Use Chapter to refer to a main section of text, and Section to refer to a subdivision of a chapter. If chapters are grouped, use Part to refer to the higher-level groupings.
Major parts of a publication and other feature elements such as figures, tables and equations can be numbered with roman or arabic numbers, or with capital letters. Arabic numbers are recommended for parts, chapters, sections, tables, figures and equations:
Part 2 Chapter 6 Section 6.1 Table 2 Figure 4 Equation 6
Use letters for appendixes:
Formatting cross-references to sections
Use an initial capital for cross-references to specific numbered parts of a publication, to help them stand out:
Refer to Chapter 6.
More detail is found in Section 4.1.
See Table 4.
Use Equation 6 to …
The data in Figure 5 contrast with those in Figure 4.
Details of the method are presented in Appendix A.
The population of the town increased by 20% during this period (Figure 2; Table 6).
Also use an initial capital when referring to specific sections in the plural:
See Chapters 3 and 4. As shown in Tables 3–5 …
However, if referring to parts of the publication generically, use lower case:
For more detail, see the appendix. [only 1 appendix in the document]
Full details are given in the bibliography.
The introduction outlines the approach.
Further information is given in the appendixes.
The remaining chapters of this book deal with each of these issues in more detail.
For unnumbered chapters or sections, enclose the title in single quotation marks:
Further information is available in the chapter ‘Structuring documents for readers’.
See ‘Results’. Further information is given in ‘Methods’.
If a component of the text – often a figure – has subparts that are identified by letters, refer to them without parentheses, set solid with the number:
The data in Figure 4a show that …
Figures 3a–c show stages of the decay of the specimen.
Positioning cross-references
A table or figure should be positioned soon after it is first referred to, ideally on the same page or 2-page spread as the first cross-reference. All figures, tables and appendixes should be referred to in the text.
Equations, whether mathematical or scientific (eg chemical and nuclear), generally appear as part of the running text (see Mathematics and statistics). They may be referred to before or after they are defined; if before, the cross-reference should be close to the equation. Some texts number all equations, whereas others only number those that are cross-referenced.
