ICT Skills for Teachers

Create a graph (chart) (Intermediate level)

As an educator there will be times when you have information (or data) in a table that you would prefer to see in a graph (chart), such as student attendance figures, an experiment or field trip data. This can easily be achieved by using Microsoft Excel.

By the end of this task you could achieve the following outcomes:

- Create a graph (chart)
- Change the chart type
- Change the chart colors
- Print preview
- Print the chart

Create your own chart - one which you will find useful. Alternatively, follow this example. To do so you would typically work through the following steps:

1.	Start Microsoft Excel. See how »
2.	Open existing file: Find the file of data you have saved and open it. If you do not already have data in a table then create one now. See how »
3.	Select data: Before creating the chart you will select only the data in the table that you require to be in the chart.
4.	Create a chart: The chart wizard window will open and you will be guided through the process. See how »
5.	Select a chart type: Choose the most appropriate type of chart that suits your data. You will notice that there are options for different types of charts such as pie charts, bar and line graphs. See how »
6.	Change appearance of chart: You can now change some of the details (Title, legend etc.) that appear on your chart. See how »
7.	Save the workbook: Save the workbook before printing. See how »
8.	Print preview: Preview is quite essential in a spreadsheet because you will probably not be sure where your page boundaries are before printing.
9.	Print the chart.

Related scenarios

» Import a graph into a word processor
» Sort data in a spreadsheet
» Pivot tables for more complex analysis