L AB 2 L AB M2 ICROSOFT E XCEL O FFICE W ORD, E XCEL & POWERP OINT XCEL & P For this lab, you will practice importing datasets into an Excel worksheet using different types of formatting. First, you will import data that is nicely organized at the source. You will also practice formatting your data, plotting it, and performing some simple calculations on it, which in turn will allow you to add new information to your table. Setup Mount the //geobase/geo4315 server and add a new Lab2 folder in your user folder. Familiarize yourself with where your computer keeps Microsoft Office products and NotePad (Programs Accessories Notepad). Part I. Microsoft Word Locate the Instructor folder on //geobase/geo4315 and navigate to the folder labeled Lab2. Inside, there is a Microsoft Word document named Word_Practice.docx. Copy this file to your own Lab2 folder, open it up, and follow the directions in the document. Part II. Microsoft Excel 1. Collecting data: Global Earthquakes In a web browser, navigate to the USGS earthquake website: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes - Along the right column menu, click on Search Earthquake Archives. - Then click on Rectangular Area Search. - Under Select Output File Type, select Screen File Format (80 columns) 1
- Under Data Base, select the USGS/NEIC (PDE) 1 973-Present Day Data Base. - Enter the following coordinates under Latitude of Rectangular Area and Longitude of Rectangular Area boxes: 30 (bottom latitude), 37 (top latitude), -100 (right longitude) -110 (left longitude); - Under Optional Search Parameters, enter the date range of 01 /01 /1 973 to 01 /01 /201 2 and enter 4-9 as your minimum and maximum magnitudes. Leave the rest of the boxes blank. - Click the Submit Search button. Your search results data should appear on the next screen. Take a moment to consider what you just did. Describe this below in a few sentences. What geographic region did you search? Draw a sketch below, labeling lat/long regions and a crude outline of the area. How many earthquakes did your search return? 2. Getting your data into a file Select and copy all of the column data (try to avoid copying the text at the top and the bottom of the list). Then paste the data into a simple text editor following the directions below. Launch the Notepad application. When a blank file appears, paste the data into the file and save the file to your Lab2 folder (give the saved file an appropriate name). Notepad will save as a *.txt file. 2
You have now saved your data as a text file. Leave the webpage open so that you can later compare your Excel dataset with the one you just copied. 3. Importing formatted data Next open Microsoft Excel. To open the new file you just created, click on Microsoft icon in the top left corner, then select Open. In your Open window, change the file type option to Files of type select All Files (*.*) select your text file Open You will next be greeted by the Text Import Wizard screen. Follow the instructions on the wizard s screen to import your data in the Excel format. Inspect all of the options presented to you in each Step of the Wizard, making sure you understand how each operates. You may see some garbage text in the Preview panel of the screen this is okay for now, and you ll get rid of it later, however scroll down to check that the rest of you data is in column format. 3
Step 1 : Go with the default Fixed width button Step 2: When you encounter the select field breaks (column width) window create breaks at every obvious column, however group the date (year/month/day) columns into one break, as indicated below. Step 3: For all entries, check that the General button is selected. Except. 4
- Date: Click on the date column then select the button labeled Date: and select the appropriate format for the date (YMD) from the drop down menu (see figure below). - You can also skip importing the first (PDE) column and last few columns on the right that appear useless (symbols, etc.). To do this, click on the column and select the Do not import column (skip) button Import Data: Click okay in this panel. After completion of the Wizard steps, you should have a series of columns with nicely organized data. If you have any garbage text remaining in your worksheet, simply remove it by highlighting the text and selecting Delete under the Cells tab. If you have any errors with the date conversion, select the entire column, rightclick, select Format Cells, select Date, and scroll down to the entry that looks like 3/14/2001. 4. Polishing and saving the file The final step is to add titles to each column. For example, the first column of data should be Date. What are the rest of the column headings? Refer to your USGS data search results (web browser) to find the answer. Also label units where appropriate. 5
Now save your work: Microsoft icon Save as On the Save As screen, look for the Save as type option and select Excel Workbook. The default suffix should be (*.xlsx). Give your file a name and click Save. 5. Clean up Clean up your data table by first rearranging your columns (copy/paste) so that they appear in the following order: Latitude Longitude Date (day/month/year) Magnitude Depth Delete any other remaining columns. Make sure that the format of each cell is correct. If the data needs formatting, select the necessary cells and use Cells Format (specify fixes here). \ If the cells are not properly formatted, you may loose decimal places, or your values may not display as expected. Also add borders (of your choice) to your table. Align all text, except title labels, to the right side in each column. Also add your name and the date to the worksheet. DON T FORGET TO SAVE! 6. Plotting the data Using the earthquake data that you collected, you will now practice a few simple Excel plotting techniques. As a trial run, first generate an x-y scatter plot of earthquake magnitudes vs. depths for data set. - Using your mouse, highlight the data you want to plot (magnitude and depth columns). - Select Insert from the menu bar, then select Scatter from the Chart menu. - Click on XY (Scatter), then click on the graph type labeled Scatter with only Markers (the one without the lines). Now, try formatting with the chart/graph. In most cases, you can change some aspect of the graph by double-clicking on that part. Try to do the following: 6
