Academic IELTS Writing Task 1 Preparation (Part 1)
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IELTS Writing Preparation: Academic IELTS Writing Task 1 Preparation:
Things you should know about Academic Writing Task 1:
• You are asked to describe information presented in graph/ table/ chart/ diagram.
• You have 20 minutes to finish the task and you have to write at least 150 words.
• If you are asked to use the information presented in the graph you must be careful not to copy it.
In Academic Writing task 1, candidates are assessed on their ability to:
• Organise, present and possibly compare data.
• Describe the stages of a process or procedure.
• Describe an object or event or sequence of events.
• Explain how something works.
Introduction + Basic/General Trends + Details Description + Conclusion/Summary (Optional).
The IELTS Academic writing task 1 requires several vocabularies. Each of these parts has a specific format and therefore being equipped with the necessary vocabulary will help you to write the task 1 efficiently and will save a great deal of time. Before you go through the details of how to write Academic Writing task 1, you must learn the necessary vocabulary and words first to write a better answer. «Click here to learn the vocabulary»
Well, now you know the structure and vocabulary for the Academic Writing Task 1. Continue ahead...
Four steps should be followed to write a better Academic writing task 1:
1. What type of presentation it is and what it is asking.
2. Collecting data/information.
3. Planning for writing.
4. Representing in an organised form.
First Step: Analise.
Analise the question first .Look whether it is a diagram / table /figure / illustration / graph / figure / chart / flow chart or a picture. Now look what the question is asking to do. For example, the question might ask to compare, contrast, analyse, summarise or more than one thing.
Second Step: Collecting data/information.
You must collect/ understand the following data and information from the figure.
a) Time: Be sure whether the time presented in the graph/ figure are present/ past/ future or a mixture of these three. Your writing has to be in the correct Tense according to the time presented.
b) Theme: Be sure what the figure/ diagram/ picture is trying to represent.
c) Place and Position: About what place or field the data are all about?
d) Main Point: What's the central idea of the presented graph/ diagram?
e) General Trend: Figure out the General Trend(s).
f) Effects & Result: Find out the effects and results.
g) Conclusion: Plan what you should include in the conclusion.
Example:
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The graph below shows the unemployment rates in the USA and Japan between March 1993 and March 1999. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
You should write at least 150 words.
First Step (worked out): Analise:
It is a line graph with 2 lines. The graph is asking to summarise the main features of the unemployment rate.
Second Step (worked out): Collecting data/information:
Time: From March 1993 to March 1999.
Theme: Unemployment rates of USA and Japan.
Place and Position: USA and Japan.
Main Point: The unemployment rate has decreased in the USA and has increased in Japan.
General Trend: Initially unemployment rate was higher in the USA than Japan but over the period the USA managed to reduce the rate and in case of Japan the reverse was true.
Effects & Result: Effects: unknown. Result: as General Trends.
Conclusion: Unemployment rate was higher in the USA than Japan but over the period the USA managed to reduce the rate and in case of Japan the reverse was true.
Third Step: Essay Planning:
You should make a plan after you are done with the first 2 steps. This step involves the following orders.
a) Writing a balanced Introduction.
b) Writing a general trend
c) Detailed description of the figure and supporting the description.
d) Describing the results.
e) Writing the conclusion.
How to write a balanced introduction:
The introduction part of a writing is very important hence it reflects your skill of writing. Readers decide whether to read further or completely avoid the whole writing after reading the introduction. So in every writing introduction part should be very organised. In case of IELTS academic writing task 1, you should use the following structure and vocabularies to write a balanced introduction.
What it is (table/ graph/ chart/ diagram/ picture/ flow chart) + What it does (presents data/ shows comparison/ summarize / contrast/ give projection or prediction) + What about (in this case the unemployment rate) + Place (in this case US and Japan) + Time (in this case 1993 to 1999) + Presentation of X and Y axis (here X axis represents time and Y axis represent percentage of work force) + Other relevant information.
Example: The provided line graph provides information on unemployment rates in USA and Japan from March 1993 to March 1999. Here the bold line represents the unemployment rate of Japan and the dotted line for the USA. In the provided line graph the X axis shows time with one-year interval and the Y axis represents unemployment rate.
How to write a better general trend:
The general trend part should be immediately after the introduction part. It is recommended to write the general trend parts in the same paragraph with the introduction. The general trend part should focus the main point of the presentation and should not be too large with lots of information. However you should not give the specific figure, time, amount or data presented in the graph, rather try to use daily life English to make the main reader interested about the whole writing. You can use phrases like As is presented/ as is observed / in general / in common etc. to start this part.
Example: As is observed from the graph, initially in 1993 the unemployment rate in the USA was significantly higher than that of Japan. But over the 6 years, the USA managed to reduce this rate and the reverse was true for Japan where unemployment rate increased in these 6 years.
