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Common Core LiteracyGrades 9–10Science & Technical

RST.9-10.7: Turning Words into Visuals and Back

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7 · Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

All 29 Grades 9–10 Literacy Standards

The Official Wording

Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 9-10, Reading: Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RST.9-10.7 Means in Plain English

Ninth and tenth graders carry information both ways: numbers written in sentences go into a table or chart, and a graph or an equation comes back as plain words. A lab notebook’s cooling readings become a table, and its graph’s flat stretch becomes a sentence about freezing.

In grades 6 to 8 (RST.6-8.7), students integrated words with a diagram, graph or table. Ninth and tenth grade make the translation itself the task, in both directions. In grades 11 and 12 (RST.11-12.7), students weigh sources in several formats and media to answer a question.

RST.9-10.7 I Can Statements

  • I can turn data written in sentences into a labeled table.
  • I can describe each part of a graph in words.
  • I can check that my table keeps every reading and unit.

RST.9-10.7 Worked Example

The lab notes give cooling readings in sentences and describe a class graph, and the weak answer keeps the trend but loses the flat stretch.

Read the Story
Cooling curve, Chemistry Lab 3. We melted 10 grams of stearic acid in a test tube in an 80 °C water bath, then moved the tube into room-temperature air with a thermometer in the liquid and read it every minute.It read 80 °C at the start, 75 °C after one minute and 71 °C after two. At three minutes it read 69 °C and the first white crystals appeared, and the reading stayed at 69 °C at four, five, six and seven minutes.By eight minutes the sample was solid throughout and the reading had dropped to 66 °C, then 62 °C at nine minutes and 59 °C at ten.Figure 2, the class graph, plots temperature on the vertical axis against time on the horizontal. Each group’s line falls steeply, runs flat for four to five minutes, then falls again, and a dashed line marks 69.3 °C, the melting point listed in the reference table.Note: while stearic acid freezes, it gives off heat as fast as it loses heat to the air, so its temperature holds steady.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Turn the readings in the second and third paragraphs into a table. Then put Figure 2 into words: what does each part of the line show?
Not Yet“Table: start 80, then it goes down to 69, then 59 at the end. The graph shows the temperature going down because the stearic acid cooled off.”Its “table” keeps three numbers and drops the five readings at 69 °C that matter most, and its account of the graph gives only the overall direction, missing the flat stretch that shows the stearic acid freezing.
Meets the Standard“Table, time in minutes and temperature in °C: 0, 80; 1, 75; 2, 71; 3, 69; 4, 69; 5, 69; 6, 69; 7, 69; 8, 66; 9, 62; 10, 59. Figure 2 in words: the liquid cools quickly at first, falling 11 degrees in three minutes. Then the temperature holds at 69 °C from minute 3 to minute 7, the same stretch in which the notes say crystals appeared and the sample turned solid, because freezing stearic acid ‘gives off heat as fast as it loses heat to the air.’ Once it is fully solid, the temperature falls again. The flat stretch sits on the dashed line, so it marks the melting point.”Its table keeps every reading with the units in its headings, and its description names each part of the line, ties the flat stretch to what the notes saw in the tube, and says what that stretch measures.
Question Stems to Use
What are the two quantities? Which goes in which column?Which readings repeat? Did your table keep all of them?What units belong in each column heading?What is happening in the tube during the flat part of the line?Could someone read your sentences and redraw the graph?

Common Mistakes with RST.9-10.7

Dropping repeated values

A table that lists 69 °C once instead of five times

Try this: Have students count the readings in the text and the rows in their table, and find the missing ones before they graph anything.

Describing only the trend

“The graph shows the temperature going down.”

Try this: Ask students to split the line into its parts and write one sentence per part, saying what was happening in the tube.

Leaving units out of the headings

Columns labeled “Time” and “Temp” with bare numbers underneath

Try this: Have students put the unit in every column heading and check that a reader could redraw the graph from the table alone.

Where RST.9-10.7 Fits

Comes BeforeRST.6-8.7Integrate technical information in words with the same information in a diagram, graph or table.
Alongside
HSF-IF.B.4Interpret key features of graphs and tables, and sketch a graph from a verbal description.
WHST.9-10.2Write up an experiment with figures and tables where they help the reader.
Comes NextRST.11-12.7Integrate and evaluate sources in diverse formats and media to address a question or solve a problem.

Practice RST.9-10.7

Quick Check

  1. At what temperature did the reading hold steady, and for how long?
  2. What does the flat part of the line in Figure 2 show?
  3. How many temperature readings should a complete table from the text hold?

RST.9-10.7: Other Names

RST.9-10.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.