long term research

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MAKING LINE GRAPHS USING EXCEL 2007 For earlier versions of Excel: http://malibuhigh.smmusd.org/facultypages/facultyhome/perry/HOWMAKEBIOGRAPH.htm

notes:

STEPS FOR MAKING A GRAPH: Drag your mouse to highlight all the data to be graphed.

m to t o e t b er th a b to er t ar um ag rn t o -s n r page 3

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER ! You have to use these steps to enlarge your graph and make it appear as it will be printed on paper. If you don’t do this, your printed graph will look amateur (left example). If you do these things NOW, your printed graph will be professional (right example).

bad

good

Helpful Hint #1: Always use the “Print Preview” option so you don’t waste paper looking at your rough drafts.

Step One: As soon as you have your graph displayed on the screen, and BEFORE you start to label things, click on the DESIGN tab.

Step Two: Click on the MOVE CHART button. Step Three: When the “Move Chart” box pops up (see below) always click NEW SHEET. (You can also give your graph a title here if you want).

THAT’S IT! NOW YOU CAN ADD TITLES, LABEL AXES, ADD ARROWS AND EVERYTHING WILL FIT YOUR PRINTED PAGE. USE THE “PRINT PREVIEW” OPTION AND SEE HOW IT LOOKS. page 4

notes:

Click on “Layout” then “Chart Title” and “Above Chart.”

When the Chart Title box appears on your graph, click on it and change the text to enter the correct title for your graph as shown on your list of graphs. While you’re doing this, hit to make a 2nd line of text where you will type your name. Using the “Home” tab at the top, change the default font size of the title to 14pt, and your name to 12pt.

Now your graph has an official title and subtitle ! On the next page you’ll follow the steps needed to label your horizontal and vertical axes and get a graph like this one:

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notes:

Click the “Layout” Tab, “Axes Titles” then “Primary Horizontal Axis Title” and “Title Below Axis.” Enter the text “Date” for all graphs except Beach Profile.

Click the “Layout” Tab, “Axes Titles” then “Primary Vertical Axis Title” and “Rotated Title” Enter the text for the UNIT OF MEASUREMENT (m, OC, Number Observed, o/oo, etc) for all graphs except Beach Profile.

Now you will label each line on your graph using a text box following the directions on the next page so your graph will look like this:

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notes:

Add a text box to label each line. For species, be sure to cut and paste the name off the master list of species (to spell correctly). Change the font to ITALIC (for scientific names), and change the font color to match the line color.

The font menu us found under the “Home” tab.

Add your arrows by clicking the “Layout” tab at the top right. Then click the “Shapes” button.

Don’t forget to drop a text box with the graph number here! page 7

notes:

SPECIAL INFO ABOUT SCALING THE Y-AXIS On your list of required graphs, you will find a few that need to have the y-axis scaled to fit the data. In the graph below you can see that the y-axis is too big, and the lines are way up at the top.

Click on the vertical axis (y-axis) then right-click to bring up the menu. Select the “Format Axis” option.

This brings up the “Format Axis” box as shown on next page--->

page 8

notes:

Mark both the “Maximum” and “Minimum” options “Fixed,” and type in the numbers that best fit the display of your graph’s lines.



Scale the y-axis ONLY as instructed on your list of graphs. DO NOT scale every graph you make ! page 9

notes:

SPECIAL INFO ABOUT PRINTING YOUR GRAPHS

Remove the outline frame around your graph by clicking the “Format” tab, then click on “Shape Outline.” On the pull down menu, select “No Outline”

Now you must tell Excel 2007 what you want to print by clicking on the “Selection Pane” button, then click on your graph. Under “Shapes on this Sheet” (column to the right) it should list your chart.

As a reminder, your graphs must be printed on the paper horizontally and full page in size and in color if there is more than one line displayed.

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PUNCH YOUR HOLES ABOVE THE TITLE !

12-week Report Folder: 1. Introduction (with lat and lon) 2. Materials & Methods (update digital compass) 3. Graphs (in numerical order) 4. Data Sheets (in chrono order)

FOR THE FUTURE:

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SPECIAL DUAL Y-AXIS INSTRUCTIONS FOR HONORS STUDENTS: