Recommended text
The two books named as the recommended text in the official course information (CAP STA191).
| Book | Publisher · ISBN | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Hands-On Data Visualization: Interactive Storytelling from Spreadsheets to Code Jack Dougherty & Ilya Ilyankou, 2021 |
O'Reilly Media 9781492086000 |
handsondataviz.org Free — full text online |
| Data Visualization with Excel Dashboards and Reports Dick Kusleika, 2021 |
John Wiley & Sons 9781119698722 |
Wiley book page Sample workbooks free from the publisher |
References
The six further references listed in the official course information.
| Book | Publisher · ISBN | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals of Data Visualization Claus O. Wilke, 2019 |
O'Reilly Media 9781492031086 |
clauswilke.com/dataviz Free — full text online |
| Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction Kieran Healy, 2018 |
Princeton University Press 9780691181622 |
socviz.co Free — full text online |
| Mastering Microsoft Power BI Brett Powell, 2018 |
Packt Publishing 9781788297233 |
Packt — free ebook offer |
| Pro Power BI Dashboard Creation Adam Aspin, 2022 |
Apress 9781484282267 |
SpringerLink (Apress) Free full text if your library subscribes |
| The Big Book of Dashboards Steve Wexler, Jeffrey Shaffer & Andy Cotgreave, 2017 |
John Wiley & Sons 9781119282716 |
bigbookofdashboards.com |
| Visual Analytics with Tableau Alexander Loth, 2019 |
John Wiley & Sons 9781119560203 |
Wiley book page |
Further reading
Not required, but every one of these is worth your time — especially while you are writing the project report and designing your dashboard.
| Book | Best for… | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Storytelling with Data Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, 2015 |
Turning a chart into a message — the classic on Chapter 3. | storytellingwithdata.com |
| Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks Jonathan Schwabish, 2021 |
Choosing the right chart, with 500+ worked examples. | policyviz.com |
| Data Visualisation: A Handbook for Data Driven Design Andy Kirk, 2016 / 2019 |
A full design process, start to finish. | visualisingdata.com Companion resources free |
| Effective Data Visualization: The Right Chart for the Right Data Stephanie D. H. Evergreen, 2019 |
Building better charts specifically in Excel. | Sage Publishing |
| Data Visualization Made Simple: Insights into Becoming Visual Kristen Sosulski, 2018 |
A gentle, practical starting point. | kristensosulski.com |
| The Big Picture: How to Use Data Visualization to Make Better Decisions — Faster Steve Wexler, 2021 |
Dashboards that actually change a decision. | datarevelations.com |
| Introducing Microsoft Power BI Alberto Ferrari & Marco Russo, 2016 |
A short guided tour of Power BI — good before Week 9. | Microsoft Learn (archive) Free — PDF & ePub |
Use the links above, your UiTM Library account, or the free editions — the authors put those online deliberately. Pirated PDF sites are not a legitimate source, and you should never cite one in your report.
Open data sources
For the presentation task you need a freely available dataset. Start here:
DOSM Data Catalogue
Population, prices, employment, health and more, from the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
data.gov.my
Malaysia's national open-data portal — datasets from ministries and agencies.
Citing these in APA 7th
Your project report needs 3–5 references in APA 7th Edition. The pattern for a book is:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the book: Subtitle in sentence case (edition). Publisher.
| Reference list entry | In text |
|---|---|
| Dougherty, J., & Ilyankou, I. (2021). Hands-on data visualization: Interactive storytelling from spreadsheets to code. O'Reilly Media. | (Dougherty & Ilyankou, 2021) |
| Kusleika, D. (2021). Data visualization with Excel dashboards and reports. John Wiley & Sons. | (Kusleika, 2021) |
| Wilke, C. O. (2019). Fundamentals of data visualization: A primer on making informative and compelling figures. O'Reilly Media. | (Wilke, 2019) |
| Healy, K. (2018). Data visualization: A practical introduction. Princeton University Press. | (Healy, 2018) |
| Wexler, S., Shaffer, J., & Cotgreave, A. (2017). The big book of dashboards: Visualizing your data using real-world business scenarios. John Wiley & Sons. | (Wexler et al., 2017) |
| Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2025). Household income survey [Data set]. https://open.dosm.gov.my/data-catalogue | (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2025) |