Displaying Information in Figures

Target group

Doctoral candidates from the natural sciences and the life sciences.

Content

• principles of data display
• statistical graphs (different types, recommendations)
• diagrams, illustrations, maps (when to use and how to improve)
• photos (recommendations)
• figure legends
• software for figure preparation and photo editing

Objectives

The objective of this workshop is to know how to prepare clear, informative, truthful, attractive figures. We focus on figures intended for publication in scientific journals.

Methods

• Lectures: basic principles and practical approaches of information display
• Discussions: strength and weaknesses of sample figures (participants bring samples of their own work)
• Exercises: improvement of figures

In preparation of this workshop, participants choose one figure from their work. They bring a printout of their figure to the workshop.