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Microsoft Word for Dissertations

While the context of this Guide is dissertations, the many useful features described here will also help you format research papers, conference abstracts, journal articles, and other complex documents.

Creating Captions for Appendix Figures & Tables

Tables and Figures in the Appendix are captioned with the “Insert Caption…” tool, just like tables and figures in the body, but you'll use (or create) a new caption label for each of them. These “Appendix Figure/Table” items won’t populate the existing List of Figures, because you can’t combine two different caption labels in one list. So, after captioning your Appendix Figures and Tables with those new caption labels, you’ll insert another List directly after the current List, and set that second List to pull in corresponding captions. 

** Note: this only works if you've set up Heading 7 to style each of your Appendix titles. See the Appendices section of this Guide for more info. **

 

Here's the process for adding an Appendix Figure caption (the steps are similar for creating an Appendix Table caption):

  1. Select the item you want to caption and click the "Insert Caption..." button in the References tab
  2. In the window that appears, pop open the "Labels" menu, and select "Appendix Figure".  
  3. If there isn't already an "Appendix Figure" label, then create one:
    • Click the "New Label" button, and enter "Appendix Figure". Then click OK
    • With the "Appendix Figure" label selected, click the "Numbering: Format..." button
    • Set "Chapter starts with style:" to Heading 7 (This is our Appendix number/letter)
  4. Enter your caption and confirm whether you want it sit above or below the item
  5. Click OK

Adding Appendix Figures/Tables to the List of Figures/Tables

(note: the following instructions work for situations where your Appendices are at the end of your document. If you have an Appendix section at the end of each chapter, then take a look at our solution for "integrating supplemental figures and tables" in the List of Figures/Tables. The solution is similar for appendix figures and tables.

And don't be shy about setting up a consultation if you run into trouble, as appendices — especially with tables and figures — are often a troublespot.)

To add this to your List of Figures, we add a second list of (appendix) figures just below your existing list of figures:

  1. Scroll to your existing List of Figures
  2. Toggle on the invisible characters, so you can see the "Section Break (Next Page)" below your List of Figures and any paragraph characters
  3. Place your cursor directly below the last item in your List of Figures.
  4. From the References tab (and next to the Insert Caption.. button), click the Insert Table of Figures button.
  5. In the window that appears, select "Appendix Figure" from the "Caption label:" list.
  6. Click OK.

This will add a second list of figures below your original one, but this one will be populated with Appendix Figures.  Remember that you now have two fields to update as you make changes -- the list of figures and the list of appendix figures.

You might notice that there's a paragraph character between the two fields. If you delete that, the formatting of your Appendix Figures list will be thrown off. Instead, our recommendation is to carefully select JUST that one paragraph character, and set the font size for it to something very small, like 2 point. This will tuck the Appendix Figures up closer to the Figures.