To draw a bar graph, gather some graph paper and some colored pencils.
Imagine that you are conducting a survey in your class on what flavor of ice cream you and your classmates prefer. You list three choices (such as vanilla, chocolate or strawberry) and you ask each student to state his or her preference. Once you are done, you have some data but it is not in a very useful form. There is a way to display the results more clearly. Create a bar graph. Once complete, you will notice that it is much easier to see which choice is preferred over other choices. Bar graphs are excellent tools to show comparisions between two variables.
Instructions
1. Gather your data. You could choose to use the example from the overview (surveying ice cream preference) or you could pick two other things to compare (such as how many people prefer Coke to Pepsi or how many people in your class are one age or another).
2. Draw a verticle line on your piece of graph paper. Next, draw a horizontal line starting at the end of your verticle line.
3. Create small hash marks onto the top of each square of graph paper on your verticle line. Number each mark starting with "1" at the first hash mark and ending with the highest number of results. Title this line "Number of Students."
4. Create hash marks on the horizontal line listing the variable you measured. For example, if you chose to survey ice cream preferences, one hash mark would be for "vanilla," another for "chocolate" and a third for "strawberry."
5. Start with the fist variable on the horizontal line. Check how many students chose that option (use the data you gathered in step 1). Draw a line from the bottom of the horizontal line up to the number on the vertical line that corresponds with your data. For example, if eight students liked vanilla ice cream, you would draw a line from "vanilla" on your horizontal line up to the number "8" on your verticle line. Shade in the squares on your graph paper with a colored pencil to complete the bar.
6. Repeat step 5 for each variable on your horizontal line.
Tags: horizontal line, graph paper, verticle line, your verticle line, your verticle