Last week we saw that there are two types of bar chart:
1. those that show changes over time
2. those that compare different items
The important thing to remember about the second type is that you can't describe increases and decreases. Let's look at this type in more detail.
The chart below shows numbers of incidents and injuries per 100 million passenger miles travelled (PMT) by transportation type in 2002.
Here's my advice for a 4-paragraph essay:
- Introduction: Explain what the chart shows by paraphrasing the question.
- Overview: Look for two main things - in this case, we could mention the highest item and the fact that there were more incidents than injuries for all five transport types. You don't need to mention any numbers at this point.
- Details: I'd probably group together the two highest items (demand response and bus) in this paragraph. Remember that you can't talk about an increase or decrease; you can only compare the numbers.
- Details: I'd group the three types of rail transport together for this paragraph. Write some nice comparison sentences!
Note:
You don't need to know what 'demand-response' transport is (it's an American term which I've never used), but click here if you want to know.