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This article from Uni Plant Physiology Spring 2005 explains why and how to create graphs, whether scatter plots or bar graphs, to summarize and compare data, show changes over time, and tell a story using visual representation. The article also provides helpful tips and answers FAQs.
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Good Graph! UNI Plant Physiology Spring 2005
Why make graphs? • To summarize your data • To contrast treatments • To show what happens over time (conc., distance, etc.) • To tell a story rather than give numbers • Because you have to
Two main kinds • Scatter plot (dots) • Bar graph
Scatter or bar graph? • Continuous variable (x) • Examples: temperature, size, weight • Scatter • Connect the lines • Discontinuous variable (x) • Examples: pet type, number of feet, car model • Bar graph
FAQs • Does it matter if I do a good job? • You make your story clear • You get extra points • You understand other’s graphs • You get your manuscript accepted • How can I remember all of this? • You can’t (yet) • It’s all in the lab manual • With a checklist
The easy way • Use a computer program • Tell it exactly what you want • Graph type • Title • Axis labels (with units), ranges • Data and line types • Lots more possibilities