BISC 111/113:Statistics and Graphing

Making a Pie Chart in Excel 2008

1. Open a new workbook page in Excel 2008.
2. Enter your Category and Number data in Column A and Column B, respectively.
3. Highlight both category and number data, but not the column labels. To generate a graph, chose "Charts" and then "Pie" from the Menu bar directly above the workbook. Then select the pie chart format you prefer. The farthest left option is both simple and clear, and generates both the chart and its legend, as in the image below.
   

Making a Column Graph in Excel 2007 for Vista

1) Once you have a spreadsheet of raw data, make a new summary table in the Excel sheet (as shown below) for ease of graphing. Create one row with heading titles, a second row for the means, and a third row for the SD calculations.

2) Calculate the mean of each group (Data Set A and B) using the  AutoSum function located under the “Home” tab on the right-hand side.

a. In the summary table, click on the empty cell in which you want the first calculated mean to be displayed. Then select “average” from the AutoSum drop down menu.

b. Next, highlight a single column of raw data to be averaged and hit return. The mean should now be displayed in your summary table. 3) To begin graphing, click on the “Insert” tab at the top of the toolbar. Then highlight the first two rows of your summary table including column titles and the row with means. Next, click on the image of the “Column” graph under the ‘Charts’ box below the main toolbar. Then choose the 2D column graph image.

4) Your graph should automatically appear, but you will need to edit the finalized graph in the following ways:

a. Add error bars representing SD (Standard Deviation) b. Label both axes (include proper units) c. Remove the title from the top d. Remove the grayscale background e. If needed, choose patterns for each column so it is easy to read the legend (i.e., different colors all look grey on a printout)

5) To make these changes, highlight your graph by clicking on it. This should display the Chart Tools Layout tab under which you will see the following options:

a. Go to the Analysis section of tools on the right and select ‘Error Bars’. Scroll down to ‘More Error Bar Options’, then select ‘Both’ under Display Direction, End Style as ‘Cap’, and ‘Custom’ for Error Amount.

b. Click on the ‘Specify Amount’ button, and a window pops up with an entry for both positive and negative error values (see below). In each entry window, go and highlight the row of SD values, and click ‘OK’. Your SD values should now correspond with their respective means as error bars.