Project: Table and Chart

100 points

(Minimum text length: 250 words)

To complete this project in creating a table and chart, you will have to do some research in either the library (using a standard reference work like The World Almanac and Book of Facts) or on the Internet (by visiting the U. S. government's Census Bureau site at http://www.census.gov/, for example).

Select Your Own Data

You will select a group of at least five states that can be compared on some logical basis. For example, they may be geographically contiguous, or they may be the five least densely-populated states, or the five states with the greatest Latino population. The key here is that the states you choose must share comparable features or statistics that you can record for evaluative purposes. You must also record the same statistical information for the United States as a whole, giving you a comparative base or control group for your evaluative commentary.

You have no limits on which available data you select, except that you may not use any of the statistical information provided in our sample in Chapter Five of the online manual. You must use your own rationale for selecting states, and you must make your own comparisons.

Avoid Random Selection

Make sure the states are not randomly selected. A state like Georgia can be treated as an Eastern Seaboard State (along with Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, among others) or as a Southern State (along with Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, among others), but it should not be thrown into a mixed bag (with, for example, Nevada, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, Utah, Indiana). If not contiguous, your selected states must have some obvious basis for comparison. For example, you could compare California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois as the five most populous states of the nation.

Create Your Table First and Then Your Chart

Creating a Table: After reviewing the relevant sections of Chapter 5 dealing with tables and charts, you will create a table that includes all of the raw data that you select in the form of at least three variables. The table should be of the formal variety and should be labeled with a table number, title, and tabular headings.

Creating a Chart: After completing your table, chart at least two groups of variables with respect to the chosen states and the United States as a whole. For example, for comparative purposes, your chart might depict geographic size and population density. You may elect any appropriate type of chart (bar, pie, or line, for example), as long as the chart accurately reflects the statistics in the table. As with the table, your chart should be clearly labeled and easy to understand.

Acknowledge Your Sources

Both the table and the chart should also acknowledge the source of the information used in creating them, even if the source is the same. Also, both should be independent of each other, which means that all the information and data needed for interpreting either the table or the chart should be included in each of them.

Include a Written Evaluation

As part of this project, you must provide a textual context for both the table and chart. Your text should justify your choice of states and statistical data; your task is to evaluate and interpret statistics, not just present them. For example, in the contiguous Gulf Coast States (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas), is there any relationship between per capita income and level of education achieved? Is there is any correlation between level of education and percent of population infected with sexually communicated diseases? Your task is to point out such correlations, not to make judgments about them.

Your text must enfold your table and chart, providing an illumination of the graphic elements. In other words, although your table and chart may be the body of your presentation, you must provide a textual introduction (explaining your basis for comparing your selected states) and a textual conclusion (noting what correlations you observed). Both must be restricted to what your table and chart reveal, making your presentation strictly objective and scientific.

Per usual, the project must be submitted with a title page and both ms. and c-r copies of the text.