Adamjee Cantonment College

Department of English
How to Describe a Graph

There are three basic things you need to structure,

1. Introduce the graph

2. Give an overview
3. Give the detail

1) Introduce the Graph

You need to begin with one or two sentences. To do this, paraphrase the title of the graph,
making sure you put in a time frame if there is one.
You can see this says the same thing as the title, but in a different way.

2) Give an Overview
You also need to state what the main trend or trends in the graph are. Don’t give detail such as data here
– you are just looking for something that describes what is happening overall.

One thing that stands out in this graph is that one type of fast food fell over the period, whilst the other
two increased, so this would be a good overview.

This covers the main changes that took place over the whole period.

You may sometimes see this overview as a conclusion. It does not matter if you put it in the conclusion
or the introduction, but you should provide an overview in one of these places.

3) Give the Detail

You can now give more specific detail in the body paragraphs.

Some important concept for graph writing

The graph below shows Export from 2000 to 2011. Describe the graph in 150 words. You should highlight and
summarize the information given in the graph.

Exports in Billion
2000 5.9 2003 6.71 2006 11.17 2009 15.07
2001 6.60 2004 7.48 2007 12.45 2010 16.24
2002 6.20 2005 9.37 2008 13.97 2011 23.86

Easy:

The graph shows exports of a country in billion dollars. The vertical axis represents the statistics of
exports in billion dollars.The horizontal axis depicts the exports of twelve years from 2000 to 2011.

In 2000, the export was 5.9 billion dollars. It moderately rose to 6.6 billion dollars in the following year.
It decreased to 6.2 billion dollars in 2002. Export again rose in the next year and it rose to 6.48 billion
dollars in 2004.The upward movement of the export is clear in the subsequent years. In 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011exports were 9.37, 11.17, 12.45, 13.97, 15.07, 16.24 and 23.86 billion
dollars respectively.

Throughout the years, exports have risen from 5.9 in 2000 to 23.86 in 2011.In this twelve years time ,exports
have increased 17.96 billion dollars. Of all the years, the only decrease occurred in 2002. It was 0.40 billion
dollars less than the previous year. Apart from this, there was no drop in the export statistics. The highest export
hit the peak in 2011 and it jumped from 16.24 to 23.86 dollars from the previous year. The minimum increase
was in 2003 which was only 0.69 billion dollars. The export was minimum in 2000 but all over the years, it
indicates the upward trend from beginning to end except2002.
Standard:

The graph shows/indicates/depicts/illustrates yearly exports of a country in billion dollars. The vertical
axis represents the statistics of exports in billion dollars, whereas the horizontal axis depicts the exports
of twelve years from 2000 to 2011.

In 2000, the export was 5.9 billion dollars. It moderately rose to 6.6 billion dollars in the following year.
It slightly decreased to 6.2 billion dollars in 2002. Export again soared in the next year and it rose to
6.48 billion dollars in 2004.The upward movement of the export is clear in the subsequent years. In
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011exports were 9.37, 11.17, 12.45, 13.97, 15.07, 16.24 and
23.86 billion dollars respectively.

Throughout the years, exports have boomed/risen/climbed / quadrupled from 5.9 in 2000 to 23.86 in 2011.In
this twelve years time ,exports have markedly/noticeably increased/surged/climbed /soared 17.96 billion
dollars. Of all the years, the only decrease /slump occurred/ happened in 2002. It was 0.40 billion dollars less
than the previous year. Apart from this, there was no drop/fall in the export statistics. The highest export hit the
peak/reached the peak/apex in 2011 and it jumped from 16.24 to 23.86 dollars from the previous year. The
minimum increase was in 2003 which was only 0.69 billion dollars. The export hit the rock bottom in 2000 but all
over the years, it made / showed a steady progression which indicates the upward trend culminated in 2011
with a remarkable surge.

Overall, we can see a clear upward trend in the statistics of yearly exports of the country . They all
showed relatively increased exports and they were progressively moving upwards. However, there was one
exception of decline in 2002.

Vocabulary for pie charts

One of the EASIEST WAYS to make sure you 'make comparisons where relevant' is to use superlatives:
the biggest, the smallest, the largest, the most expensive, the least expensive. Every superlative you use
is an automatic comparison.

Here are a few examples of good wording for the largest section of your pie charts:

It is clear that ____represents the largest portion of _____, whereas _____ is undoubtedly the smallest.

Sales of _____ stood at __% in 1925, which is the majority of_____.

(If the percentage is around 60%) - Nearly a third…

(If the percentage is around 52%) - Over a half of all respondents…

Here are a few examples of good wording for the smallest section of your pie chart:

A small fraction…

Exactly 30% of students…

(If the percentage is around 25%) Roughly a quarter of respondents

…whereas sales for _____ were just 10%.

