ABSTRACT
Bar charts, histograms, pie charts, flow charts and line drawings are appropriate for many types of data and can help to make poster more interesting. Use bar charts where the independent variable is a category rather than a measurement. Logarithmic axes on bar charts do not make sense, as the point of a bar chart is to compare the height of the bars. Strictly speaking, the term histogram is applied to bar charts that have two measurable axes. If biomedical researchers are making statistical comparisons between bars, can include p values on the bar chart, using lines to indicate which bars are compared. Although Excel and PowerPoint have many patterns available, colour is usually a better way of distinguishing between bars. For some data categories, they may have rather long axis labels. In this case, horizontal bars may work better—with the X axis vertical and the Y axis horizontal.
