最权威的英语图表作文 写作指导和图表作文范文A model pie chart report

A model pie chart report – step by step

This lesson gives you a step-by-step approach to dealing with pie charts in task 1. I talk you through how to identify the main points, select the supporting details and then structure your report. I then show you two model answers: one with standard vocabulary and then a much more advanced version with more vocabulary and grammar you can borrow.

The task

The following pie charts show the results of a survey into the most popular leisure activities in the United States of America in 1999 and 2009.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make omparisons where relevant.

Step 1: seeing the big picture

The first step is to identify the main points of the two charts. This is not just an important part of the task and your band score, it will also help you write your description. The main points are normally obvious. Sometimes they are so obvious that candidates ignore them. Look at these questions:

1. How many activities are there in each chart? – Just count

2. Are the activities the same in each chart? – Read the key

3. Are there any changes in popularity between the two years? – Look at the colours You should get these answers:

1. There are 8 activities for each year

2. 7 of 8 activities are the same

3. There are a number of differences in popularity between the two years.

All you need to do now is put that into English and you have the main points of the report. Adding in a short description of the task we have:

These two pie charts show the changes in popularity of different leisure activities in the United States of America between 1999 and 2009. We can see that the most popular leisure activities were almost the same in both periods, but there were a number of differences in popularity between the various activities.

Step 2: choose the details to include

There are 16 different figures you can include. This is too many. The task is to select and report the most important details. This will include naming all the activities, but not all the numbers. To do this, try looking for:

1. the biggest number

2. the smallest number

These are generally important details to include. You should also consider what changes beween the two charts, not least because the task asks you to make comparisons. So, ask yourself:

1. what’s gone up

2. what’s gone down

3. what hasn’t changed

4. what’s new

Putting this together, we need these details:

1. walking is most popular in both periods