Integrating Phase Change Lines and Labels into Graphs in Microsoft Excel®
Use Fuller’s Excel steps to make self-updating phase-change lines and labels in minutes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Fuller et al. (2019) wrote a how-to paper.
They show every click to add phase-change lines and labels inside Excel graphs.
The steps keep the lines locked to the data, so the chart updates itself.
What they found
The paper is a tool guide, not an experiment.
No new data were collected.
Readers get a reusable Excel template that looks publication-ready.
How this fits with other research
Dubuque (2015) started the idea of data-linked phase lines.
Fuller keeps the same lock-to-data trick but adds tidy labels.
Deochand (2017) gave a free macro template; Fuller drops the macro so you need no add-ins.
Lehardy et al. (2021) later showed that a short video plus checklist teaches these Excel steps to grad students with 94% accuracy.
Together the papers move from "can Excel do it?" to "anyone can learn it fast."
No clash exists—each paper polishes the last version.
Why it matters
You no longer have to draw phase lines by hand or retype labels.
Follow the ten-minute guide and your next single-case graph updates itself when you paste new data.
Share the file with parents or teachers and the visuals stay correct and clear.
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Join Free →Open your current Excel graph, add a new column for phase labels, and lock the phase line to that column using Fuller’s offset trick.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Creating phase change lines and their corresponding labels in Microsoft Excel® remains a difficulty for many behavior analysts who want these display features to be integrated into the graph itself. Previous methods designed to address this issue have had limited utility across the types of data sets commonly analyzed by behavior analysts. The purpose of this article is to provide a fully functional method for integrating phase change lines and labels into Microsoft Excel® line graphs. This method is a combination of previous recommendations and allows for easy integration of new data and exportation of graphical displays to other software programs (e.g., Microsoft Word® and PowerPoint®).
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s40617-018-0248-6