Formatting tables and figures

Tables need to be formatted yourself, e.g., in Word or Excel, or Latex (put differently, do not merely paste the output from your statistical program in the main text - these are often too elaborate, or do not efficiently combine the results of multiple models)
- Statistical packages like R have fantastic packages (e.g., stargazer), which allow you to generate publication-ready HTML or Latex tables that you can include in your manuscripts.
- The same holds for figures; the R package ggplot2 is recommended, but also R’s regular plotting functionality is great.
Tables and figures should be understandable without reading the corresponding sections in the manuscript
- Use a clear title: easy to understand, and comprehensive (e.g., summarize the main point in the title (e.g., “X increases Y”), rather than using generic titles (“Results”).
- Provide comprehensive table notes wherever necessary.
- Use clear labels, e.g., for variables
Note that you can also combine tables into larger ones, and thereby save space (e.g., tables with the same explanatory variables but different coefficients)
Avoid colors, also in figures. Most readers will print your thesis in greyscale.