It is good practice to discuss the key points of a table or graph and then direct the reader with an in-text reference, rather than just announcing the inclusion of the table or graph. This highlights the message directly, and makes the text more active and interesting:
Australian house sizes have increased rapidly over the past 50 years, with Sydney showing the greatest increase in average house size (Table 1.1).
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Table 1.1 shows the average house sizes for Australia’s capital cities from 1960 to 2010.
In some cases, it can be appropriate to use the name of the table or graph itself to highlight the key message. This is not generally done in academic journals or more formal publications, but can be a valuable technique in many publications, particularly for general audiences.
