ENR/FR/RRM 1001 Orientation and Information Systems
Lab 6 - Week of October 17

Excel Overview

Microsoft Excel is the spreadsheet software available on computers in our labs.

Spreadsheets are arguably THE software application that made desktop computers popular. Spreadsheets directly extend the ideas behind doing calculations on paper. Spreadsheets shine for manipulation and analysis of data. Simple summaries such as summations to more complex statistical and database manipulations are possible through an intuitive interface. Reporting of results through tables and charts is straightforward. Best of all, calculations can be set up (should be set up!) to be reusable so that "What if?" evaluations are expedited.

Building a level of comfort in basic usage of spreadsheets will be indispensable for a number of classes you take in CNR (as well as life after you graduate). As is usually the case with software, to build a comfort level requires that you put in your time sitting down and using the software. We suggest everyone go through the on-line tutorial available here while duplicating steps in a copy of Excel running in another window. At a minimum you should understand:

Once you develop a proficiency with these basics, start working on the assignment below. If you run into questions on specific Excel capabilities, consult the Excel help menu or the Microsoft Excel Guides and "Topics list" found here.


Assignment (due one week from the date you have this lab - submit on a disk in the box labeled "Orientation Assignments" in 115 Green Hall - be sure the name of the Excel file, your name and your section are on the disk label)

For this assignment you will:
  1. Find some interesting numeric data on the Internet World Wide Web
  2. Place the data in an Excel workbook (data table)
  3. Format the data table using bold style, underlining, etc.
  4. Add computed summaries to the data table (totals or averages)
  5. Chart the data
The subject data for this assignment are of your own choosing, with the stipulation that they were found on the Web. Potential sources are U.S. Census, Statistical Abstracts, historical weather data, stock market, sports statistics, forest inventory and analysis data, data from an electronic journal, to list a few. Use a search engine to find these and other sources. The data should have, at a minimum, a temporal dimension (values for more than one time). You must provide the URL where the data were obtained. Given the amount of data available on the Web we do not expect to see duplicate uses of the same data (i.e. you should work independently to find your data).

In most instances you will probably need to type the data into a worksheet. However, you may find sources where the data can be downloaded for import into Excel. The data should be placed into rows and columns (a table). You must have at least ten data values in the table. The worksheet containing the data should be named "Data".

The data table should have a title. Place a superscript on the title and footnote the URL where the data were obtained. Use at least three of Excel's formatting options on column/row headings, title, and/or data values.

Summarize rows and/or columns of the data table with totals or averages or other statistical summaries. The summaries must be computed cells (results of formulas), not just values typed-in.

Use Excel's charting capability to construct a chart or multiple charts of your data. Choose an appropriate chart type. Be sure your chart(s) has a title and legend. The chart(s) should be on a second worksheet in your workbook named "Chart".

An example using farm earnings from counties in the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota in 1974 and 1994 is provided below. The URL of the data source has been purposefully omitted.

KEEP A COPY OF THE FILE YOU SUBMIT FOR YOUR RECORDS.






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