Figure Captions

Editorial style of figure caption

Don't:

give calculation/methodological details.

give complicated equations in the caption.

say text has what is needed to understand figure.

Do:

stress message of the figure.

supply any definition necessary to make caption self-contained.

use good axes labels and interior labels.

Missile defense policy paper

Figure 1. Making the infrared sensor near-sighted: dependence of relative sensitivity to warhead temperature. Compared to room temperature, the emission of a warhead with a liquid-nitrogen-cooled shroud is a factor of trillion less at 5 microns; a million at 10 microns. Since a 10-micron sensor would have to thousand times closer to see the same emission, it is effectively blind.

Greenhouse gasses and global warming

Figure 1. Changes in the global temperature from 1981 to 1991. Although there are large fluctuations (about 0.4 F), there is a clear upward trend of about 1 F over the last century.
 
Figure 2. The 1997 US greenhouse emissions by sector. The commercial and residential sectors, about 32%, could be reduced by individual actions, while industrial, transportation and agriculture sectors may require government action.

Need for subsidy of European High-Speed Rail

Figure 1. European rail map: usage proportional to route thickness. Millions of passenger are handled each year smoothly and efficiently. Rails' vitality is underscored by fact the 85% of Europeans adults have never flown in an airplane.

In vitro: the future of product testing

Figure 4. Distribution of reason for UK animal testing during 1994. That more than half the animal tests were not required by legislation or medicines act illustrates how wide spread and popular vivisection is, even when it's not required.

Biological example

Figure 1. The relationship between resistant fecal strains and antibiotic use. The fecal strains were isolated from patients with diarrheal disease caused by bacterial infection. Clearly, the use of antibiotics correlates with the percentage of bacteria resistant to that antibiotic.