A-manual-for-writers-of-research-papers-theses-and-dissertations

families were headed by a single mother. In 1980 that number rose to 18 percent, in 1990 to 22 percent, and to23 percent in 2000. Single fathers headed 1 percent of the families in 1970, 2 percent in 1980, 3 percent in 1990,and 4 percent in 2000. Families with no adult in the home have remained stable at 3–4 percent.Those data can be presented more effectively in graphic form, as in table 8.2.8.2 Choose the Most Effective GraphicWhen you graphically present data as complex as in that paragraph, you have many choices.The simplest and most common are tables, bar charts, and line graphs, each of which has adistinctive rhetorical effect.To emphasize specific values, use a table like table 8.2.To emphasize comparisons that can be seen at a glance, use a bar chart like figure 8.1 (p.84).To emphasize trends, use a line graph like figure 8.2 (p. 84).While each of these forms communicates the same data, readers respond to them indifferent ways:A table seems precise and objective. It emphasizes individual numbers and forces readersto infer relationships or trends (unless you state them in an introductory sentence).Both charts and line graphs emphasize a visual image that communicates values lessprecisely but more quickly than do the exact numbers of a table. But they also differ:A bar chart emphasizes comparisons among discrete items.A line graph emphasizes trends, usually over time.www.itpub.net