In this case, you have two columns of data, age and distance, so you don't need to do anything else for step 1.

In this case, the problem does not clearly say which axis should be age and which should be distance. We will go ahead and assume the first column of data (age) will be on the horizontal x-axis.

Since a graph is not already provided, we will need to do this. Get out a piece of graph paper and draw axes and label them.  
Next, we need to determine our appropriate scale. Since the age data goes from 0 to 19.90 Myr, it makes sense to have the x-axis go from 0 to 20. Halfway between 0 and 20 mark 10 and, if you want, mark 5 and 15 halfway between 0 and 10 and 10 and 20, respectively. 
For the y-axis, distance goes from 0 to 1818. It will be pretty easy to plot if we have the y-axis go from 0 to 2000 and mark 1000, 500, and 1500 miles respectively. 
 

 
The first pair of numbers is 0,0, so this will be at the origin. 
 

 
For East Maui, you will need to approximate where 0.75 Myr is on your x-axis and where 182 is on your y-axis. Since these are both less than a tenth of the way to the last label on the axis, they should be very close to the origin. Proceed with the rest of the points, making sure that Kauai is close to a quarter of the way along the x- and y-axes.

 
This may seem silly, but it is a common mistake to skip a set of numbers, especially with larger data sets. So make sure you have five data points on your graph. You might want to label them to make sure.

 
In this case, you have two columns of data, distance and elevation, so you don't need to do anything else for step 1. 

 
In this case, since distance is horizontal distance over the ground, it makes sense to make that the x-axis. This also agrees with the general rule that the first column of data should be plotted on the x-axis unless otherwise instructed.

 
Since the distance data goes from 0 to 0.9 miles, it makes sense to have the x-axis go from 0 to 1.0 miles. Also, notice that the data is regular, with distances in increments of 0.1. If we make sure the axis goes 10 squares long (or a multiple of 10), and it goes from 0 to 1.0 and plotting will be easier. Mark 0.5 halfway along the x-axis. 
The y-axis is a little bit trickier, since the data only goes from 733 to 791. If we make the origin 0 ft., all the data will be scrunched up. So it makes sense to have the y-axis go from 700 ft to 800 ft, since that is a smaller range and encompasses all the data. Mark 750 ft halfway between 700 and 800 ft. If you make the y-axis 10 squares, then each square will be 10 feet, which will make plotting easier.

 
From 0 mi on the x-axis go up to 800 ft on the y-axis. Put a point.

Continue to plot the points. The first five should be near the top of the graph, since they are all very close to 800 ft.

 
You should have 10 data points on your graph. If you don't, go back and find the one you missed!

 
In this case, the data is in the text, so go ahead and make a data table.

Discharge (ft3/sec)	Recurrence interval (years)
812	12
670	6
612	3
504	2

In this case, the directions explicitly say to put the recurrence interval on the x-axis, so even though it is in the second column of the data table above, we will put it on the horizontal axis.

The recurrence interval goes from 2 to 12, so there are several good options for your x-axis. It could go from 0 to 15 or 2 to 12, or even 0 to 12. Whichever span you choose, be smart about it and make it so that a whole number of squares equals 1 year—it will be much easier to plot the points. Mark an intermediate point or two on the y-axis, the data go from 504 to 812, so a good range might be 500 to 1000. Mark 750 halfway.

In this example, we first plot 12, 812, which should be in the upper right-hand region of your graph.

Plot the rest of the points as accurately as you can. The other three points will be in the lower left-hand area of the graph.

You should have 4 points on your graph. If you don't, figure out which one you missed.