Understanding Captions and Cross-References

Why Captions Matter

In professional and academic documents, figures and tables need:

• Numbered captions - "Figure 1:", "Table 2:", etc.

• Descriptive text - What the figure/table shows

• Cross-references - "As shown in Figure 1..."

  Caption Anatomy

  A proper caption has:

Figure 1: Quarterly Revenue by Region

Best Practices

For Figures

• Caption goes below the figure

• Use "Figure" consistently (not "Fig." mixed with "Figure")

• Be descriptive but concise

  For Tables

• Caption goes above the table

• Use "Table" consistently

• Describe what data the table contains

  Cross-References

  When referring to a figure or table in text:

• Good: "As shown in Figure 2, revenue increased..."

• Bad: "As shown below..."

• Bad: "As shown in the figure above..."

  Why? If content moves, "above" and "below" become wrong!

  Caption Style

  Captions should use:

• Caption style (smaller, often italic)

• Consistent formatting throughout document

• Numbered automatically when possible

  In this module, you'll practice adding proper captions to tables and figures.