Dr N Balakumar

In a research work, especially that involves empirical work, you will use Tables to explain certain variables in order to support your logical arguments. You will push certain contents, like a set of graphs to Appendix in order to give a free flow of contents to achieve comfy reading. For convenience, similarly, you would have used Abbreviations.

How to handle Tables, Appendices and Abbreviations in project report writing is something any researcher would like to know.

Tables

Give a title to all Tables that are in your report.
Example: Gross National Product (GNP) and Market Capitalisation.

Number the Tables. The Numbering of the Tables should gel with the Chapters in which they appear. For example, if the above mentioned Table appears in Chapter One (Introduction) as the third Table, you will number the table as 1.3.

At the beginning of the Report, after the Acknowledgement Page you will include a page that will give a List of Tables, with page numbers on which that appears.

Appendices

In the same fashion how we handled Tables, we will handle Appendices too.

Give a title to all Appendices.
Example: Partial Autocorrelation Results

Number the Appendices. The numbering should match with the Chapters in which you have discussed this Appendix. For example, if you have discussed the partial autocorrelation results in Chapter 4 (Analysis of Data Chapter), you will number the Appendix as 4.1. If you have discussed more on this chapter that you have moved as Appendix, you will continue numbering as Appendix No. 4.2, etc.

List of Appendices will follow the List of Tables page, with page numbers on which that appears.

Abbreviations

For your convenience you would have used several abbreviations in your research work. However, you can not assume that the readers will be familiar with those abbreviations.

Thus, it becomes the duty of the researcher to give a List of Abbreviations page next to the List of Appendices Page in the beginning of the Research Report.

Few examples:

GDP = Gross Domestic Product
BSE = Bombay Stock Exchange
RBI = Reserve Bank of India
EMH = Efficient Market Hypothesis
DPS = Dividend Per Share
MRE = Mean Relative Error
CAPM = Capital Asset Pricing Model