4-12-2021 Lesson Plan

Why make tables and charts? (10 min)

Especially in texts that are longer than a tweet or a flyer, there are often tables and charts in there. Why? What do they add? What sorts of things do they communicate that alphanumeric speech or writing doesn’t do as well? What limitations do they have? Why?

Let’s talk this out for a little bit.

 

Introduction to Data Visualization (5-10 min)

Last class (4/5), we talked about the first two units:

  1. Unit 1: Rhetorical aspects of data creation, collection, categorizing, etc. and its consequences.
  2. Unit 2: Communicating about analyses of data

In the second unit, we talked about, so far:

  • Communicating Context
  • Persuasion
  • Accessibility

We have mostly focused on alphanumeric writing without an explicit focus on images (e.g., using examples, amplification in writing, quantitative comparisons in writing).

Now, we are going to spend some time explicitly on data visualization in today’s class, Learning Module 8, and a few other classes here and there (e.g., 4/26 we will do a workshop on Tableau’s visualization software).

We will explore:

  • How visualizations tell a story about your data (visualizations can be more efficient in telling non-linear stories!)
  • How visualizations can communicate non-intuitive information
  • And ethical issues with visualizing data–How do you compose visuals ethically? Ways to misrepresent your argument or data? (e.g., scales on axes, choices of comparisons, units of measurement)…you’ll find similar issues as we have dealt with in prose, but there are also new problems here, as well.

 

Tables (20-30 min)

On Blackboard>Course Documents>Additional Readings, there is an article from Research in the Teaching of English. Skim the sections to get a sense of what the article is about.

Be prepared to answer the following: What is the function of each table? What does one table do that the other tables do not do? How do they contribute to your reading experience?

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

 

 

Questions to ask yourself if you make a table and integrate writing with the table:

  • What is your table? Is it a database (i.e., something to “look up” information rather than makes or contributes to an argument–which is fine for a text where this makes sense as a function, like some government reports or factbooks)? Or does it bring together information surrounding one topic or sub-topic relevant to the flow of your paper?
  • What is the order or organization? How does it mirror your writing?–alphabetical, high/low, theoretical/argumentative, order of questionnaire, etc.
  • Are you referring to the table? How so? And when?
  • What is your title? Does it name each of the major components of the relationships in your table (e.g., the variables, how you are comparing the variables, the key statistics)?
  • Are there layers to the information you are reporting where you’ll need to use things like spanners, stubs, indentations? For instance, see: Graphing -Designing Tables (ncsu.edu)
  • Do you need to note things at end of table to reduce confusion and increase likelihood that table can stand on own (e.g., notes about symbols for various statistics like statistically significant at a certain alpha level, expanding on definitions of column titles)?
  • What design and accessibility concerns do you need to address? (e.g., would colors or shading help draw attention in helpful ways?)

A table, like prose and like other figures, is emphasizing something. Some pattern or something notable in relation to the overall story you are telling. What is included and why?

Making a Table

To make a table in Google Docs:

Add and edit tables – Computer – Docs Editors Help (google.com)

To make a table in Microsoft Word:

Insert a table – Word (microsoft.com)

 

 

Charts/Graphs/Figures (20-30 min)

Charts = Graphs

Charts = Things with an “x” and “y” axis (and pie charts, and things like pie charts like maps with numeric information on top of it)

Figures  = Charts sometimes called Figures. Also includes Images or Illustrations of some kind (e.g., a model of a process, flow chart, photograph)

 

The Common Charts

These below links are useful for explaining more about the type of chart and how to make them in Excel. I also have ways to make them through a Google Colab notebook in Python, but we won’t have time to try that out today. It is addressed briefly in Learning Module 8. If people are interested, I can try to fit it in later in April or in early May.

Here, too, is a good tutorial on making charts in general in Excel: Create Charts in Excel – Easy Excel Tutorial (excel-easy.com)

 

Okay, let’s get started on what will be a review for most, but an important review so we think about the purpose of including these kinds of charts in our writing:

Pie Chart – to show proportions of categorical variables

Bar Chart – to show amounts of categorical variables

    • Simple
    • Grouped
    • Stacked
    • Segmented

Histogram – to show distributions of a numeric variable (See Learning Module 5 on this, especially this page: Creating a Histogram – ENG 4950: Data and Writing Toward Social Change, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu))

Box-and-Whisker Plot – to show distributions of a numeric variable by using quartiles

Scatter Plots – to show relationships between two numeric variables

Line Chart – to show relationships between numerical data, usually over time

 

Chart Scenarios

You want to look at a distribution of one variable, what might you do for…

  • Proportions of a budget for your job or for the government
  • Distribution of SAT test scores

You want to look at a relationship between variables, what might you do for…

  • Rainy days per year, 2009-2018
  • Rainy days per year for each season (winter, spring, summer, fall)
  • Unemployment by month
  • Association between income of parents and income of children

 

Next Time

-Learning Module 8 (continues with charts, also talks visual rhetoric, non-traditional data visualizations)

-Campaign for Circulation Proposal due