Research Guides: Thesis and Dissertation: Inserting Tables

Need to Know:

SHSU Guidelines:

Tables must appear in the text as near as possible to the discussion relating to them. Under no circumstances will a table precede the first discussion of its content. (Exception: tables in Appendixes)
DO NOT insert a table in the middle of a sentence. This interrupts the flow of thought and is distracting for your readers.
Tables must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numbers throughout the thesis, as should figures, examples, and illustrations. Each table in a thesis must have a caption that tells concisely what it contains. The caption must be placed above a table.
- Journal Model: If tables are placed in a separate section, they should include a chapter designation as well as a table number (Table 1.1, 1.2, 1.3; 2.1, 2.2, 2.3) both in the text and in the caption.
Computer-generated tables are acceptable, provided they are clear and legible and meet margin requirements.

Color Images

A note on color images: Color images do not translate well when we make microfilm copies of theses and dissertations. Because of this, we recommend that students change their images to B/W or grayscale. If color is integral to the explanation of your research, then you may choose to proceed as is.

However, when your document is sent to the Press, you will have to provide them with detailed instructions about which pages contain color images. This way, they can print only those pages in color, which costs more, and then print the rest of the manuscript in B/W.

Copyright

Since a thesis is legally classified as a publication, care must be taken not to violate copyright laws. If the thesis contains any material (e.g. figures, tables, test instruments, text, or photographs) taken from copyrighted sources, the student must determine if a letter of permission from the copyright holder is needed. This is true even if the student or thesis adviser is an author of the material; in such cases, a letter from the publisher may still be needed.

See Copyright section of this website for more information.

CHECKLIST FOR TABLES

Table number and title appears above each table.
Table note (if any) appears below each table.
Tables fit within margins. To see margins, click on the VIEW tab, then click on Gridlines.
Tables are cleanly formatted, with the least number of horizontal and vertical lines to separate main elements.
If a table spans multiple pages, the word (continued) appears on the last line of the table before the break – this goes for each page where a break occurs.
If a table spans multiple pages, the table’s headings repeat at the top of each new page. See How to repeat table headers after a page break on this page.
Each table is referenced in the text leading up to it. Do not place a table in the middle of a sentence. Complete the sentence, then insert the table.

How it Should Look

Example of a table on a portrait page
Example of table formatted on a portrait page. Notice that the table is referenced in the text preceding it.
Example of a wide table on a landscape page
An example of a wide table that has been placed on a landscape page. Notice that the table spans multiple pages and the word (continued) appears where the table breaks.

Macro-Template Instructions

Click on the appropriate tab above.

Click here to download a PDF set of instructions with lots of illustrations.

Click on the appropriate tab above.

Click here to download a PDF set of instructions with lots of illustrations.

Click on the appropriate tab above.

The template is designed to automatically create correctly formatted page numbers for landscape pages. However, it doesn't always work correctly.

In such cases, you may have to remove improperly formatted page numbers, and then insert correctly formatted ones.

The following are step-by-step instructions on how to do so.

Click here to download a PDF set of instructions with lots of illustrations.

Click on the Home tab, and click on the Paragraph symbol (¶). Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Shift+8. This activates Show Paragraph Marks.
Click on the Layout tab.
Click on Breaks.A drop-down menu will appear.
Select Next Page and insert two Next Page section breaks.
Double-click in the top margin of the landscape page until the Header appears. A new Design tab for Header and Footer Tools will appear.
Click on Link to Previous. Do this again on the next page after the landscape page.

