The structure of the IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 (Report Writing):

Introduction:

Introduction (never copy word for word from the question) + Overview/ General trend (what the diagrams indicate at a first glance).

Reporting Details:

Main features in the Details

+ Comparison and Contrast of the data. (Do not give all the figures.) + Most striking features of the graph.

Conclusion:

Conclusion (General statement + Implications, significant comments) [The conclusion part is optional.]

Tips:

1. Write the introduction and General trend in the same paragraph. Some students prefer to write the ‘General Trend’ in a separate paragraph and many teachers suggest both to be written in a single paragraph. Unless you have a really good reason to write the general trend in the second paragraph, try to write them both in the first paragraph. However, this is just a suggestion, not a requirement.
2. Your ‘Introduction (general statement + overall trend/ general trend) should have 75 – 80

words.

3. DO NOT give numbers, percentages or quantity in your general trend. Rather give the most striking feature of the graph that could be easily understood at a glance. Thus it is suggested to AVOID –

“A glance at the graphs reveals that 70% of the male were employed in 2001 while 40 thousand women in this year had jobs.”

And use a format /comparison like the following:

“A glance at the graphs reveals that more men were employed than their female counterparts in

2001 and almost two-third of females were jobless in the same year. ”

Vocabulary to Start the Report Body:

Just after you finish writing your ‘Introduction’ (i.e. General Statement + General overview/ trend), you are expected to start a new paragraph to describe the main features of the diagrams. This second paragraph is called the ‘Body Paragraph / Report Body”. You can have a single body paragraph/ report body or up to 3, (not more than 3 in any case) depending on the number of graphs provided in the question and the type of these graphs. There are certain phrases you can use to start your body paragraph and the following is a list of such phrases —

1. As it is presented in the diagram(s)/ graph(s)/ pie chart(s)/ table…
2. As (it is) shown in the illustration…
3. As can be seen in the…
4. As the diagrams suggest…
5. According to the…
6. Categorically speaking…
7. Getting back to the details…
8. Now, turning to the details…
9. The table data clearly shows that…
10. The diagram reveals that…
11. The data suggest that…
12. The graph gives the figure…
13. It is interesting to note that…
14. It is apparently seen that…
15. It is conspicuous that…
16. It is explicitly observed that…
17. It is obvious…
18. It is clear from the data…
19. It is worth noticing that…
20. It is crystal clear/ lucid that…
21. It can be clearly observed that…
22. It could be plainly viewed that…
23. It could be noticed that…
24. We can see that… Vocabulary to show the changes:

Examples:

1. The overall sale of the company increased by 20% at the end of the year.
2. The expenditure of the office remained constant for the last 6 months but the profit rose by

almost 25%.

3. There was a 15% drop in the ratio of student enrollment at this University.
4. The population of the country remained almost the same as it was 2 years ago.
5. The population of these two cities increase significantly in the last two decades and it is

expected that it will remain stable during the next 5 years.

Tips:

1. Use ‘improve’ / ‘an improvement’ to describe a situation like economic condition or employment status. To denote numbers use other verbs/nouns like increase.
2. Do not use the same word/ phrase over and over again. In fact, you should not use a noun or verb form to describe a trend/change more than twice; once is better!

3. To achieve a high band score you need to use a variety of vocabulary as well as sentence formations. Vocabulary to represent changes in graphs:

Example:

1. The economic inflation of the country increased sharply by 20% in 2008.
2. There was a sharp drop in industrial production in the year 2009.
3. The demand for new houses dramatically increased in 2002.
4. The population of the country dramatically increased in the last decade.
5. The price of oil moderately increased during the last quarter but as a consequence, the price of daily necessities rapidly went up.

Vocabulary to represent frequent changes in graphs:

Example:  

1. The price of the goods fluctuated during the first three months of 2017.
2. The graph shows the oscillations of the price from 1998 to 2002.
3. The passenger number in this station oscillates throughout the day and in the early morning and evening, it remains busy.
4. The changes in car production in Japan shows a palpitation for the second quarter of the year.

5. The number of students in debate clubs fluctuated in different months of the year and rapid ups and downs could be observed in the last three months of this year.

Tips:

1. DO NOT try to present every single piece of data presented in a graph. Rather pick 5-7 most significant and important trends/ changes and show their comparisons and contrasts.
2. The question asks you to write a report and summaries the data presented in graphs(s). This is why you need to show the comparisons, contrasts, show the highest and lowest points and the most striking features in your answer, not every piece of data presented in the diagram(s).

Types of Changes/ Differences and Vocabulary to present them:

Great change / Huge difference:

Adjectives                           Adverbs

Overwhelming                   Overwhelmingly

Substantial                         Substantially

Enormous                          Enormously

Big change / Big difference:

Adjectives                           Adverbs

Significant                          Significantly

Considerable                     Considerably

Medium change / Moderate difference:

Adjectives                           Adverbs

Somewhat                           Somewhat

Moderate                             Moderately

Minor change / Small difference:

Adjectives                           Adverbs

Fractional                           Fractionally

Marginal                             Marginally

Slight                                 Slightly