In 1955 approximately three quarters were ____, whereas in 1960 this had fallen to just under a fifth.

Written forms of percentages and fractions look like this:

a half, 50%, 1/2, three quarters, 75%, 3/4,

a third, 33%, 1/3, a quarter, 25%, 1/4

two thirds, 66%, 2/3,

Prepositions
By 1978, At the beginning/end of the period

Over a twelve-year period Throughout the period in question

In the last year In the first half of the decade …

Over the next three years, An Increase of 30%.

In the following year, Decreased by 15%.

Over the period in question Rose sharply over a period of 10 years.

Figures
Advanced vocabulary for paraphrasing figures

2% = a very small proportion of 24% = almost a quarter

2-10% = a mere 3 percent OR a mere 5 25% = a quarter
percent of 26% = roughly one quarter
16% = a small minority 32% = nearly one-third
20% = a fifth 35% = more than a third
49% = just under a half 70% = a large proportion of
50% = a half 72% = a significant majority of
51% = just over a half 73% = nearly three quarters
55% = more than half 76% = just over three-quarters
Add these words to the figures

Approximately Just around

Nearly Just about
Roughly Just below
Almost A little more than
Just over A little less than
Just under
For example:
Just under 60 percent of people in Canada went to fast food outlets in 2009. (we see "58%" in
the graph, we can round this fidure off by writing "just under 60%").

Comparisons
grammar + vocabulary

... by far the most popular item / product / proportion of

language ... ... as popular as ...
... the least popular product was ... ... not as popular as ...
... much more popular ... not quite/nearly as expensive as ...
more languages ... ... did not sell as many computers as ...
fewer students ... ... is three times higher than ...
the highest percentage of/the lowest ... twice as many _____ as ...
For example:

The number of intermediate students is three times higher than the number of students in
elementary classes, at 80 and 77 students respectively.

There were twice as many students in the …as students in the ...
 The pie chart below shows the sources of air pollution in a city. Describe the chart in 150 words. You
should highlight and summarize the information given in the chart.

The pie chart shows the pollutions of a city with five different sources. These are the vehicles, industries,
power plants, heating or air conditioning and waste disposals. The data is measured in percentage

The chart shows that the highest level of pollution is caused by vehicles, and it covers 60% of the total
pollution. The second rate of pollution is caused by industries which cover 17%, of the total pollution. The
third sources are the power plants which covers 14% pollution. Heating or air conditioning sources also
contribute to pollution which is 6% of the total. Next comes the pollution by waste disposal which is 3%
of the total. From the chart, it also becomes clear that the rate of pollution is very close by industries
(17%) and by power plants (14%).
But the highest level of pollution is caused by vehicles. The lowest rate of pollution has been caused by
waste disposal. It is also clear that the rate of pollution by heating and air conditioning is double the rate
by waste disposal. The sources of pollutions chronologically from the lowest to the highest are waste
disposal, heating, and air conditioning, power plants, industries, and vehicles.

Look at the use of vocabulary in the Samples

Sample 1:

The two pie charts compare the energy produced in France using different kinds of resources
before and after a decade .The data is measured in percentage. It is analyzed with a gap of 10
years.

Overall, coal was the biggest source of energy production in both years. Meanwhile, gas
contributed almost equally in energy generation compared to remaining three sources.

Production of petro energy decreased significantly in these ten years compared to nuclear and
other forms of energy which increased slightly from 1995 to 2005.

During 1995, the highest energy generating resources were coal, gas and petroleum contributing
almost equally with a difference of only up to 0.6%. Nuclear and other forms of energy produced
was only 6.40% and 4.90% respectively, which is very less in comparison to other three kinds.

After a decade, nuclear form of energy production increased dramatically from 6.40% to
10.10%. Similarly other kinds of energy generation almost doubled from 4.90% to 9.10% which
is a significant change. On the other hand, petroleum form of energy production decreased to one
third as it was in 1995. Coal and gas contributed more or less same as ten years back in 1995.

Sample 2:
The two pie charts illustrate the proportion of five types of energy production in France in 1995
and 2005.The data is measured in percentage.It is analyzed with a gap of 10 years.

Overall, in both years, the most significant sources of energy were gas and coal, which together
accounted for over half the production of energy, while nuclear and other kinds of energy
sources generated the least amount of energy in France. In all types of energy production there
was only minimal change over the 10 year period.

Energy produced by coal comprised of 29.80% in the first year and this showed only a very
slight increase of about a mere 1% to 30.9% in 2005. Likewise, in 1995, gas generated 29.63%
which rose marginally to 30.1% 10 years later.

With regards to the remaining methods of producing energy, there was an approximate 5%
growth in production from both nuclear power and other sources to 10.10% and 9.10%
respectively. Petrol, on the other hand, was the only source of energy which decreased in
production from 29.27% in 1995 to around a fifth (19.55%) in 2005.