©2015 Paul Read Describing Charts in Part One /sizes/z/in/photostream/

©2015 Paul Read Describing Tables in Part One What kind of information is contained in a chart? What makes a good answer? How to plan an answer Worked example Extra practice

What kind of information is contained in a chart? Data are organized into pie, line or bar charts to make it easy to compare or see what the numbers mean Pie charts are normal for showing percentages Line charts often show changes in data over time Bar charts allow us to compare data across categories ©2015 Paul Read

What makes a good answer? The reader must understand the main points of the chart and what it wants to show You must select the main features: don’t write about everything. Choose 2 or 3 important facts Write a short introduction to explain what the chart shows, without copying from the question Write a sentence to summarize the general information contained in the chart ©2015 Paul Read

How to plan an answer Spend a few minutes looking carefully at the chart. What is it telling you? What are the main features? Choose 2 or 3 important differences or features Write a brief paragraph to explain to the reader what you are writing about – do not copy the information from the question Describe each of the main points in turn. Use language of comparison or of trends if necessary Don’t try to speculate about why the numbers are as they are Remember to include a short summary of the whole chart ©2015 Paul Read

Worked Example ©2015 Paul Read The chart below gives information on the reliability of various airlines in one country in one year. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and making comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Worked Example - Introduction ©2015 Paul Read The chart compares the reliability of five different airlines in one country, with respect to the percentages of their flights that were on time, delayed or cancelled over one year (2007).

Worked Example – Main Body 1 (Summary) ©2015 Paul Read The data show that in general each airline had more on time flights than delayed or cancelled flights. Three of the five airlines had more than half of their flights on time. It is clear that there are large differences in reliability between the airlines.

Worked Example – Main Body 2 ©2015 Paul Read Of all five airlines, Northern was the most reliable with 70% of its flights on time in The least reliable was Imperial, with just 40% of flights on time. South East and Mountain were also more reliable than unreliable, with more than 50% of their flights arriving on time at their destinations.

Worked Example – Main Body 3 ©2015 Paul Read Imperial and Whoosh airlines were the least reliable of all of the airlines. Whoosh airlines had just under 30% of flights that were delayed and more than one fifth of its flights were cancelled (21%). Imperial was even less reliable still, with 30% of its flights cancelled. In summary, Northern was the most reliable airline, while Imperial was the least.

Extra Practice Go to The English Site website to find another table writing practice exercise Look at some student answers to the exercise and read my comments on these answers ©2015 Paul Read