Section 9.6

Enumeration

Unless you are following a style guide thatspecifies otherwise, observe the following conventions.

Use enumeration in reports and otherdocuments to identify sequences of chapters, sections, pagenumbers, figures and tables, equations, footnotes, and appendixes. Lengthy reports may contain andenumerate all these items. Any technical or scientific documentof more than one page, however, will at least enumerate itspages, as well as any other of these elements that are present.

Chapter-Section Enumeration

Of the two general enumeration systems widely used, the numericalsystem is clearer than the alphanumerical system. In thenumerical system, the reader can always locate his or her placein the document from the single decimal number.

NUMERICAL SYSTEM    ALPHANUMERICAL SYSTEM1                   I.   1.1                      A.1.2                      B.       1.2.1                         1.1.2.2                         2.2                   II.2.1                      A.2.1.1                         1.2.1.2                         2.2.2                      B.

Pagination

Number the front matter in italic lowercase roman numerals (i, ii, iii,iv, and so on).

Normally, number the pages in the body of thedocument with arabic numerals, starting with page 1. Numbersequentially through page n at the end of the text,including all back matter. Some long reports andtheses, however, employ a two-part numbering system that containsa numerical chapter prefix followed by a hyphen and then the page number of the chapter. The first page of Chapter 6, for example, would be numbered 6-1.

Tables and Figures

Number tables and figures sequentially as Table 1,Table 2, Table 3, and so on. In long documents,however, table and figure numbers are often prefixed with achapter number: Table 5-1 or Table 5.1, for example,refers to the first table of Chapter 5.

Equations

Number all equations discussed in the text sequentially, asEq. 1, Eq. 2, Eq. 3, and so on. You do nothave to number every equation that appears in the documentbecause many equations are part of a series of intermediate stepsthat are not specifically discussed.

Footnotes, Endnotes, and Reference Numbers

See the discussion in Citing Sources and ListingReferences.

## Enumeration and Lists ##


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