LECTURE 5

INTRODUCTION

• Providing information about tables, graphs or charts are tricky.

• It is basically a summary of the chart that you are writing about, not an essay.

LINE GRAPHS

• When writing about a line chart, it is important to look at the title of the chart first. This tells you the information the graph displays and you can use it in your description.

• Then look at the X and Y axes. The titles of these axes sometimes can provide information to what you want to write about.

• Line graphs describe change. You must ask yourself “What changed”?

• Lastly, ask yourself the question “How much”? (did it change)?

ASK YOURSELF…

• What exactly does this graph show?• It shows the population of Denmark between 1996 –

2007. You can see that in 1996 the population was … and by the year 2007 it had grown to …

• What are the axes and what are the units?• The X axis represents the years during which the

research was carried out. The Y-axis represents the population of people in Denmark.

• What changed?• The population increased from 1996 to 2007. The

population increased steadily.

• How much did it change?• The population in 1997 was 5.25 million, while in 2007,

it was 5.45 million. The population increased by 0.2 million or 200,000 people.

• * USE YOUR VOCABULARY WISELY.

USING ADVERBS

•The population rose slowly / slightly / gently, gradually. (small increase in the population over the period)

•The population rose steadily. (little or no variation in the rate of growth)

•From 1996 to 2007, the population increased:

•Dramatically•Significantly•Considerably•Rapidly•Greatly•Substantially

•After 1997, the population grew more slowly

USING NOUNS & VERBS

•There was a slow rise in the population.

•There was a steady rise in the population.

•There was a slight rise in the population.

•There was a gentle rise in the population.

•There was a gradual rise in the population.

•From 1996 to 1998 there was a dramatic increase in the population.

•From 1996 to 1998 there was a significant increase in the population.

•From 1996 to 1998 there was a considerable increase in the population.

•From 1996 to 1998 there was a rapid increase in the population.

•From 1996 to 1998 there was a substantial increase in the population.

•From 1996 to 1998 there was a dramatic increase in the population.

•From 1996 to 1998 there was a great increase in the population.

•After 1998, the population growth was slower.

MAKING COMPARISONS

ASK YOURSELF…

• What exactly does the graph show?• This graph shows the change in the population in two

countries between 1996 to 2007.

• What are the axes and what are the units?• The X-axis represents the years of the research. The Y-

axis represents the population by the millions.

• What changed & how much did it change?• The population in Austria increased steadily between

1996 to 2007. The population in Austria in 1996 was … while in 2007, it was …, so there was an increase of …

• By contrast, the population of Bulgaria decreased from 1996 – 2007. The population in 1996 was … while in 2007 it was …. Therefore there was a decrease of …

BAR CHARTS

• Bar charts or column charts are similar, only their orientations are different.

• Bar chart: arranged horizontally• Column chart: arranged vertically

• Line charts describe change, while bar / column charts are used for comparison purposes.

ASK YOURSELF…

• What exactly does this chart show?• This chart shows the population of various European

countries in the year 2007.

• What are the axes?• The X-axis represents the countries listed there. The Y-

axis represents the units (population in millions).

• What similarities are there?

• Is it possible to put some columns into one or more groups?

• What differences are there?

EXAMPLE…

• This chart shows the populations of some European countries in 2007.

• The country with the largest population is Germany, with over 80 million people whereas Estonia has the smallest population, at little more than a million.

• Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia and Ireland all have populations of ten million or less, while Greece has a population of about eleven million.

• Apart from Germany, the largest countries are Spain, France and Italy with populations ranging from about forty-four to sixty-three million. Together, the four largest countries account for over eighty per cent of the population of the countries shown.

VOCABULARY

ADJECTIVE COMPARITIVE SUPERLATIVE

bad worse worst

big bigger biggest

long longer longest

strong stronger strongest

• To signal comparison and contrast within a sentence:• As…as, not as…as, but, while, although.

• To signal comparison and contrast between sentences:• However, by contrast, on the other hand.

PIE CHARTS

• Pie charts normally show proportion, which can be measured in percentages or fractions.

BREAKDOWN

• This chart shows the relative size of populations of countries of the European Union in 2007.

• We can see that the country with the largest population was Germany with 16.6% of the European Union's population. We can also see that the second largest population was that of France with 12.8% of the population.

• We do NOT know from this chart which country has the smallest population because the 21 smallest countries are included in one group.

• You can see that the four largest countries (Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy) together make up more than half of the European Union's population.

• The twenty-one smallest countries of the European Union make up nearly 30% of the population.

•This chart shows the relative size of populations of countries of the European Union in both 1998 and 2007.

•In this case we can make two sets of comparisons:

•We can make comparisons between the countries in each year.

•We can make comparisons between the two years (i.e. examine any changes from 1998 to 2007).

TABLES

•This table shows the percentage of women in tertiary education in selected countries from 1998 to 2005.

•Which country remains the same?

•Which country had the least number of women in tertiary education?

•Which country had the highest percentage of women in tertiary education?

•Which country had the largest percentage change?

•Which country had the lowest percentage change?

THANK YOU!