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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.

APA Style Figures

According to APA technical guidelines, a figure caption must begin with the italicized word "Figure", followed by its sequence number and a period. This is immediately followed by a brief, explanatory caption where, aside from proper nouns or names, only the first word of each sentence is capitalized. Finally, the caption must include any supplementary information necessary to interpret the figure, such as definitions for abbreviations or units of measurement not included in the axis labels.

APA Style Figure Captions

The APA Publication Manual establishes technical guidelines for the layout of graphs. Generally, scatterplots, bar graphs, and line graphs should be constructed to be slightly wider than they are tall. The independent variable must be plotted on the $$x$$-axis, and the dependent variable on the $$y$$-axis. Furthermore, numerical values must increase from left to right on the $$x$$-axis and from bottom to top on the $$y$$-axis, with both axes strictly beginning at the value of zero.

Layout of APA Style Graphs

APA technical guidelines stipulate that axis labels must be clear, concise, and oriented parallel to their corresponding axes. These labels should include the units of measurement if they are not already stated in the figure caption. Additionally, any legends must be placed entirely within the figure itself. All text inside the figure must use a consistent, simple font that is sized between $$8$$ and $$14$$ points.

Axis Labels and Legends in APA Style

When writing the results section of an APA-style manuscript, researchers should avoid unnecessarily repeating precise statistical data that is already clearly displayed in a table or figure. Instead, the narrative text should be utilized to alert the reader to major trends, highlight specific correlations of interest, and draw attention to significant details that are visually summarized in the accompanying graphs and tables.

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