CCE Tables, Figures, and Special Elements Questions and Answers Flashcards

Which of the following is the correct editorial label for a non-table, non-photograph illustration such as a diagram or chart?

Answer: Figure

In most editorial style guides, all illustrations that are not tables (including diagrams, charts, maps, and photographs) are labeled as figures.

When a manuscript's list items are complete sentences, what punctuation rule applies?

Answer: Each list item ends with a period.

When list items are grammatically complete sentences, each should end with a period, consistent with standard sentence punctuation.

An author uses a vertical list introduced by 'The following items were found:' followed by fragments. What punctuation should appear after each fragment?

Answer: No end punctuation, or a semicolon after each item with 'and' before the last (style dependent).

When list items are short phrases or fragments rather than complete sentences, most style guides call for no terminal punctuation or for semicolons with a concluding conjunction.

What is the purpose of a source note beneath a table?

Answer: To credit the origin of the data or to cite the source of the table.

A source note attributes the data or the table itself to its original source, appearing at the bottom of the table before other footnotes.

A copyeditor encounters a bulleted list with some items capitalized at the start and others not. What should be done?

Answer: Standardize capitalization throughout the list per the applicable style guide.

Consistency within a list is a core copyediting principle; capitalize (or lowercase) all list items uniformly according to the chosen style.

In a scientific or technical manuscript, which element typically appears directly below a figure?

Answer: The figure caption.

By convention in most style guides, figure captions appear below the figure, whereas table titles appear above the table.