Can I Include Pictures and Graphs in a Research Paper

Can you put pictures in a research paper

A lot of people ask themselves when writing a research paper “Can I include pictures in a research paper?” Of course, yes. Another traditional way of presenting experimental data in a scientific publication is their graphic representation.

Most often, it is used in articles and research papers, very rarely, when creating abstracts, and never, in summaries and annotations. This is usually an image, necessarily accompanied by a corresponding text, explaining the features of its experimental origin and information purpose.

Can a research paper have pictures, graphs, charts?

Can you use images in a research paper? The answer is yes. Adequate visual representation of the obtained data is able to demonstrate more clearly (in comparison, only with the text or table) the differences, the trend of change, the nature of the interrelations and the very existence of the studied indicators.

The informational essence of such images can reflect either quantitative characteristics obtained by means of measurements or qualitative features, in the form of demonstrating the visual characteristics of the indicator under study (for example, using photography or “artistic image”).

As for the information purpose, it is due to the author’s intentions to draw the reader’s attention to certain features of the results obtained. This intention may consist of the desire to demonstrate either the very fact of the appearance of the changes, or their magnitude, or the tendency, or the type of dependence, etc. We hope that we answered your question if can you use pictures in a research paper.

Types of graphic images

The author’s choice of such a destination determines which kind of graphic image is most rational to use for this purpose, in order to prove most reasonably either a solution of a specific scientific problem or a scientific goal of research. Usually, graphics (1), histograms (2), diagrams (3), schemes (4), drawing images (5) and photographs (6) are used for graphical representation of results. As a rule, the first three of these views are created on the basis of the corresponding tables (not necessarily listed in the article), where the quantitative values (point or averaged) of the primary data are presented.

These values can vary either under the influence of different experimental conditions, or in time, or under the influence of different intensities of the same controlled factor, or reflect the relationship of the two indicators. With the help of the fourth type, it is possible to visually demonstrate the methodological, logical procedures of the scientific approach, the experimental conditions, and so on. And the other types (5 and 6) are mainly used to prove the very fact of the receipt (occurrence) of a qualitative result that cannot be quantified or to demonstrate the appearance of research equipment, questionnaires, questionnaires, etc.

How to include figures in a research paper?

In the process of creating a research paper, after the question “Can research papers include pictures?” and “how to write an introduction for a research paper” you ask yourself “How to add pictures, graphs or charts?” All the listed types of graphical representation of data are recommended to be prepared with the help of the corresponding “program wizards” of the editor “Word” or “Excel.”

It is practically convenient to do this in a special file (for example, “Drawings”) or in a separate file for each figure with the appropriate name (for example, Figure 1). This is due to the fact that according to generally accepted publication terminology, “drawing” refers to any graphic image given in the article, beginning with the scheme and ending with the traditional “artistic” drawing (photograph).

Why can research papers include graphs? In the research paper, only the term “drawing” is always used to refer to the graph, to the histogram, to the diagram, to the diagram, to the “art image,” and to the photograph. The reference to such a drawing is usually given in parentheses with the abbreviation of this word, for example, (Fig. 1), immediately after the first mention of it in the text, in the form of relevant information, and then providing the figure itself.

Can research papers have pictures?

Now when you know the answer to the questions “Can a research paper include pictures?” or “Can a research paper have pictures?” you can start creating “research paper’s drawings.” It is desirable that each separate graphic image, regardless of its variety, is placed on one separate page with the possibility of copying and pasting into the desired place of text.

It is most advisable to do this after printing the entire article, copying the desired drawing (from its file) to a new page after the one where it is referenced for the first time. But you can insert a picture and immediately after a specific sentence, which shows the data presented on it, and the corresponding link. Can you include pictures in a research paper?

Yes, but this will require subsequent special editing of the text on the page, before and after the inserted picture. Therefore, despite the fact that the link to the picture is presented on the same page, prepared in a separate file in advance, it is preferable to place it outside the text, immediately on the next separate page. And after referring to it on the previous page, simply, continue the test description of the other results.

With this arrangement, there can be a link to several pictures on one page, and they will be presented one after the other, on subsequent separate pages. The advantages of such a separate layout of the “drawing,” as well as for the table, are associated with a significant simplification of the text editing of the article and providing greater visibility of the data presented in it.

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Can research papers have graphs?

We will answer the question “Can a research paper include graphs?” Yes, it can. To demonstrate the quantitative differences that indicate a comparative change in the same indicator studied in your research paper, a bar graph is usually used – the Gantt chart.

Moreover, it should be emphasized that a clearly visible difference between the columns of the mean values (without the image ± 5) may not serve as a convincing argument in favor of the fact that one of them is larger or smaller than the other.