How to write an attractive details description:
The Detailed description part comes after the introduction and general trend and should be written in the second paragraph. In this part, you should describe the graph / table / chart / diagram etc. While describing, keep in mind that, you are not expected to write down all the data provided in the question, rather your ability to describe the presentation in general English.
» Use appropriate tense to describe the data.
» Use transitional words like, besides, as well as, likewise, in addition, additionally, again, on the other hand etc. to make your sentences relevant and coherent.
» Try to mention the initial, highest, lowest and projection points.
Things you should avoid in this part:
» Do not describe all the data and facts presented in the graph.
» Don't include your own opinion, imagination or solution.
» DO NOT use contractions (can not=can't, do not =don't etc, will not=won't) in your writing.
How to describe the results:
If you want to and really need to describe the result of the graph, then write it at the end of the detailed description. However, if results-writing makes something repeated ( those that has already been described), then you do not need to write the result apparently.
Example: The USA managed to decline their unemployment rate from 7% to almost 5% in 6 years but on the other hand the rate has increased in Japan from only 2.5% to approximately 5%.
How to write a good and efficient conclusion:
The conclusion is an important part of the whole writing and that is why you must be careful to write a better conclusion. The conclusion part of the Academic IELTS writing 1 is also knows as summarising. So write down the main point/theme of the graph in short. You should never include your own point of view, personal opinion or suggestion to solve a problem in conclusion. In some cases of Academic IELTS writing task 1, it optional to write the conclusion, hence the data are already described and summarised before the conclusion. However, if you need to write the conclusion part, use one of the following words to start the sentence:
In conclusion / in short / to conclude / to sum up / in brief / in summary etc.
Example: It conclusion, the unemployment rate in the USA decreased in 6 years and the opposite scenario was true for the Japan.
Overall, fluctuations occurred in both Japan and USA in terms of measuring the number of jobless people in percentage, but the two countries showed different results at the end of 1999. Japan’s population of unemployed citizens went up while the percentage of America’s unemployed people dramatically decreased.
From 1993 to 1996, we can see a visible increase of being unemployed in Japan with minimal fluctuations occurring from 1996 to 1998 but with the same result of 3.5 per cent. For only about a year since 1998, the state of being jobless greatly increased to approximately 4.8 per cent.
In the United States which had a different scenario, the percentage of jobless citizens enormously dropped from 7 per cent to nearly 5.4 per cent from March 1993 to 1995. Fast forward to 1999, the rate of unemployed citizens in America overwhelmingly dropped to 4.2 per cent in 1999.
As is presented in the graph, the unemployment rate in the USA was around 7% in 1993 whereas it was below 2.5% in Japan in the same year. Afterwards, the rate of the unemployed workforce of the USA showed a drastic downward trend with fluctuations till around March 1995 and then plateaued out for the next 1-2 years. After the year 1997, the gradual declivity continued in the USA. On the contrary, the unemployment rate gradually increased with some oscillations in Japan commencing from 1993 and it intersected with the rate of the USA around the year 1999. In the year 1999, the rate of jobless workforce almost doubled in Japan while it decreased more than 3 percentage in the USA.
Overall, the rate of joblessness declined substantially over the years in the US while in Japan, it inversely showed an upward trend.
As it is presented in the graph, the rate of joblessness in the US exceeded that of Japan by 4.6% in 1993 which depicted a downward trend as compared with Japan which took the opposite direction over the 6 years period. The unemployment rate in the US started at 7% and declined progressively till 1995 where it remained slightly stable at 5.5% till mid-1996 where it deteriorated to about 4%in 1999. On the other hand, the rate of unemployment in japan depicted a negative trend, a gradual increase was noted from 2.5% to 3.5% from 1993 to 1998. From this point, it increased dramatically to about 4.7% in 1999 while intersecting at 4.5% with the US in mid-March 1998. In conclusion, while the US was able to reduce their unemployment status, that of japan grew exceedingly over time.
Overall, initially, the unemployment rate in the USA was significantly higher than the unemployment rate in Japan. However, the situation in the USA progressed while it got deteriorated in Japan over the period.
In particular, the unemployment rate in the USA in March 1993 was 7%. At that time joblessness in Japan was just over 2%. Exactly after two years, the rate in the USA dropped by 1.5% while increased in Japan by 1%. Over the period, the unemployment rate in the USA continued to drop while it gradually and ceaselessly increased in Japan. Interestingly, at the end of 1998, the rates in both countries intersected at 4.5% from which point it further reduced in the USA and increased in Japan. Finally, in March 1999, the unemployed population in the United States of America was just over 4% while it was above 4.5% in Japan.
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