Overview
A statistics table pasted from SPSS or Excel rarely meets any style guide as it stands. APA 7, for example, expects a bold table number, an italic title in title case, horizontal rules only where needed, no vertical lines, consistent decimals, and notes below the table in a set order — general note, specific notes with superscript letters, then probability notes. Journals and universities add their own rules on font, placement and caption position.
Figures bring different problems: axis labels too small to read when reduced to column width, low-resolution screenshots, inconsistent fonts between charts, color that disappears in grayscale print, and legends that duplicate the caption. We rebuild or adjust figures where the source files allow, and export them at the resolution and format your destination requires.
Accessibility is increasingly expected, especially for theses deposited in open repositories and for publishers that follow accessibility standards. We add alt text, mark table header rows, avoid meaning carried by color alone, and keep tables as real, editable tables rather than images. The data and results are yours; we change how they are presented, never what they show.
Who it’s for and the problems it solves
This is for you if you are…
- Students and researchers reporting statistical results in APA or a department style
- Thesis candidates with dozens of tables and figures that need consistent numbering and captions
- Authors preparing figures to journal specifications for resolution, size and format
- Researchers wanting accessible documents for institutional repositories or open-access publication
Common problems we help with
- Tables pasted from SPSS, Stata or R output have gridlines, extra decimals and variable codes
- Figure text becomes unreadable when the chart is reduced to fit the page
- A journal rejected your figures for low resolution or the wrong file format
- Captions are inconsistent: some above, some below, some with notes and some without
- You have been asked to add alt text or make the thesis accessible and do not know where to start
What’s included — and what isn’t
Included
- Table formatting to your style: numbering, title, column heads (including spanner heads), stub column, decimals and alignment, rules and notes
- Conversion of software output (SPSS, Stata, R, Excel) into clean, editable Word tables
- Figure formatting: consistent fonts and sizes, axis labels, legends, and grayscale-safe palettes
- Export at required resolution and format (for example TIFF, EPS, PDF or PNG) and dimensions for single or double column
- Captions inserted as Word caption fields, placed above or below per style, feeding an automatic list of tables or figures
- Note ordering and superscript markers, abbreviations defined, and source or copyright attribution lines
- Alt text drafted from your descriptions, header rows marked to repeat across pages, and checks that color is not the only way information is conveyed
- Landscape placement for wide tables without disrupting page numbering
Not included
- Running, re-running or changing analyses (see our data analysis services)
- Altering data values, removing data points or changing results to improve appearance
- Creating original scientific illustrations from scratch (see scientific figures services)
- Obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted figures, which remains the author's task
What you receive
- Formatted tables
- Editable Word tables (or LaTeX tables by agreement) formatted to your style with notes and captions.
- Figure files
- Figures exported at the required resolution and format, plus in-document versions sized to the page.
- Caption and alt text list
- A list of all captions and alt text, so you can check accuracy and reuse them in the submission system.
- Issues note
- Anything we could not fix without your input, such as a figure only available as a low-resolution image or a table whose numbers do not sum.
How it works
Style and targets
You tell us the required style, destination (thesis, journal, report) and any published specifications.
Inventory
We list every table and figure, its source file and what it needs, and confirm the plan with you.
Format
We format tables, adjust or rebuild figures from source data or files, and insert captions.
Accessibility and export
We add alt text from your descriptions, mark header rows and export figures to specification.
Check
We cross-check numbering, in-text callouts and lists, then deliver files and the issues note.
Style rules and technical standards
- APA 7 tables
- Bold number, italic title-case title, clear headings, minimal horizontal rules, no vertical rules, notes in the order general, specific, probability.
- APA 7 figures
- Bold number and italic title above the figure, legend within the image, sans serif text between roughly 8 and 14 points, and a general note below if needed.
- Journal specifications
- Column widths, minimum font size, resolution (commonly 300 dpi for halftones and higher for line art), file formats and RGB or CMYK color, always confirmed from the journal's own instructions.
