Creating a Timeline

1. Determine the span of your timeline. For example, if your timeline covers 10 years, you might use evenly spaced tick marks to represent every year. If your timeline covers 100 years, you might use evenly spaced tick marks to represent every 5 or 10 years.

2. Plot each event, person, or idea on your list at the appropriate place on the timeline. If something spans several years, use horizontal bars to connect its beginning and end on the timeline.

3. Tip: Plot each event that happens over a period of several years at the bottom of your timeline, and each event that happens in a single year at the top of your timeline. This will make your timeline easier to read.

4. Give your timeline a title.

Example of a Timeline: Major Events from the First Half of the 20th Century

- 1900: Event 1
- 1903-1930: Event 2
- 1910
- 1913: Event 3
- 1920
- 1928: Event 5
- 1930
- 1940
- 1945: Event 6
- 1950

Title: Major Events: 1900-1950