Notice that there are different section numbers for the Headers where the breaks were inserted.
The next step is to create a text box in the Header of the landscape page.
- Delete any existing page number.
- Click on the Insert tab.
- Click on Text Box. A drop-down menu should appear.
- Select Simple Text Box.
- It should look something like this:
Replace the default text within the text box with a page number:
- Highlight the text within the text box.
- Click on the Insert tab.
- Click on Page Number. A drop-down menu will appear.
- Select Current Position and then Plain Number.
Format the font:
- Click on the Home tab.
- Highlight the page number in the box.
- Select your chosen font style, and make it 12 pt.
- Open the Paragraph dialog box by clicking the arrow in the Paragraph section.
- Under the Spacing section, change the Before box to 9 points.
- Change the After box to 0 points.
- Change Line Spacing to Single.
- Finally, check the box that reads: Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style.
- Click Ok.
Next, adjust the position of the text box:
- Click on the text box.A Format tab appears. Click on it.
- Click on Position, and then click on More Layout Options. The Layout dialog box should appear.
  - Under the Horizontal section, click the Absolute Position bubble.Change the point value to 9.23. Make sure to select Column from the drop-down menu across from this point value.
  - Under the Vertical section, click the Absolute Position bubble.Change the point value to 6.62. Make sure to select Paragraph from the drop-down menu across from this point value.

Click on the Text Wrapping tab.
Under the Distance from Text section, change all of the point values (i.e., Top, Bottom, Left, and Right) to 0.

Click on the Size tab.
- Under Height, click on the Absolute bubble and change the point value to 1.
- Under Width, click on the Absolute bubble and change the point value to .55.
Click the OK button.

11. Change the direction of the text:

Click on the Text Direction drop-down menu and select Rotate All Text 90 degrees.
Click on the Align Text drop-down menu and click Left.

12. The next-to-last step is to remove the lines of the text box:

Click on Shape Outline and select No Outline from the drop-down menu.

13. Finally, double-click in the body of the page to get out of the Header.

Select the row(s) that contain the table's headers.

Click on the Table Tools Layout tab that appears at the top of the screen.

Table tools layout button

Then click on the Repeat Header Rows button.

Repeat header rows button

The table’s headers should now repeat on each successive page of the document.

NOTE: If the instructions above do not work, then try one of the following:

Select the entire table, click on Table Tools Layout, Repeat Header Rows to select it (it will turn dark gray when active), then click Repeat Header Rows again to deactivate it. Try following the instructions above again and see if it works.
If that still doesn’t work, then you may need to recreate the table and try the Repeat Header Rows instructions again.

Click on the appropriate tab above.

Click here to download a PDF set of instructions with lots of illustrations.

Sometimes a table does not fit within the left and right margins, but there is an easy way to fix this.

Example of a table that lies outside the margins.

First, select the entire table.

Then right-click on your mouse, and click on AutoFit, then AutoFit to Window. The table will automatically adjust its width to fit within the left and right margins.

The table should now fit between the left and right margins.

After creating a table and populating it with data, you may want to adjust the spacing of the text and cells to make the data fit better.

example table with bad spacing

If the text is double-spaced, change it to single-spacing.

example table with single spaced text

Already, your table is taking up less space in the document and lines of data are easier to ready. However, you still want to separate rows of data from each other by adjusting the cell spacing:

Select the entire table.
Click on Table Tools Layout, then click on Properties.
Click on the Cell tab, then click on Options.
Deselect the check box labeled Same as the whole table.

cell options same as the whole table selected

Now you can adjust the spacing within each cell in the table by changing the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right cell margins.

cell options same as the whole table deselected

Type .08 into the Top and Bottom boxes. Click OK, and click OK. You’ve just increased the spacing between the text and the top and bottom walls of each cell.

example table .08 top and bottom margins

Here's what it looks like without the gridlines showing -- the rows of data have more separation and are easier to read:

example table .08 top and bottom margins no gridlines

Let’s try something crazy… Select the entire table again, open the Cell Options window, and type 2 into the Top box.

Wow! You’ve just increased the space between the text and top cell walls to 2 inches! That’s pretty extreme. Let’s undo it.

example table 2 inch top margin

In this version of the table, the columns have been adjusted so that the data fits better and is more spread out, but Column 5 still has some odd extra space on the right-hand side.

example table, columns adjusted, weird spacing on column 5

To fix this, select all the cells in Column 5, open Cell Options, and adjust the Right margin to 0 (zero). This provides just enough room for the data to spread out a little more.

