4.

PIE CHARTS / GRAPHS

Pie charts are used to explain how a total is broken down and are particularly good for
illustrating fractions. They are rarely used in technical reports of laboratory or experimental work as
there is no simple way to use a pie chart to illustrate multiple readings. In short, if you want to
illustrate a division of a total into different components, use a pie chart. The following graphs are
examples of pie charts, and a sample report is given below.

Introduction:

The provided pie charts present a comparison on the education level of females in Someland
between the years 1945 and 1995. Overall, as is observed, more female got educated in Someland in
1995 than that of 1945.

Body:

Initially, in 1945, more than one-third women in Someland did not have any schooling
experience while another one-third could manage education until third grade only. Less than 1%
women in this year managed to get their graduation or post-graduation degree. This reflects the poor
education level among the female of Someland in 1945.

After 50 years, the education level among women in Someland remarkably improved and
more than 50% women finished their first degree while 20% of them completed their post-
graduation. Remaining women either finished their 12th-grade education or studied till 9th grade. No
women were left unattended to school and that’s a remarkable progress for women in education in
Someland.

Conclusion:

In summary, education level among women improved significantly over the 50 years period
in Someland.

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5. BAR CHARTS / GRAPHS

Bar charts are used to compare results for a set of different conditions. They can be
horizontal which is useful if labels are too long or there are more than about 6 data points. In other
words, if you want to illustrate a division of a total into different components, use a bar chart.

The following graph is an example to bar charts / graphs. Following the graph, a sample
interpretation is given in some basic elements below.

Introduction:

This graph shows the electrical energy consumption in kWh throughout the year in X Land.

Body:

It is seen that the lowest amount of consumption occurs in April. After May, the demand
makes a dramatic increase in June with almost a double rise. It is understood from the graph that in
the mid-summer and mid-winter the demand reaches at its peak. Peak demand occurs in July with a
consumption of almost 1200 kWh. With the beginning of March until June, the demand remains
stable. In June, a dramatical rise is observed with a rise of approximately 90%.

Conclusion:

To sum up, it can be referred from the graph that when the climate is at its hardest
condition, the consumption amount of electrical energy rises accordingly; therefore, it can be
claimed that there is a significant relation between the climate and electrical energy consumption.

EXERCISE 1
2
Look at the graph below and then complete the description with the words in the box.

compared with higher in contrast indicates

The pie charts show the proportion of money spent on various household expenses in
Malaysia and Japan in 2010.

We can see that in Malaysia the greatest proportion of expenditure (34%) was on
housing, __while______________ (1) in Japan housing accounted for just 21% of the total. ____in
contrast____________ (2), in Japan the greatest single expense was other goods and services at
29%, _compared with __ (3) 26% in Malaysia. Food came in second place in Japan, at 24%, while in
Malaysia the actual proportion was higher (27%). In Japan another major expense was transport, at
20%, but this was much ___lower_____________ (4) in Malaysia (10%). In both countries
the __smallest______________ (5) percentage of expenditure was on health care.

Overall, the data ___indicates_____________ (6) that in both cases food, housing and other
goods and services were the main expenses, but that in Japan, transport and other goods and
services took up a __higher______________ (7) proportion of total expenditure than in Malaysia.

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EXERCISE 2

The bar chart below gives information about the percentage of the population living in urban areas in
the world and in different continents. Look at the graph and fill in the gaps with the words given
below.

by contrast compares double highest

in spite of marked shows smaller

The bar chart ______shows__________ (1) the urbanization percentage of the world in 1950
and _compares_______________ (2) this with the percentage in 2007 and the projected percentage
for 2030. Between 1950 and 2030, the proportion of the world's population residing in cities is
expected to __double______________ (3) growing from 29% to 60%. However, this rate is
less ____marked____________ (4) in some continents than others. For example, 64% of the
population of North America was urban in 1950, increasing to 79% by 2007. _____By
contrast_________ (5), just 15% of the African population was urban in 1950, but this rose to 37% by
2007. This represents one of the __highest______________ (6) urbanization rates in the world, even
though the percentage of Africans in urban areas is still _____smaller___________ (7) than the world
average. It is also clear from the graph that, urbanization in Latin America is projected to be higher
than Europe in 2030, __in spite of______________ (8) being lower in 1950.