SAMPLE GRAPHS
PIE CHARTS
The pie charts compare the highest level of education achieved by women in Someland across two years, 1945 and 1995. It can be clearly seen that women received a much higher level of education in Someland in 1995 than they did in 1945.
In 1945 only 30% of women completed their secondary education and 1% went on to a first degree. No women had completed post-graduate studies. This situation had changed radically by 1995. In 1995, 90% of women in Someland had completed secondary education and of those, half had graduated from an initial degree and 20% had gone on to postgraduate studies. At the other end of the scale we can see that by 1995 all girls were completing lower secondary, although 10% ended their schooling at this point. This is in stark contrast with 1945 when only 30% of girls completed primary school, 35% had no schooling at all and 35% only completed the third grade.
In conclusion, we can see that in the 50 years from 1945 to 1995 there have been huge positive developments to the education levels of women in Someland.
Logical Connectors of Comparison & Contrast
Simple Comparison: while [difference is not seen as surprising / unusual]
- There was 10% unemployment in London , while in Manchester there was 9%.
Contrast: but, although, while, however [difference is seen as surprising / unusual]
- Although most cities had unemployment rates of 8-11%, in Liverpool it was 15%.
- Most cities had unemployment rates of 8-11%, although / while / but in Liverpool it was 15%.
- Most cities had unemployment rates of 8-11%. However in Liverpool it was 15%.
Describing Graphs using Noun Phrases
Describing data in charts requires that we ‘translate' statistical information into grammatically correct sentences.
• Noun phrases perform the same grammatical function as nouns which are single words: for example they can be the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, etc. However, noun phrases consist of a number of words, and in academic English can often be long and complex.
• Noun phrases always have a ‘head noun', which is then modified by (further described by) other elements of the phrase (adjectives, relative clauses, prepositional phrases, etc).
• Examples of noun phrases (head noun underlined):
the man who works in that shop
people who live in glass houses
the car in the picture
Asian-heritage children who live in the UK but who do not speak their heritage language
• Examples of noun phrases used within sentences:
- The man who works in that shop used to live next door to me.
(noun phrase is subject of the verb)
- I saw a film last night about people who live in glass houses .
(noun phrase is object of a preposition)
- I don't like the car in the picture .
(noun phrase is object of the verb)
- The graph presents data about Asian-heritage children who live in the UK
but who do not speak their heritage language.
(noun phrase is object of a proposition)
Introducing the Description
Typical ways to introduce the description of a graph include:
The chart shows + noun phrase
The chart describes + noun phrase
For the chart above we could say:
The chart shows data about homelessness in the US in terms of race / ethnicity.
The chart describes the race / ethnicity of homeless people in the US.
Teacher Michael