Get documents about "Interpreting and describing information from charts and graphs
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Document Sample
Interpreting and describing
information from charts and graphs
Describing Graph
reach a peak
peak
increase sharply
slump plummet
rise steeply
climb rapidly drop sharply
dramatically fall rapidly
decline dramatically
increase gradually
rise slowly
climb minimally
slightly stabilize
stay level
remain constant
remain stable
level off
Other useful words for describing graphs/charts/tables
Expressing the Movement of a Line
Verbs Nouns Verbs Nouns
Rise (to) a rise Go down (to)
Increase (to) an increase Reduce (to) a reduction (of)
Go up to A slump
Grow (to) growth
Climb (to) a climb Level out a leveling out
Boom a boom No change no change
Peak (at) (reach) a peak (at) Remain stable (at)
Remain steady (at)
Fall (to) a fall (of) Stay (at)
Decline (to) a decline (of) Stay constant (at)
Decrease (to) a decrease (of) Maintain the same level
Dip (to) a dip (of)
Drop (to) a drop (of)
Other useful words for describing graphs/charts/tables
Expressing the Describing the Speed
Movement of a Line of a Change
Adjectives Adverbs Adjectives Adverbs
Dramatic dramatically
Sharp sharply Rapid rapidly
Huge hugely Quick quickly
Enormous enormously Swift swiftly
Steep steeply Sudden suddenly
Steady steadily
Substantial substantially
Gradual gradually
Considerable considerably Slow slowly
Significant significantly
Marked markedly
Moderate moderately
Slight slightly
Small
Minimal minimally
When discussing the future, the following
expressions would be useful:
• …… is projected to rise sharply
• …… is forecast to drop slightly
• …… is expected to fall dramatically
• …… is predicted to decline steadily
Language Patterns
Referring to a diagram, chart, graph
As can be seen chart, ...
diagram,
table,
graph,
from the figures,
in statistics,
It can be seen that ...
We can see
As can be seen Table 1, …
Figure 2,
Graph 3,
from
in
It can be seen
We can see
From Table 1 seen
Figure 2 concluded
shown that
estimated ...
calculated
can inferred
it be
the figures may
chart
diagram
The graph shows that ...
Figure 1
Research Report Results
ELEMENTS INCLUDED IN RESULTS SECTION
• statement showing where the results can be found
• statement presenting the most important findings
• statement commenting on the results this may include:
– generalising from the results
– explaining possible reasons for the results
– comparing the results with what was expected or
with results from other studies
Example of describing information in a table
Non- Book Club Members Book Club Total
Members
College College Members of Public
Staff Students
Fiction 29 31 - 76 151
Non-fiction 44 194 122 942 1287
Magazines 332 1249 82 33 1696
Total 405 1474 204 1051 3134
The table shows the sales figures of fiction and non-fiction books as well as
magazines, in a college bookshop, for the month of February, 2000. The table
is split into two different groups: sales to non- book club members, and sales
to book club members.
Non- book club members consists of college staff, college students and
member of public. College staff bought 44 fiction books, 29 non- fiction books
and 332 magazines. College students bought 31 fiction books, 194 non-
fiction books and 1,249 magazines. College students bought the higher
number of magazines than any other group of customer. Although no member
of public bought fiction books, they did buy 122 non- fiction books, as well as
82 magazines.
Book club members bought more fiction and non- fiction
books than any other group of customers. However, they
also bought the least number of magazines out of the
different groups.
The total number of publications sold for that
particular month was 151 fiction, 1287 non- fiction as
well as 1,696 magazines. Giving us a grand total of 3134
publications sold. Therefore, magazines accounted for
the greatest number of sales, making them the most
popular publication overall.
Example of describing information in a graph
The UK National Statistics office
Changes in household and family patterns reflect changes in the
partnering and marital status of the population over time. Marriage is still
the usual form of partnership between men and women. However, the total
number of marriages in the United Kingdom has fallen from a peak in
1972. In 1997 there were 310 thousand marriages, among the lowest
figures recorded during the twentieth century.
The number of first marriages has decreased substantially since its
peak in 1970. In 1997 there were 181 thousand first marriages for both
partners, less than half the number in 1970.
