Many researchers report that when they first pick up a journal article, they look at the figures before reading a word of the main text¹, so it’s critical that the visual components of your article—the graphs, charts, and illustrations—make a good first impression. Some journals allow or even require authors to provide a graphical abstract to give readers a quick overview of their articles (see “What is a graphical abstract?” in The Write Stuff, Spring 2021). In grant proposals, schematic illustrations of the study’s aims or the mechanisms to be investigated can help reviewers quickly understand the scope of your project and how your specific aims relate to your overall hypothesis.

These resources and videos will help get you started on creating effective figures and tables for your publication or grant.

Reference

1. Pain E. How to (seriously) read a scientific paper. Science Careers blog, March 21, 2016. Accessed June 18, 2021. doi: 10.1126/science.caredit.a1600047