Page:Graphic methods for presenting facts (1914).djvu/364



A FEW CAUTIONS

The title for any chart presenting data in the graphic form should be so clear and so complete that the chart and its title could be removed from the context and yet give all the information necessary for a complete interpretation of the data. Charts which present new or especially interesting facts are very frequently copied by many magazines. A chart with its title should be considered a unit, so that anyone wishing to make an abstract of the article in which the chart appears could safely transfer the chart and its title for use elsewhere. In the preparation of this book it has been found that a number of the charts used have been copied from one magazine to another, and that the titles under the charts have suffered much in the copying. This is due chiefly to the fact that the titles are not considered as an integral part of a chart, and that many magazine editors feel at liberty to use for a chart whatever title they happen to see fit. If each chart as first presented has a complete and clear title it will greatly assist in establishing a practice that anyone making a copy of a chart should copy the title as well as the chart itself.

It is unfortunate that so many authors send in illustrations or charts for magazine articles without the titles to be used with the illustrations when printed. This often forces the editor to make the titles, and if he does not have complete information before him he cannot be blamed if he makes a mistake by using a title which does not correctly represent the data of the chart. To avoid the possibility of error, the editor may use only the most brief title under the illustration, and then trust to the chart being fully described in the context which goes with it. In such a case, the reader who may happen to be especially interested in the chart is forced to plow through a great quantity of context to find the particular paragraph which may happen to explain the chart. Though it is true that great care is necessary to give in a