guidelines apply when preparing them: first, a figure must add important new information rather than repeating data already found in the text or a table; second, it should be as simple as possible, avoiding color unless absolutely necessary; and third, it must be completely interpretable on its own, meaning the reader should be able to understand the basic result solely from the figure and its caption without referencing the main text.