In this paper, we report a study of graphene and graphene field effect devices after their exposure to a series of short pulses of oxygen plasma. Our data from Raman spectroscopy, back-gated field-effect and magnetotransport measurements are presented. The intensity ratio between Raman 'D' and 'G' peaks, lD/lG (commonly used to characterize disorder in graphene), is observed to initially increase almost linearly with the number(Neof plasma-etching pulses, but later decreases at higher Ne values. We also discuss the implications of our data for extracting graphene crystalline domain sizes from lD/lG. At the highest Ne value measured, the '2D' peak is found to be nearly suppressed while the 'D' peak is still prominent. Electronic transport measurements in plasma-etched graphene show an up-shifting of the Dirac point, indicating hole doping. We also characterize mobility, quantum Hall states, weak localization and various scattering lengths in a moderately etched sample. Our findings are valuable for understanding the effects of plasma etching on graphene and the physics of disordered graphene through artificially generated defects. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.