PATHWAYS 2 WRITING UNIT 4 Explaining a Chart

PATHWAYS 2 - WRITING UNIT 4 Explaining a Chart or Graph National Geographic, Heinle CENGAGE Learning Elizabeth Celeste Coiman-Lopez, BAT, MS. Houston Community College, School of Continuing Education

RULES: – CHART: CHART – shows changes over time. – It is a graphical representation of data, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". [1] Unit 4 - p. 76 WRITING SKILL - EXPLAINING A CHART OR GRAPH 2

RULES: – GRAPH: GRAPH – shows numbers or amounts from a single period. – A diagram representing system of connections of interrelations among two or more things by a number of distinctive dots, lines, bars, etc. Unit 4 - p. 76 WRITING SKILL - EXPLAINING A CHART OR GRAPH 3

RULES: • PHRASES to introduce a description of a chart of graph: – According to the graph… – As the chart shows… – We can see from the chart… • VERBS: (in simple past): – rose to…. rose by. . increased to… increased by… – doubled… tripled… quadrupled… – reached a high point of…. reached a low point of…. – declined… decreased… dipped… dropped…. fell… – remained stable…. remained steady… – stayed about the same…. . stayed the same… Unit 4 - p. 75 LANGUAGE FOR WRITING: EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING CHARTS AND GRAPHS 4

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VERBS TO DESCRIBE Rose Jumped Grew Climbed Went up Increased How to describe Stay Remain Maintain Unit 4 - p. 76 Fell Dropped Declined Decreased Went down Plunged constant steady stable WRITING SKILL - VERBS FOR EXPLAINING A CHART OR GRAPH 6

ADVERBS TO DESCRIBE HOW Sharply Quickly Rapidly Steeply Considerably Significantly Substantially Steadily Gradually Moderately Slightly Slowly Unit 4 - p. 76 WRITING SKILL - VERBS FOR EXPLAINING A CHART OR GRAPH 7

RULES: • PREPOSITIONS: – – – • TO + verb: to talk about a number or amount that something reached. BY + verb: to talk about how much something changed. OVER: talk about a period of time BETWEEN: a period from one year to another BY: at a certain time IN: during a number of years Example: 1. 2. 3. As the graphs shows, sales rose to $50 million by 2010. According to the graph, seafood sales fell by 20 percent over two years. As the chart shows, sales of orange roughy doubled in five years. Unit 4 - p. 75 LANGUAGE FOR WRITING: EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING CHARTS AND GRAPHS 8

RULES: 1. Begin by explaining the main idea or purpose of the chart or graph. • According to the chart, eating top predators has a great impact on the ocean ecosystem. • As the graph shows, the quantity of fish caught has steadily increased since 1950. 2. Then provide supporting details: specific data that support the main idea. • Eating a pound of a top predator, such as orange roughy, is like eating 10 pounds of a smaller fish, such as herring. • The amount of fish caught between 1950 and 2006 increased from about 17 million metric tons to more than 80 million in 2006. Unit 4 - p. 76 WRITING SKILL - EXPLAINING A CHART OR GRAPH 9

Main Idea • What kind of diagram is it? • What does the chart/graph show? • Over what period of time? • How is the data shown? DETAIL #1 • What is one detail that supports the main idea of the graph? • Where did the most significant change occur? DETAIL #2 • What is another detail that supports the main idea of the graph? • Which 2 areas showed the greatest decreases or increases and by how much? DETAIL #3 • What is another detail that supports the main idea of the graph? • What areas stayed the same? CONCLUSION • What is the most recent data in the graph? • What does this show? Unit 4 - p. 75 LANGUAGE FOR WRITING: EXPLANATORY PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING CHARTS AND GRAPHS 10

TOPIC: Explain a Chart or a Graph 1. Study the graph on page 68 2. Complete the chart on page 77. 3. Write a paragraph in your notebook explaining this graph. P. 79 WRITING ASSIGNMENT 11

Writer: ___________ Peer Editor: __________ Writing Title: ____________________ q Title is the main idea. q No contractions q 3 Details supporting the Main Idea q Most recent data at the end q Use past tense to describe changes in the past q Use correct prepositions, verbs, and language for describing a graph. Unit 4 PEER EDITING CHECKLIST 12