I have a link giving some tips for exp 6 report, including some tips
on graphing, when using Excel (or similar program).  You can find this
link by going to the "Helpful Tidbits" link on the class web page.

I also have a few links about using Excel for calculations and graphs.

You can find these links in a couple of places by going to the class
web page.  You will find the link,

https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/zellmer.1/excel/excel.htm

right under the "Laboratory" link.

There you will see some other links, two of which you can also find
right under the above link and the two others are also found by clicking
on the "Helpful Tidbits" link.  I've put them in multiple locations so
they're hard to miss.

The following is somewhat specific about graphing using Excel for exp 6
but may also be helpful for other graphs you will do this semester.
They are based on using Excel 2003.  You may need to do these things in
a slightly different ways if you are using newer versions of Excel or
some other graphing program or spreadsheet.  I'm will also send a
follow-up e-mail about finding similar free and cheaper programs.

For Exp 6 put the Temp. axis (y-axis) on the long side of the paper
(11 inch side) and time (x-axis) on the short side (8.5 inch side).
To do this in Excel you may need to tell it (in "Page Setup" under
"File" in the "Menu" bar or "Page Layout" ) to use "Portrait" mode.
Excel usually uses "Landscape" mode for most graphs (as you will use
for your other graphs this semester).

To make things look more like it will when it prints, right click on
the graph area.  Choose "Location" and then choose "as new sheet".
It should wind up in a new sheet.  It's best to always put a graph in
a "New Sheet" rather than view it in the same sheet (window) with
the data.

Your graph title needs to be descriptive of what you are plotting.
You can see this in the Sample Graphs on my web page.
There the volume was graphed as a function of temp. (V vs. T)
so this was part of the title "Figure 1:  Volume vs. Temperature for
Part A".  You should do the same sort of thing on your graphs.

You need make sure the sig. fig. in your data are reflected in the
labels on the graphs.  You can't actually set the s.f. in Excel but can
set the number of decimal places to give the correct number of s.f.
The best way to do this is in the table of numbers before you make
the graph.  For exp 6 you should have 1 decimal place for your
temperatures.  Right click on your column of temperatures, then
choose the "Number" tab, then "Number" and then set the # of
decimal places to "1".  That should then be reflected on the
axis of your graph.  Your time axis probably will have 2 s.f. (1
decimal place) for most since you were probable accurate to at
least a tenth of a minute (6 secs).

For Exp 6 you need lots of grid lines on the graph (so it looks
pretty much like the graph paper in the back of the manual).
To do this you will need to do two things.

    1)  Right click in a blank portion of the graph (under the title will work).
        Then click on "grid lines" in the new window that opens.  Set this to
        both Major and Minor on both axes.  You should then see grid lines
        on the graph.

    2)  To get different numbers of grid lines you have to click on each axis.
        Click on an axis and click on "Scale".  You change the number of
        grid lines by setting the "minor unit".

        For the Temp axis set the "minor unit" to 0.1 (to get 10 grid lines
        between the major grid lines).

        For the time axis set the "minor unit" to 0.2 (to get 5 grid lines
        between the major grid lines).  This axis doesn't have to be quite
        as accurate as the temp. axis since you are only estimating when you
        adding things to the cup.

Your graphs don't have to start at the origin (the (0,0) point).  Actually
that will likely not happen often.  To set the minimum and maximum on
an axis right-click on an axis, choose "format axis".  There you can set
your scale on the axis (where the axis labels start and end), set major
and minor units for the grid lines, etc.

Make the margins zero inches all the way around.  Use "Page Setup" (or
"Margins" in Page Layout in the newer versions of Excel) for this.

For exp 6, you probably don't need any time data you took beyond
10 minutes.  If your temps aren't falling in a linear fashion by that time
something may have gone wrong.  Even if you have temp. and time
data beyond 9 or 10 minutes you can likely leave them off the graph.
This will allow the x-axis to "spread out".

Also, for exp 6 if you are using Excel (or other graphing program)
do everything in Excel including the lines for time-of-addition, and
to determine the initial and final temp.  Excel has a drawing function
which you can use to draw lines and then manipulate the lines to draw
your best-fit lines.  Go to "Insert" to find these.

When done with your graphs transfer them to Word.  Do NOT scan
them or take a picture to include in the report.  There are
various ways to get a graph or table from Excel into Word.  The
easiest way is to copy the graph/table in Excel and paste it
into Word.

Take a look at my exp 6 material under the "Laboratory" link.  There are
two links there to examples of a good graph using student data from a
previous semester.  These show the same graph both with and without the
best-fit lines for Ti and Tf and the time-of addition line.  The links are,

https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/zellmer.1/chem1250/lab/exp6_partA_graph.pdf

https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/zellmer.1/chem1250/lab/exp6_partA_finished.pdf

I hope this helps, even though it may not directly correspond to your
version of Excel or graphing program.

Dr. Zellmer