Which tables should be put in the appendix?

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I like to think of appendices (or supporting information, which is the same thing for a journal paper) in terms of the narrative structure of a text. The main text should contain everything that makes up the "story" of the work. In it, a reader who basically trusts that your methods are sound should find everything that they need to understand the work.

There are often, however, places where it is important to show your work, but that are not particularly interesting. If they are lengthy enough that they start feeling like a major detour in the flow of the narrative, then they are a good candidate for moving to an appendix.

Some examples from my own recent papers:

  • Theorem and proof sketch in main text, boring exhaustive proof with lots of slightly different cases in appendix.
  • Graph summarizing results plus an example of result detail in main text, all the rest of the results in appendix.
  • Data from method presented in main text, data showing that plausible alternatives didn't work in appendix.
  • Intuitive description of method and key mathematical concepts in main text, exhaustive mathematical details in appendix.

Exactly where to draw the line is somewhat subjective, but fortunately doesn't matter all that much unless you are dealing with format or length restrictions.

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Martin Thoma
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Martin Thoma

Updated on August 01, 2022

Comments

  • Martin Thoma
    Martin Thoma over 1 year

    I am currently writing my bachelor's thesis. I made a lot of experiments and I describe them as well as their result in the text. Currently, I have most tables with the results of the experiments within the main part. However, I am thinking about putting at least the bigger tables in the appendix as they make the text hard to read.

    What should I put in the appendix and what should be in the main part?

    • 410 gone
      410 gone about 9 years
      What did your supervisor say? What do the university's guidelines say? What did your predecessors do?
    • Martin Thoma
      Martin Thoma about 9 years
      @EnergyNumbers My university does not have any guidelines for academic writing. I will ask my supervisor tomorrow.
  • Davidmh
    Davidmh about 9 years
    Why the downvotes?
  • jakebeal
    jakebeal almost 9 years
    Because sometimes something important to validity (but not understanding) should go in an appendix. For example, an appendix may be an appropriate place for a collection of boring but necessary control studies.