APA Table Guidelines

Tables present a large quantity of information clearly and concisely, in columns and rows for easy classification and comparison. Tables do not duplicate text, but present new information. A reader should be able to understand them without the text.

Basic Presentation and Formatting

Numbering: Number tables in the order they appear in the text (e.g., Table 1, Table 2). If the table is contained in an appendix, label the table with the appendix letter as well (e.g., Table A1, Table A2, Table B1).

Referring to Tables: In the text of the paper,refer to every table and tell the reader what to look for in the table. Do not discuss every element of the table—cover only the relevant highlights. Refer to tables by their number (“as shown by Table 8”),not their position in the text (“as shown by the table above”).

Titling: Titles should be descriptive. Capitalize each major word in the title (not of, on, in, and, etc.). Italicize titles. Donot use a period.

Example: Mean Performance Scores of Students With Different College Majors

Columns and Headings

  • Generally, arrange tables so data can be compared left to right across columns, rather than comparing them up and down.
  • Create a heading for each column and row. Create descriptive headings. Capitalize the first word; do not bold or italicize the text and do notadd a period after the heading.

Example: Temporal lobe

  • If a heading covers multiple columns, insert a row above or beneath the heading for individual column headings.
  • Column and row headings may contain standard symbols and abbreviations (e.g.,%, M, SD, df, F) without explanation, but nonstandard abbreviations should be explained in a note to the table. Unlike full words, abbreviations in headings do not necessarily need to be capitalized.

Notes to a Table

Three kinds of notes can be useful with tables. If notes are used in two or more of the categories, they must appear in order: general, specific, probability.

General notesareabout the table as a whole. They begin with the word Note.(italicize, capitalize the first letter, and end with a period).

Example: Note. All nonsignificant three-way interactions were omitted.

Specific notes are about a particular column, row, or cell. They begin with a lower-case letter in superscript format (e.g., a)that also appears in the column, row, or cell the note refers to. Use letters in alphabetical order. Order the letters in the body of the table from the upper left-hand side of the table to the lower right-hand side. Notes end with a period.

Example: aan = 15 for each group.

Probability notesindicate “how asterisks and other symbols are used in a table to indicate pvalues.” For example, for results that are significant at the p = .05 level and others that are significant at the p = .01 level,insert one or two asterisks respectively next to those results in the table, and provide an explanatory note of your symbolsunderneath the table. Begin probability notes with the symbol to be defined and end them with a period. “If you need to distinguish between one-tailed and two-tailed tests in the same table, use an asterisk for the two-tailed pvalue and an alternate symbol (e.g., a dagger) for the one-tailed pvalues.

Example: *p < .05. **p < .01.***p.001.

Sample Table

Table Checklist

  • Include a table only if necessary for understanding data
  • Refer to the table in the text
  • Double-space entire table, including title, headings, and notes
  • Consistently present all comparable tables in the manuscript
  • Create descriptive titles
  • Include a heading for every column
  • Explain all abbreviations, special symbols, and special use of italics, parentheses, and dashes
  • List notes appear in the following order: general note, specific note, probability note
  • Assign the same number of asterisks from Table to Table within a paper

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