1. Start a new project

Begin by choosing a graph type

The first thing you need to do to begin a new graph is to choose a basic type of graph you'd like to make, and to tell Prism how you want error bars on your graph to be calculated. From your choices, Prism will create a custom data table specifically formatted for your data.

Graph and data table types

Prism offers five basic types of graph (and data table) -- XY graphs, Column graphs, Grouped graphs, Contingency tables, and Survival plots. Each type of graph has its own tab on the Welcome dialog. In the main window, you'll see small pictures of the various types of graphs for each category. In the screenshot below, for example, you'll see the choices possible for an XY graph -- you might want to plot only points, points with a connecting line, or vertical bars instead of points. Pick the tab for the basic type of graph and then click on the picture that most closely resembles how you want your finished graph to look. Below the graph pictures, choose whether you have already calculated your error values, or whether you want Prism to calculate error bars from your data.

Starting off, it is more important to pick the correct category of data table than it is to choose a specific thumbnail. Because all the graphs in each category use data tables formatted in the same way, it's easy to change which thumbnail you'd like your graph to look like. It's less easy to change from one basic type of data table and graph to another -- say from an XY graph to a grouped column chart.

Try it yourself

**We'll use sample data to help you explore Prism in this tour. When you start your own data tables, you'll want to choose a graph thumbnail and how you want subcolumns for your error bars to be formatted.

Next Step

In the next step, we'll learn how to enter data in a Prism data table.