This is explained by the fact that such a difference between the “average arithmetic” was due to the presence among the averaged values of the ejection (or unexpectedly large or small value).

It is usually a consequence of the influence of the probabilistic factor uncontrolled by the experimenter and indicates a lack of methodological purity of the experiment. Therefore, one must present on the histogram their average quadratic deviations for visual proof of the reliability of the quantitative differences of the average values of the indicator (if it is not done in the text or in the table).

To do this, it is necessary to focus on ending the segments corresponding to the value “± 8”, passing through the upper points of the columns being compared. Demonstrated differences of the indicator are objectively existing (statistically reliable) only when the lower end of the segment (-8) of a larger value is above the upper end of the segment (+8) of a smaller value (i.e., these halves of segments with q values do not overlap).

This “non-overlapping” graphically demonstrates the existence of a statistically significant difference between the comparative mean statistical values and is the basis for their scientific interpretation. If no changes have been recorded, or the apparent differences (based on overlapping the mean square deviation values ± 5) are statistically unreliable, or insignificant, although reliable, then the histogram is not practical. Quite enough, just mention this fact in the text, and in case of urgent need, refer to the appropriate table.

Can you use graphs in research papers? When constructing a histogram, it is necessary to sign the names of the axes (vertical and horizontal), and in relation to the vertical axis, also create a scale with divisions of a certain dimension. The accuracy of these divisions (the frequency of marking on the vertical axis) should allow to visually determining the value of the displayed property of the compared values of the indicator. At the same time, the accuracy of the divisions must be such that it is visually possible to easily determine the smallest difference between the columns shown – the averaged values.

There is no such special scale for a pie chart, so it is sufficient to print the names of each sector corresponding to the property displayed to it and its dimension (usually, in percent,%).

Both for the histogram and for the diagram, it is necessary to provide a clear visual distinction between the compared columns or sectors, not only due to different heights or areas but also by their “coloring.” In this case, it is undesirable to use different colors, because, in a journal article, this is not allowed by editorial rules (all drawings should only be black and white).

Use instead of color, different hatching, and, for neighboring columns and sectors; it is clearly distinguishable (for example, right lateral, and left – oblique or pointed). The “contrast” of perception provided in this way should be more expressive, the less compared the differences in values that are near (on the right and on the left) from its column. The selected black-and-white “texture-hatching” filling the inner space of a column or sector should not make it difficult (mask) to read the inscriptions and figures located in them.

Can a research paper include charts?

To demonstrate the trend of change (and not the magnitude of the differences) over time or under the influence of different intensities of the same factor, or for graphical representation of the mathematical relationship between the indicators, it is more expedient to use the chart in research papers and also for creating your schedule.

Can research papers have charts? Thanks to the graphic image, the tendency-direction, intensity and nature of the revealed changes or interrelations are more clearly monitored. For this, it is necessary to always sign both axes of the coordinates of the graph (both ordinates and abscissas) with the names of the corresponding indicators or only time units for the abscissa axis.

In addition, both these axes must have a scale (a division with the corresponding digitization), the accuracy of which allows us to determine the numerical values of any point on the graph.

First of all, this refers to the experimentally obtained points-values on the basis of which the graph is constructed. Due to this, visual detection of the existence or absence of interrelation between the studied indicators is simplified, which can serve as a basis for further refinement of it by special statistical methods. In this case, it should be stressed once again that it is impossible to determine which of these two interrelated indicators, and which function, cannot be done by any statistical methods.

To determine the cause-effect relationship between the indicators studied, and in such a way to confirm the fact of the change of one of them, only under the influence of the other, it is necessary to conduct purposeful experiments to identify which of them is a function and which is the argument. It is not advisable to construct a graph if there are fewer than four experimentally obtained or averaged values (points) for each of the indicators considered.

This is explained by the fact that it is difficult to determine from three or fewer points a reliably existing trend of change (especially nonlinear). It is more expedient to present such data with either a text or a histogram (with compared columns-values), which will fairly well reflect the changes obtained (without claiming a tendency). And the author does not need to discuss their orientation, but rather confine oneself, only by a comparative analysis of the available quantitative differences (more, less).

Its result can be presented, for example, with a text comment that at such and such a value of one indicator the value of the other was such-and-such, and for another such-and-such. Also, the article should not use a graph in research paper if in the experiment the changes of the same index are fixed under the individual influence of different experimental factors (conditions). For this, it is better to use a bar graph, where the names of these different factors will be listed horizontally, and the property of the indicator under study, whose values correspond to the effect of different experimental factors, will be shown vertically.