Why Your ASA Figures Keep Losing Points (And How to Fix Them)

Why ASA cares so much about your figures

If you’ve ever wondered why your instructor gets picky about whether you write “Figure 1.” or “Fig. 1:” under a chart, you’re not alone. It feels small. But in sociology, formatting is part of how we signal that work is credible, comparable, and easy to review.

Think about a journal editor skimming twenty manuscripts in a week. They don’t want to solve a puzzle every time they look at a chart. They want to see:

• A clear label
• A short, accurate title
• Readable axes and legends
• Notes that explain anything unusual

ASA style simply standardizes those expectations so every figure in every paper follows the same basic logic. Once you see the pattern, it’s actually pretty straightforward.

Where do figures belong in an ASA paper?

Here’s where students often get tripped up. Some instructors still ask for figures and tables at the end of the manuscript, after the references. Others want them embedded in the text near the first mention.

ASA’s own guidance tends to assume a manuscript setup: figures placed together after the references, each on a separate page. But in a lot of undergraduate and graduate courses, you’re told to place them directly in the body of the paper. When in doubt, follow your professor’s instructions first, ASA rules second.

Whichever layout you use, the internal logic stays the same:

• Figures are numbered in the order they are mentioned in the text.
• You refer to them in the text as Figure 1, Figure 2, and so on (not “the figure above”).
• Each figure has a title-style caption and, if needed, explanatory notes.

So when you write, you say something like:

As shown in Figure 2, support for the policy increases steadily with age.

Not:

As shown in the chart below, older respondents are more supportive.

The point is that the figure is part of the formal architecture of the paper, not just a decoration floating in the layout.

What an ASA-style figure caption actually looks like

Let’s start with the backbone: the caption. Almost every ASA figure follows a pattern like this:

Figure 1. Title in sentence case, without a period at the end

Note: Additional details, such as data source, sample restrictions, or statistical adjustments.

A few details that matter more than you might think:

• “Figure” is spelled out, not abbreviated.
• The number is Arabic (1, 2, 3…), not Roman (I, II, III).
• There’s a period after the number, then a space, then the title.
• The title is concise and descriptive, not a full paragraph.
• Notes, if any, go directly under the figure, usually in smaller type or italicized “Note.” as a label.

That’s the template you’ll keep reusing, no matter what kind of graphic you’re working with.

Turning a bar chart into an ASA-ready figure

Imagine you’ve surveyed 500 undergraduates about their support for a campus mental health fee. You’ve created a simple bar chart showing support by gender. The content is fine, but to make it ASA-ready, you have to package it correctly.

In your paper, the bar chart would appear with something like this underneath:

Figure 1. Support for campus mental health fee by gender, U.S. undergraduates, 2024

Note: Survey of 500 undergraduates at a large public university in the Midwest. Bars show the percentage of respondents in each gender category who answered “strongly support” or “somewhat support.”

A few choices here are doing quiet work for you:

• The title tells the reader what is being compared (support), by what dimension (gender), for which population (U.S. undergraduates), and when (2024).
• The note explains the sample and how you defined the measure (which response options count as “support”).

Now look at how this connects back to the text. You might write:

Figure 1 shows that women are more likely than men to support the proposed fee. While 78 percent of women respondents express support, only 61 percent of men do so.

You’re not repeating the entire caption in prose, but you’re using the figure as evidence and pointing to it clearly.

Line graphs and trends: keeping the story readable

Now suppose you tracked support for the same policy across four survey waves: pre-campaign, mid-campaign, immediately post-campaign, and three months later. You plotted a line graph with time on the x-axis and percent support on the y-axis.

Under that line graph, an ASA-style caption might read:

Figure 2. Change in support for campus mental health fee over four survey waves

Note: Data from a four-wave panel survey (N = 350) conducted between January and June 2024. Each point represents the percentage of respondents who answered “strongly support” or “somewhat support” in that wave. Vertical lines show 95% confidence intervals.

Notice what’s happening in that note:

• You quietly tell the reader this is a panel survey (same people over time), which matters for interpretation.
• You specify what the points represent (not raw counts, not odds ratios).
• You explain the confidence intervals, which might otherwise confuse a reader who hasn’t taken advanced statistics.

In the text, you might say:

As Figure 2 indicates, support increased sharply during the campaign period and remained above baseline levels three months later.

The graph carries the visual story; the caption and the sentence in the text make sure no one misreads it.

When your figure is a model diagram, not a chart

ASA-style figures aren’t limited to charts. Conceptual models, path diagrams, and flow charts also fall under the same rules.

Say you’re presenting a simple model of how social media use might affect mental health among college students, with academic stress and sleep quality as mediators. You build a diagram with arrows from “Social Media Use” to “Academic Stress” and “Sleep Quality,” and then to “Depressive Symptoms.”

Your caption might look like this:

Figure 3. Conceptual model linking social media use to depressive symptoms among college students

Note: Arrows represent hypothesized directional relationships. The model assumes that social media use affects depressive symptoms indirectly through academic stress and sleep quality. Control variables (gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic background) are omitted from the figure for clarity but included in all statistical models.

Here, the note does two important things:

• It clarifies that this is a hypothesized model, not the final tested structure.
• It tells readers that you did include controls in your analyses, even though they’re not drawn in the diagram.

Reviewers and instructors like this kind of transparency: the figure stays readable, but you’re honest about what’s behind the scenes.

Handling multiple panels in one figure

Sometimes you want to show variations side by side: for example, support for the policy by gender in one panel and by race/ethnicity in another. Instead of creating two separate figures, you might combine them into one multi-panel figure labeled (a) and (b).