Slightly over two-fifths of marriages in 1997 were remarriages for
either or both partners. Early in the twentieth century remarriage was
relatively uncommon, but since the 1960s the number of remarriages has
increased. While most of the few remarriages at the turn of the century in
England and Wales involved a widow or widower, more recently at least one
partner remarrying has usually been divorced. These trends were notably
accentuated following the implementation of the Divorce Reform Act 1969
in 1971
Use Of A Writing Web-Site By Pre-Masters
Students On An English for Academic Purposes
Course.
A. J. Gillett, University of Hertfordshire
Results
*(1)Two groups of Students in Higher Education –
Group A and Group B - on a one-year Pre-Masters
English for Academic Purposes course, each
comprising 50 students were taught academic
writing by different methods and compared.
(2)Figure 3 displays the mean percentile scores on
the five subsections of the academic writing test.
(3)Students in Group B, which used the computer
assisted facilities, performed significantly better
than their non computer-assisted peers on all five
subsections of the test by more than two to one in
terms of scores attained in each of the
subcategories. (4)For example, in the task
achievement subcategory, Group A scored an
average of 80 percent, while Group B students
scored an average of 14th percent. (5)Clearly, the
findings indicate that the time spent using the
UEFAP website had a positive effect on student
performance. (6)It appears that the use of
computer assisted learning programs for at least
some of the teaching time available resulted in
substantial differences in performance in all five
categories of the University of Hertfordshire
English Writing Test. (7)It is to be hoped that
this improvement will transfer to the students‘
written performance in their main subject courses.
Identify the information elements you find in each
sentence of the text.
• Sentence 1: Overview
• Sentence 2: Statement showing where the results can
be found
• Sentence 3: Statement presenting the most important
findings
• Sentence 4: Statement presenting the most important
findings
• Sentence 5: Generalising from results
• Sentence 6: Explaining possible reasons for the results
• Sentence 7: Generalising from the results
Exercise
Answer the following questions:
. What are the top three gifts?
. What is the most popular gift?
. What percentage of men buys
Valentine's Day cards?
. What percentage of women
buys Valentine's Day cards?
. Are there any differences in
the second most common
gift?
. What is the second most
popular gift bought by men?
. What percentage of men
bought this gift for their
loved one?
. What is the second most
popular gift that women give
men?
. What is the third most popular
gift bought by men for
women?
Exercise
The chart shows the reasons given by people who were asked in a survey
about why they moved house. Write a short description of the pie-chart.
Chart 1 The reasons the Americans moved their houses in 2008.
Exercise
The table below shows the percentage of Govindia’s citizens who were born
in each of four regions of the world, in 1982,1992,2002 and forecasts for
2007.
Write a report describing the information shown in the table.
9 Europe
8
7
Africa
6
Percentage
5
4 Asia
3
2
1 Others, including
the Americas,
0 Oceania and the
1982 1992 2002 2007 Pacific
(Projected)
Table 1: Citizens of Govindia by region of birth, 1982-2002 and projected
for 2007
This country is widely known as being multicultural, an opinion borne out by
data from the last three 10- yearly national censuses (1982,1992 and 2002)
and also projections for 2007. Table 1 shows the figures broken down into
four regions of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe and Others, which includes
North and South America as well as Oceania.
The most common origin of immigrants during this period was Africa. Despite
a significant fall from nearly 7.5 % in 1982 to just below 6% ten years later,
the trend over the period was towards a general increase, with proportions of
over 8 % in 2002 and over 9 % projected for 2007.
Migration from Asia also showed a strong upward trend. In 1982, only 4.3 %
of Govindians claimed Asian origin, but this table rose to 5.1 % in 1992 and to
6.6% in 2002. A figure of 7.1 % is projected for 2007, which would mean a
considerable increase of nearly two- thirds over the 25- year period.
Europe and the ‘ other’ regions showed the least noticeable changes.
Europeans represented 3.2 % of the population in 1982, rising minimally to
3.4% in 2002. No further increase or decrease is forecast over the next five
years. The contribution of ‘ other’ regions to the country’s population was the
only fall over the whole period. In 1982, 3.5% of citizens were from the ‘
other’ countries, falling to 2.9 % 1992. The proportion was virtually constant
over the next ten years, reaching 3.0% in 2002, but a drop is anticipated to
2.5% by 2007.
