There are quite some sober and more vivid overviews of different charts, easily found via a search phrase of your choosing.

But there is one outstanding introduction to the power of charts and graphs – and the advantages of a certain type:

Turning 30: Described in Charts and Graphs provides a data-driven “completely scientific analysis of what it means to turn the dirty 30”. And, most relevant for our datajournalism class, gives great examples for different charts:

Bar Chart:

Stacked Bar Chart:

Spider Chart:

Area Chart:

See Turning 30: Described in Charts and Graphs for more.