- Accessible figures and tables
- Alt text that states the key message rather than 'a graph', header rows for screen readers, sufficient contrast, and color-blind-safe palettes.
- Word caption fields
- Insert Caption with SEQ numbering and cross-references, which allow automatic lists and renumbering.
- Chart tools
- Excel, R (ggplot2) and Python (matplotlib) exports adjusted or regenerated from your scripts or data.
From software output to a publication-style table
Statistical software output is designed for the analyst, not the reader. A regression table from SPSS includes columns your reader does not need, variable names like Q14_rec, and six decimal places. We reduce it to what your style and field expect — for example B, SE, β, t and p, or estimates with 95% confidence intervals — with variables named in words, consistent decimal places and a note defining abbreviations.
Selecting which statistics to report is an analytical decision. We follow the columns you specify or your field's reporting convention, and flag any inconsistency we notice (such as degrees of freedom that do not match the sample size) rather than changing numbers.
Writing alt text and captions that do different jobs
A caption (or APA title) names the figure; the text explains it; alt text lets someone who cannot see it understand its point. Good alt text for a bar chart does not list every bar — it states the main comparison and trend, and refers to the table or text for exact numbers. Complex figures may need a longer description in the text or an appendix.
We draft alt text from your description and your results so it stays accurate. You check it, because only you know what each figure is meant to show.
- Keep alt text brief and focused on the message, not the chart type
- Do not repeat the caption word for word
- Make sure color is not the only cue: use labels, patterns or direct annotation
- Keep tables as real tables so screen readers can read header cells
What the work can look like
Illustrative example — fictional data
Formatting 18 tables and 9 figures in a psychology thesis
An illustrative master's candidate (fictional) has 18 tables pasted from SPSS and 9 Excel charts in a thesis that must follow APA 7 and be deposited in an open repository with accessibility requirements.
Tables
Gridlines were removed, variable codes replaced with labels, decimals standardized to two places (three for p values), and probability notes added. Two long correlation tables were set to repeat header rows across pages.
Figures
The Excel charts were regenerated with consistent fonts, direct labels replacing a red–green legend, and exported at 300 dpi. Captions were placed as APA figure numbers and titles above each figure.
Accessibility
The candidate supplied one-sentence descriptions of each figure; alt text was drafted from them, stating the main finding, and checked by the candidate.
Fictional example for illustration; it is not a real thesis or client.
What you’ll need to provide
- The document with tables and figures, plus the original software output or data files behind charts
- Original image files at the highest resolution available
- Your style guide or journal figure and table specifications
- A short description of what each figure shows, to base alt text on
- Permissions information for any reproduced or adapted figures
You don’t need everything ready to ask for a quote — tell us what you have and we’ll say what’s missing.
What affects price and turnaround
Price depends on
- Number of tables and figures
- Complexity: multi-panel figures, spanner headings, long tables across pages
- Whether figures need rebuilding from data or only adjustment
- Accessibility work required (alt text, tagged PDF)
- Turnaround
Turnaround depends on
- Number and complexity of tables and figures
- Availability of source data or original files
- Time for you to review alt text and captions
Every project is quoted individually. How we price our work.
Questions people ask before starting
Can you change the statistics shown in my tables?
We format what you have reported. If your field expects different statistics, we tell you, but deciding what to report is part of your analysis. We never change values.
My figure is only available as a screenshot. Can you fix it?
Sometimes it can be improved, but a low-resolution image cannot be made genuinely sharp. If you have the data or the original file, we can regenerate it at the correct resolution.
Do I need alt text in my thesis?
Many repositories and universities now expect it, and it is good practice regardless. Check your deposit guidelines; we can add it either way.
Should tables go in the text or at the end?
It depends on the destination. APA allows either for student papers; many journals ask for tables at the end or as separate files; most theses embed them near first mention. We follow your required option.
Can you work in LaTeX?
Yes. We can format tables with booktabs-style rules and figures with consistent captions in LaTeX.