C81MPR

How to produce a histogram in APA style for your practical with Excel

Jasper Robinson – April 2007

Use “=average(DATA)” to get the mean for yourtwo sets of data…

…use “=sqrt(var(DATA)/N)” to getthe SEM (standard error of the mean)

Notice N is 5 here; you’ll need to countyour own data

Click the Chart button to open the Chart Wizard

Choose “Column”

Open Series tab

Click Add

Specify one condition’s name…

…then specify the Mean

Repeat those steps to name theother condition

Step through the Wizard’s tabs and do what follows on the next slides…

Chart title?Abscissa?Ordinate?

Untick the “Category (X) axis (gets rid of “1”)

Untick all here

Show Legend

We now have a histogram but the font is too small…make it 14 Point, BOLD Arial…

…much clearer

Now for SEMs: RIGHT CLICK the Control bar of the histogram& choose Format Data Series…

Specify “Custom” Error amount…

Specify “Custom” Error amount…

Make sure the Patterns are clear…I’ve chosen black & white (avoid relying on colours alone)

Look in Fill Effects for cross hatchings

Copy & paste your histogram into your article…make it BIG (between ½ page and a whole page)

Give your histogram a sensible “Figure Legend”…e.g…

Figure 1. Mean percentage recalled from test in Experiment 1. Error bars indicate one standard error of the mean. See Procedure for full details.

…voila!

Figure 1. Mean percentage recalled from test in Experiment 1. Error bars indicate one standard error of the mean. See Procedure for full details.

Effects of Scopolamine on Recall

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Tip: keep your APA-formated Exl file for future histograms