This is a very handy tool when you have a table with lots of data, but need a little extra room for the data to spread out.

example table perfected cell spacing

When working with a table, it helps to see the hidden vertical and horizontal lines. To see them:

Click anywhere on the table.
Click on the Table Tools Laytout tab that appears at the top of the screen.
Click on View Gridlines.

Non-Template Instructions

Click on the appropriate tab above.

Table Numbers and Titles

Before creating a table, type the table designator first using the RegText font style: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc.

On the next line, use the font style Table title for the title. Table titles typically use Headline Style Capitalization and can be single-spaced. You must use the Table title font style so that you can automatically populate your List of Tables. This is a huge time saver for you.

After typing the table title, go back to your List of Tables.
Right-click on the List of Tables and select Update Field.
Select Update Entire Table. The document will automatically look for new content or page number changes and populate the list.

Now you can create your table on the next line.

Table Notes

Use RegText to add a Note beneath the table. Notes can be single-spaced to help differentiate them from the rest of the text.

Be sure to view the examples on this page and format your tables like them, using vertical and horizontal lines sparingly.

Instructions and videos for creating tables can be found on the Microsoft Support website https://support.microsoft.com/en-us.

Click on the appropriate tab above.

Table Numbers and Titles

Before creating a table, type the table designator first using the RegText font style: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc.

After typing the table title, go back to your List of Tables.
Right-click on the List of Tables and select Update Field.
Select Update Entire Table. The document will automatically look for new content or page number changes and populate the list.

Now you can create your table on the next line.

Table Notes

Use RegText to add a Note beneath the table. Notes can be single-spaced to help differentiate them from the rest of the text.

Be sure to view the examples on this page and format your tables like them, using vertical and horizontal lines sparingly.

Instructions and videos for creating tables can be found on the Microsoft Support website https://support.microsoft.com/en-us.

Click on the appropriate tab above.

Table Numbers and Titles

Before creating a table, type the table designator first using the RegText font style: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc.

After typing the table title, go back to your List of Tables.
Right-click on the List of Tables and select Update Field.
Select Update Entire Table. The document will automatically look for new content or page number changes and populate the list.

Now you can create your table on the next line.

Table Notes

Use RegText to add a Note beneath the table. Notes can be single-spaced to help differentiate them from the rest of the text.

Be sure to view the examples on this page and format your tables like them, using vertical and horizontal lines sparingly.

Instructions and videos for creating tables can be found on the Microsoft Support website https://support.microsoft.com/en-us.

Click on the appropriate tab above.

Click here to download a PDF set of instructions with lots of illustrations.

NOTE: You can also use these instructions to fix improperly formatted landscape page numbers. Just scroll down to the instructions for creating page numbers.

Place your cursor at the point in your document where you wish to insert a landscape page.
Click on the Home tab, and click on the Paragraph symbol (¶). Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Shift+8. This activates Show Paragraph Marks.
Click on the Layout tab.
Click on Breaks.A drop-down menu will appear.
Select Next Page and insert two Next Page section breaks.
Place your cursor on the second page that you just inserted.
Click on Orientation, and select Landscape.
Double-click in the top margin of the landscape page until the Header appears. A new Design tab for Header and Footer Tools will appear.
Click on Link to Previous. Do this again on the next page after the landscape page.

Notice that there are different section numbers for the Headers where the breaks were inserted.
The next step is to create a text box in the Header of the landscape page.
- Delete any existing page number.
- Click on the Insert tab.
- Click on Text Box. A drop-down menu should appear.
- Select Simple Text Box.
- It should look something like this:
Replace the default text within the text box with a page number:
- Highlight the text within the text box.
- Click on the Insert tab.
- Click on Page Number. A drop-down menu will appear.
- Select Current Position and then Plain Number.
Format the font:
- Click on the Home tab.
- Highlight the page number in the box.
- Select your chosen font style, and make it 12 pt.
- Open the Paragraph dialog box by clicking the arrow in the Paragraph section.
- Under the Spacing section, change the Before box to 9 points.
- Change the After box to 0 points.
- Change Line Spacing to Single.
- Finally, check the box that reads: Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style.
- Click Ok.
Next, adjust the position of the text box:
- Click on the text box.A Format tab appears. Click on it.
- Click on Position, and then click on More Layout Options. The Layout dialog box should appear.
  - Under the Horizontal section, click the Absolute Position bubble.Change the point value to 9.23. Make sure to select Column from the drop-down menu across from this point value.
  - Under the Vertical section, click the Absolute Position bubble.Change the point value to 6.62. Make sure to select Paragraph from the drop-down menu across from this point value.

