Say It with Charts, the bible of management consultants, makes this process very clear. First, says author Gene Zelazny, decide what you want to say with a graph. Once you’ve decided what you want to say, that suggests a particular kind of comparison. That, in turn, suggests a particular choice of graph—such as a scatterplot, a line graph, a stacked bar chart, or a pie chart.[*] Finally, underline your message by sticking it in the graph title. Don’t just write “Number of contracts, January–August.” Write something like “The number of contracts has increased” or “The number of contracts has
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