Should paragraphs split over pages in thesis?
I am writing a technical thesis with quite a few figures, tables and equations. These items break up the "flow" of the document. To mitigate this some journals suggest placing such items at the top or bottom of the page or column in which they occur.
In attempting to do this in MS Word a problem arises where as paragraphs, by default, split across page breaks; placing an item at the top or bottom of the page would mean inserting it mid-paragraph (or even mid-sentence) and so essentially creating two smaller paragraphs.
So would it be recommended to continue to pursue this formatting by setting MS Word to not allow paragraphs to break across page breaks, which results in figs etc more easily placed at the top or bottom, but leaving some pages with white space at the bottom of pages. Or should I make figure placement more flexible and prevent the white space introduced on some pages?
To clarify: better figure/table/equation placement or pages completlyu full with no white space at the end of some pages...
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/7227. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
Don't be afraid of white space. It's easier for comprehension not to break a paragraph or sentence mid-thought. I would rather have a big chunk of white space at the bottom of a page and then see the table at the top of the next page, where it made sense in the flow of reading, than have to interrupt my reading to double back and look at a graphic.
Put the tables/figures etc. where they fit in context and don't worry about big gaps. (For what it's worth, I'm also a typesetter who's done a lot of financial documents with tables and figures, and this would be my answer on Graphic Design SE too.)
0 comment threads
0 comment threads