Use line graphs to plot continuous variables such as time or temperature. Use pie charts or bar graphs to depict discontinuous variables such as percentages or sampling that occurred in intervals. Use photographs or drawings for inherently visually-oriented material such as a cloud or a camshaft. Use flowcharts to represent pathways of activities and outcomes. As long as it does not overwhelm the rest of the figure, do not be afraid to make the legend large.
Tables are lists of numbers and words .
Straight lines are often used to separate the table's title from the column heads, the column heads from the body of the table, and the bottom of the table from the paper's text or the table's footnotes. Boxes around and within the table are also appropriate. If possible, construct a table so that the reader's eye can primarily travel down a column rather than have to read along a row. The figure that follows appeared in the background section of a senior thesis by Shana Gordon, a geosciences student at Penn State. Note also how an entire paragraph of the body text is devoted to explaining the figure.