- Get rid of the little legend box on the right. - Stretch the graph to fill the whole window. - Change the color of your data. - Change the color of the background. Chart Layouts: Give your plot a title and also fill in names for the (x) horizontal axis and the (y) vertical axis. Move your entire chart to a new sheet by clicking on the tab at the bottom left corner of the workspace panel. (copy/paste) 7. Using Formulas One of the most powerful tools of Excel is formula editing. To practice using Excel s formula function, you will make two new columns in your table, where you will calculate normalized magnitudes and normalized depths. For this exercise, you will need to calculate the mean magnitudes and the mean depths of all of your earthquakes, and divide your respective magnitudes and depths by these means values. - Click on the cell below the last entry of your magnitude column (this is where you will have your mean depth entered). To calculate the mean (or average) magnitudes, select: 8. Done. Formulas Insert function Average (located under More Functions Statistical ) For the Number1 arguments, highlight the entire length of the magnitudes column. - Click Okay. Repeat for the depth data. - Now you will make a new column to the right of you data table. Click on the first row of your new column, enter = and click on the first row in your magnitude column. Back in the cell you just typed in, type /, click on the AVERAGE value that you previously calculated, and finally enter a $ between the letter and number designation for the AVERAGE cell. - To fill the rest of the column, align your hand cursor with the bottom right corner of the cell you just filled, and wait until the hand turns into a cross. Click and drag your cross cursor down to the extent of your data table, then release. The rest of your new column should automatically fill. Hit enter/return. - Add a title to this new column: Normalized magnitude - Repeat this step to calculate normalized depths. 7
- Save your completed workbook (containing 2 worksheets) as a PDF file. Try the same approach for saving a pdf as you did when you made your CV or resume for Lab 1. - Prepare to drop a copy of this completed file to the DROPBOX on //geobse/geo4315. Add a new folder to you Lab2 folder, name it Your_Last_Name_To_Turn_In and copy/paste this competed file to this folder. Also copy/past the MS Word file you previously completed to this folder. 8
Part III. Microsoft PowerPoint Prepare a mock PowerPoint presentation. Your presentation should contain ~ 5 slides. You should have 1 slide for each of the recommended headings provided in the PowerPoint Tips handout (i.e., Title Slide, Outline Slide, Introduction Slide, etc.). You may either use a PowerPoint template background (Format Slide Design), or you may choose your own color scheme from scratch (Format Color Scheme). Please use the same background and color scheme for each slide. For your Title Slide, make up a title, insert your name, the presentation occasion (i.e., 2012 GSA meeting or GEOL 4315 Demo, etc.). Also insert the Miners logo picture. You can find this picture at http://www.geo.utep.edu/pub/bkonter/geol_4315/temp. Scale down the size of this picture quite a bit and place it in one of the bottom corners of your Title Slide. Give each of your slides a heading and sample text with bullets. For this mock presentation, your headings do not have to match the recommended ones (creative freedom is allowed here) nor do they need to coincide with the text & figures you include, but try to express the idea that you re following the recommended structure of a science talk. You are not required to enter substantial text in each slide, however I do want you to practice formatting text font and bullets. Supply 2-3 bullets per slide. If you wish, simply type More text goes here for each bullet. Format your bullets using a symbol other than the default filled circle. Format your text using a font other than Times Normal. One slide should contain your Excel graph of earthquake depths vs. magnitudes. In Excel, highlight the graph, copy it, and paste it into PowerPoint. Find one alternative method for inserting your graph into PowerPoint, and briefly explain this approach in one of your bullets on this slide (hint: Insert Object). One slide should contain your Excel table of earthquake data. While it is usually not a good idea to showcase tables in a presentation, we will consider this copy/paste practice. Edit all of your slides so that they have a unique transition (SlideShow Slide Transition). Note that you should usually stick with one transition throughout an entire presentation, however for practice purposes you can select multiple transitions here. 9
Test your presentation by trying out the Presenter Tools: SlideShow View Presenter Tools. On one slide, animate your text and image (SlideShow Custom Animation). A word of caution here though its good to know how to animate PowerPoint items to emphasize ideas and control what your audience sees and when they get to see it, but be careful not to go OVERBOARD on the animations ( = tacky presentation). Save your presentation as a.pptx file, and also as a pdf. Prepare to drop a copy of these completed files to to your To Turn In folder for the DROPBOX on //geobse/geo4315. For full credit, please do the following: 1. Turn in this hard copy lab document (with your name on it) next week at the beginning of class. Make sure that you have provided answers in where requested. 2. Include copies of your MS Word, Excel, and PPT files in a Lab2_To_Turn_In folder (with your name on it.) Drag this folder into the DROPBOX on //geobase 10