School Improvement in Maryland

GUIDELINES FOR CREATING DATA DISPLAYS
Components of an Exemplary Bar Graph

Reference: Maryland Mathematics Content Standards (May 19, 2000), Indicator 4.3.2

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Components of the y-axis:

(1) Descriptive label that includes the variable or quantity that changes
(2) Units appropriately represent data (may be part of the y-axis descriptive label)
(3) Scale is appropriate for the data
(4) Scale or number interval on the grid is consistent (may include a break )
(5) Spacing of scale is consistent along grid lines

Components of the x-axis:

(6) Descriptive label that includes the variable or quantity that changes
(7) Units appropriately represent data (may be part of the x-axis descriptive label)

Other graph components:

(8) Main title for the graph that describes the given data set
(9) Origin is indicated by either a zero or an empty space for the zero

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