Click on the Text Wrapping tab.
Under the Distance from Text section, change all of the point values (i.e., Top, Bottom, Left, and Right) to 0.

Click on the Size tab.
- Under Height, click on the Absolute bubble and change the point value to 1.
- Under Width, click on the Absolute bubble and change the point value to .55.
Click the OK button.

14. Change the direction of the text:

Click on the Text Direction drop-down menu and select Rotate All Text 90 degrees.
Click on the Align Text drop-down menu and click Left.

15. The next-to-last step is to remove the lines of the text box:

Click on Shape Outline and select No Outline from the drop-down menu.

16. Finally, double-click in the body of the page to get out of the Header.

Select the row(s) that contain the table's headers.

Click on the Table Tools Layout tab that appears at the top of the screen.

Table tools layout button

Then click on the Repeat Header Rows button.

Repeat header rows button

The table’s headers should now repeat on each successive page of the document.

NOTE: If the instructions above do not work, then try one of the following:

Select the entire table, click on Table Tools Layout, Repeat Header Rows to select it (it will turn dark gray when active), then click Repeat Header Rows again to deactivate it. Try following the instructions above again and see if it works.
If that still doesn’t work, then you may need to recreate the table and try the Repeat Header Rows instructions again.

Sometimes a table does not fit within the left and right margins, but there is an easy way to fix this.

Example of a table that lies outside the margins.

First, select the entire table.

Then right-click on your mouse, and click on AutoFit, then AutoFit to Window. The table will automatically adjust its width to fit within the left and right margins.

The table should now fit between the left and right margins.

After creating a table and populating it with data, you may want to adjust the spacing of the text and cells to make the data fit better.

example table with bad spacing

If the text is double-spaced, change it to single-spacing.

example table with single spaced text

Already, your table is taking up less space in the document and lines of data are easier to ready. However, you still want to separate rows of data from each other by adjusting the cell spacing:

Select the entire table.
Click on Table Tools Layout, then click on Properties.
Click on the Cell tab, then click on Options.
Deselect the check box labeled Same as the whole table.

cell options same as the whole table selected

Now you can adjust the spacing within each cell in the table by changing the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right cell margins.

cell options same as the whole table deselected

Type .08 into the Top and Bottom boxes. Click OK, and click OK. You’ve just increased the spacing between the text and the top and bottom walls of each cell.

example table .08 top and bottom margins

Here's what it looks like without the gridlines showing -- the rows of data have more separation and are easier to read:

example table .08 top and bottom margins no gridlines

Let’s try something crazy… Select the entire table again, open the Cell Options window, and type 2 into the Top box.

Wow! You’ve just increased the space between the text and top cell walls to 2 inches! That’s pretty extreme. Let’s undo it.

example table 2 inch top margin

In this version of the table, the columns have been adjusted so that the data fits better and is more spread out, but Column 5 still has some odd extra space on the right-hand side.

example table, columns adjusted, weird spacing on column 5

To fix this, select all the cells in Column 5, open Cell Options, and adjust the Right margin to 0 (zero). This provides just enough room for the data to spread out a little more.

This is a very handy tool when you have a table with lots of data, but need a little extra room for the data to spread out.

example table perfected cell spacing

When working with a table, it helps to see the hidden vertical and horizontal lines. To see them:

Click anywhere on the table.
Click on the Table Tools Laytout tab that appears at the top of the screen.
Click on View Gridlines.