22 Captions

A caption is text that accompanies a figure or table within a work such as an open textbook. A table or figure should have a brief descriptive caption or be referenced specifically in the text.

Captions for your figures, graphs, and charts should be included in your manuscript

The content of a caption conveys the significance of the resource and its relationship to text. Referencing the resource in the text body contributes to this connection.

See below for caption examples for the most commonly used resources in an open textbook.

Captions and attributions for tables and figures

Numbering tables and figures

Each figure, table, or other media needs to be in a separate document. Please name the images based on where they should be in the text. For example, Image 1.02 means it is in the first chapter and is the second image in that chapter. This should also be the name of your image file.

In your text, indicate where you want the figure or table by adding a place holder.

<<Fig 01.02 >> or <<Table 04.03>>

Figure captions

• The resource label (Figure 4.3) indicates that this is the third image in Chapter 4.
• No punctuation (period, comma, or colon) is inserted between the resource label (Figure 4.3), attribution, and description.

Table captions

• The resource label (Table 2.3) indicates that this is the third table in Chapter 2.
• A colon and one space are used to separate the resource label (Table 2.3) from the description (Hotel revenue in British Columbia).
• No period is placed at the end of the description
• The caption uses sentence case capitalization
• The data used in this table is cited using the label “Data source:” followed by an in-text citation (Johnson, 2013).

Graph and chart captions

Because graphs, charts, and other data-rich resources where the data is cited are often added as images, you can choose to label them as “Figures” or as “Charts” or as “Graphs.” For example, in the below graph found in Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Canadian Edition, the author has chosen to label it as a figure.

Alt-text

Each image, figure, or table should include a caption (see above). It should also include the alt-text or the text that a screen reader will read for people using screen reader software. The alt-text needs to be descriptive.

If the image is used to convey information visually and does not serve as a hyperlink, the alt text should convey the same information that the visual image conveys. Crafting this type of alt text is not as straightforward as crafting alt text for images that facilitate a function. Use these tips for guidance:

• Be equivalent and accurate in conveying the content of the image.
• Consider the context of your page or document (see the example below for more guidance).
• Be succinct. While you want to convey equivalent content to the image, it is important to avoid alt text that goes into excessive detail, conveying more information than the image conveys visually. In most cases, your alt text should just be a few words, though for more complex images, a sentence or two may be appropriate. Best practices indicate an alt-text should be no more than 125 characters.
• Use punctuation and proper sentence structure.
• Don’t use the words “graphic of,” “image of,” or similar phrasing. Screen-reading software knows when it encounters an image and communicates this.
• Don’t use text within your image if at all avoidable. In some cases, it may be necessary to do so. In these cases, replicate the text within the image verbatim (Technology and Information Accessibility, Towson University).