The caption then has to do a bit more work:

Figure 4. Support for campus mental health fee by gender (a) and race/ethnicity (b)

Note: Bars show the percentage of respondents in each category who answered “strongly support” or “somewhat support.” Panel (a) displays differences by gender; panel (b) displays differences by race/ethnicity. Sample restricted to full-time undergraduates (N = 420).

In your text, you can refer to the whole thing as “Figure 4,” and, if needed, to specific panels:

As shown in Figure 4b, Black and Hispanic students report higher levels of support than white students.

You don’t need to number the panels separately as Figure 4a, Figure 4b in the caption itself; the panel labels live inside the graphic.

Notes, sources, and data details: what goes where?

Students often ask, “Do I really need a note under every figure?” Honestly, not always. But if any of these are true, you probably should include one:

• You’re using a specific data source (e.g., General Social Survey, American Community Survey).
• You’ve restricted the sample in a way that isn’t obvious.
• You’ve transformed variables (e.g., logged income, standardized scores).
• You’re showing statistical uncertainty (confidence intervals, standard errors).

Here’s a common structure for notes in ASA-style figures:

Note: Data from the 2022 General Social Survey (GSS). Sample restricted to U.S.-born adults ages 25–64 (N = 1,540). Income is logged; values shown are predicted probabilities from logistic regression models, holding other variables at their means.

That might sound dry, but it saves your reader from guessing—and it saves you from having to re-explain all those details in the main text.

If you’re using a well-known public dataset, you can also point to the original source in your references and, if allowed, link to it in an online version of your paper. For example, the General Social Survey (NORC at the University of Chicago) is a staple in sociology.

Common ASA figure mistakes that quietly cost you

Let’s be honest: most lost points on figures come from avoidable slip-ups, not from bad data. A few patterns show up again and again in student work.

Mixing styles within the same paper
One figure labeled “Fig. 1,” another “Figure 2:”, another with no number at all. It makes your paper look stitched together from different drafts. Pick one consistent ASA pattern and stick with it.

Captions that are too vague
“Figure 3. Regression results” tells your reader almost nothing. “Figure 3. Predicted probability of supporting tuition increase by parental income” is much more useful.

Relying on color alone
Remember that some readers may print your paper in black and white, or have color vision deficiencies. Use patterns, line types, or labels in addition to color. The ASA style itself doesn’t ban color, but good practice in social science publishing assumes grayscale still has to work.

Forgetting to mention the figure in the text
If a figure appears in your paper but you never refer to it, reviewers will wonder why it’s there. Every figure should earn its place by being explicitly discussed.

Cramming too much into one graphic
Six lines, twelve categories, tiny fonts—by the time the reader decodes it, they’ve forgotten what the paper was about. Sometimes splitting one overloaded figure into two clearer ones is the better move.

How figures interact with tables in ASA format

In ASA-style writing, figures and tables are treated as separate species. Tables are for detailed numbers; figures are for patterns and relationships.

A solid rule of thumb: if your reader needs to know the exact value for many categories or coefficients, that belongs in a table. If they mainly need to see the shape of a relationship or a comparison across groups, that’s a figure.

You still:

• Number tables separately from figures (Table 1, Table 2 vs. Figure 1, Figure 2).
• Use parallel caption styles so the whole paper feels coherent.

The Purdue OWL ASA guide is a handy reference on this broader structure, even if you ultimately follow your instructor’s specific tweaks. You can find it at https://owl.purdue.edu.

Checking your figures against ASA expectations

Before you finalize your paper, a quick pass over your figures with a checklist can save you from those annoying “format not correct” comments.

Ask yourself:

• Are all figures numbered in the order they appear in the text?
• Does every figure have a clear, descriptive caption starting with “Figure X.”?
• Did I explain data sources, sample restrictions, and transformations in notes where needed?
• Did I refer to each figure explicitly in the text?
• Would this figure still be understandable if printed in black and white?

If you can say yes to those questions, you’re in much better shape than most first drafts.

For more on general research presentation and data visualization standards, the National Center for Education Statistics and many university writing centers (for example, Harvard’s Writing Center) offer guidelines that, while not ASA-specific, align well with what sociology instructors expect.

FAQ: ASA figures, answered without the jargon

Do ASA figures have to be in black and white?
No, ASA doesn’t strictly ban color. But you should design figures so they remain clear in grayscale. That means using different line types, patterns, or direct labels instead of relying only on color differences.

Should figures go at the end of the paper or inside the text?
Traditional manuscript format puts figures after the references, one per page. Many professors now prefer figures embedded near the first mention. Always follow your assignment instructions; if they don’t specify, choose one approach and apply it consistently.

Can I copy charts directly from statistical software?
You can start there, but raw output from tools like SPSS, Stata, or R rarely matches ASA expectations. You’ll usually need to adjust fonts, remove clutter, and add an ASA-style caption and note. Think of the software output as a draft, not the final product.

Do I need a separate reference list entry for data sources mentioned in figure notes?
If the data come from a public dataset, survey, or report, yes—include a full reference in your reference list and then mention the source briefly in the figure note. The note is not a substitute for a proper citation.

Is it okay to put regression coefficients in a figure instead of a table?
Yes, if your goal is to show patterns (for example, a coefficient plot with confidence intervals). Just make sure the caption clearly states what is being plotted, and include a more detailed table in an appendix if your instructor or field norms expect it.

Handled well, figures in ASA format stop being a grading hazard and start working for you. They make your argument visible, not just readable. Once you’ve built a few with proper captions, clear notes, and consistent styling, you’ll find yourself reusing the same structure in every paper—and reviewers will quietly appreciate that they don’t have to fight your charts to understand your results.