We use individual diagrams for each type of internal force. Thus we have axial force diagram , shear force diagram and bending moment diagram for a beam. For the beam-column AB of Figure 2.7, we can find internal forces at each cross section and obtain the internal force diagrams. Figure 2.12 shows three internal force diagrams for this beam.

Note that, we have marked +ve and –ve signs in these diagrams and also put our sign convention to define the direction of the internal force under consideration. In addition to that, it is also important that we label these diagrams with values at key points (that means, the maximum positive and negative value points, zero-value points, points where the variation changes, for example from linear to parabolic).