Figures, tables, appendices and acknowledgments

time to complete: 10 minutes

One last look at the same article from Urban Studies and Planning (Social Sciences) in order to examine figures, tables, appendices and acknowledgments.  

Article from Urban Studies and Planning (click to open in new tab)

Task: Quickly scan the article. Try to find the answers to the questions, then check the answer key below.

Figures, tables, appendices and acknowledgments

  • How many figures and how many tables are there in the article?
  • Is there an appendix? Is the information contained in the appendix important for your understanding of the article or does it just give you extra detail?
  • Can you find the acknowledgment section? What does it do?

Answer Key:

This model does not have any; however, figures and tables are really useful when presenting data in a clear and organised manner.

There is no appendix in this model. In the appendix you will find extra details, for example, extracts of questionnaires used to collect data.

Traditionally, in the acknowledgements section any potential conflict of interest or funding received is disclosed. In this case, the acknowledgement section recognises the unofficial contribution to this paper. It is not unusual either to find in this section a quick thank-you note to the reviewers.

Framework summary

To sum up, use this framework to guide you when engaging with articles from your course. This initial engagement will help you shape your reading approach. You might just decide to: 

  • read a particular section in detail,
  • use a table in your assignment,
  • extract a questionnaire from the appendix,
  • identify more sources to read from the article’s reference list, or even
  • not read the article as it is not as relevant as you initially thought.