Guidelines and Practice for
Academic IELTS Writing Task 1
by Anna Conway
Tackling Academic IELTS Writing Task 1
Writing an introduction In order to write an introduction refer to the description of the graph (above the graph itself) and look at the graph. Your introduction has to tell the reader what the graph shows so that the reader can understand it without referring to the graph. Imagine that the examiner cannot see the chart and explain to her/him what the chart is about in your own words. REMEMBER If you copy from the task, the copied part will not be counted and you may lose in word count. Look at the example: The chart shows the number of unemployed people in the Netherlands between 2001 and 2007. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
Sample Introduction: The bar chart presents information about the number of unemployed men and women in the Netherlands from 2001 to 2007.
Activity Now your turn. Look at the tasks, write your introductions and post them in the comment box on the wiki under the book. Read your peers’ introductions and comment on them.
1. The chart shows the number of people living in Onecountry in 2012. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
2. The chart shows the number of visitors to two places of interest in one country in 2011. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
3. The charts show the number of people speaking English in the world and in England and Wales. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ons.gov.uk/
4. The line graph below gives information about the number of visitors to three London museums between June and September 2013. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
5. The pie charts below give information about world population in 1900 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
6. The table provides information about the amount of time spent on various activities per annum by different age groups in Someland. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
Writing an Overview For your report to be considered a good one, it needs to have an overview. The overview is the general (main) trend shown in the graph but without any specific details such as numbers or percentages. The overview can be part of the introduction or written at the end of the report. It is not really important where it is, it just has to be there. Look at the example: The chart shows the number of unemployed people in the Netherlands between 2001 and 2007. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
Overall, it can be stated that with the exception of two consecutive years there were more unemployed women during the period than men.
Activity Now your turn. Look at the tasks, write your overviews and post them in the comment box on the wiki under the book. Read your peers’ overviews and comment on them.
1. The chart shows the number of people who lived in Onecountry in 2012. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
2. The chart shows the number of visitors to two places of interest in various countries in 2011. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
3. The charts show the number of people speaking English in the world and in England and Wales. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ons.gov.uk/
4. The line graph below gives information about the number of visitors to three London museums between June and September 2013. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
5. The pie charts below give information about world population in 1900 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
6. The table provides information about the amount of time spent on various activities per annum by different age groups in Someland. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
Describing Trends After you have written the introduction and the overview, you need to start describing the graph and making comparisons. Make sure that you write in short paragraphs each of which deals with one trend, not in one long paragraph. Reports, and not only, written in paragraphs give you a higher score. For this part you need to use ● comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs, ● percentages and fractions to talk about proportions, ● linkers
Useful Language
Nouns an increase/a rise (in) a decrease/a decline/a drop/a fall (in) a fluctuation upward trend downward trend recovery
Verbs to increase/to rise/to go up to soar/to rocket to drop/to decrease/to decline to plummet/to plunge to fluctuate to level off/to bottom out to remain the same to reach/to hit a peak to exceed to outnumber
Adjectives/Adverbs significant/significantly dramatic/dramatically sharp/sharply steep/steeply marginal/marginally noticeable/noticeably slight/slightly insignificant/insignificantly steady/steadily gradual/gradually
Proportions roughly a quarter or roughly 25% about threequarters more than a half/over 50% well over/well under a third just over/just under twothirds almost all the majority
Look at the example: The chart shows the number of unemployed people in the Netherlands between 2001 and 2007. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
The year with the lowest amount of unemployment for both genders together and separately was 2001 when the total number stood at 252,000, with 109,000 men and 143,000 women without jobs. From then on a steady increase was recorded. Although, throughout the period, unemployed women outnumbered unemployed men, in 2003 and 2004, interestingly, the number of men without jobs exceeded that of women. There were 11,000 and 13,000 more jobless men than women in each year respectively. In 2005 the number reached a peak of 481,000 people in total. This was the year with the highest number of unemployed women, 243,000, but not men. The number of unemployed men had been higher the previous year and their number amounted to 246,000 3,000 more than the highest for women. After 2005 there was a downward trend until 2007. Even though the number of the unemployed in the Netherlands was lower in 2007 than in 20042005, it was still much higher than that in 20012002.
Activity Now your turn. Look at the tasks, write your graph descriptions and post them in the comment box on the wiki under the book. Read your peers’ work and comment on it. 1. The chart shows the number of people who lived in Onecountry in 2012. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
2. The chart shows the number of visitors to two places of interest in various countries in 2011. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
3. The charts show the number of people speaking English in the world and in England and Wales. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ons.gov.uk/
4. The line graph below gives information about the number of visitors to three London museums between June and September 2013. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
5. The pie charts below give information about world population in 1900 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
6. The table provides information about the amount of time spent on various activities per annum by different age groups in Someland. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
Describing Maps and Diagrams Sometimes instead of line/bar/pie charts or tables, you can be asked to describe a map, a diagram of how something works or a diagram of a process. These also require an introduction, which is again the paraphrase of the task description, and an overview, which again is a onesentence description of the general trend. Maps usually present two possible locations of a building in an area and you need to compare these possible locations. As an overview you could state which one is better and why. Alternatively, they could show the same area in two different years and you need to describe the changes that happened in that area between the given years. Diagrams may show how something is done and as an overview you could just state whether it is a simple process or a complex one requiring many materials or involving machinery as well as people, etc. Now analyse the sample reports below before writing one yourself.
Below is a map of the city of Brandfield. City planners have decided to build a new shopping mall for the area, and two sites, S1 and S2 have been proposed. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
Source http://www.ieltsbuddy.com/
The map illustrates two possible sites for a shopping mall which is planned to be built in the city of Brandfield. It can be seen that the two sites under consideration are in the north and the south east of the town. The first possible site for the shopping mall, S1, is in the north of the city centre, above the railway line, which runs from the south east of the city to the north west. If it is built here, it will be next to a large housing estate, thus providing easy access for those living on the estate and in the city centre. It will also be next to the river, which runs through the town. The site in the south east, S2, is again just by the railway line and fairly close to the city centre, but it is close to an industrial estate rather than housing. A main road runs through the city and is close to both sites, thus providing good road access to either location. A large golf course and park in the west of the town prevents this area from being available as a site. Overall, it can be stated that the first site may be a better option because of the proximity to a housing estate.
The diagram below shows how a central heating system in a house works. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
The diagram provides an overview of a domestic central heating system. It shows how the tank, boiler and pipes ensure a constant flow of of hot water to both radiators and the taps. The cold water enters the house and is stored in a water storage tank in the roof. From there it flows down to the boiler, located on the ground floor of the house. The boiler, which is fuelled by gas or oil, heats up the water as it passes through it. The hot water is then pumped round the house through a system of pipes and flows into the radiators, located in different rooms. The water circulates through the radiators, which have small tubes inside them to help distribute the heat, and this warms each of the rooms. Some of the water is directed to the taps to provide hot water for the house. Once the water has been through the pipes and radiators, it is returned to the boiler to be reheated and circulated round the house again, which, overall, is a continuous process.
Activity Now your turn. Look at the tasks, write your map and diagram descriptions and post them in the comment box on the wiki under the book. Read your peers’ work and comment on it.
1. The map shows an island before and after construction works. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
Source http://testenglish.info/
2. The diagram below shows the production of steam using a gas cooled nuclear reactor. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source www.ieltsexam.net
3. The diagram illustrates the process that is used to manufacture bricks for the building industry. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source http://www.ieltsbuddy.com/
Sample reports (follow the links below to read sample reports and comments about them) IELTS Blog IELTS Writing IELTS Buddy