The Two-Part Chart (Task 1 Writing)

In a previous post, we learned the basics of writing about bar charts. 

We learned that we must:

• write an introduction telling what the chart is
• make a general statement about the information that we see
• look for the most notable features and give examples
• make a conclusion which restates the introduction

It seems easy, right?

Well, unfortunately bar charts can be more complicated when we are comparing two or more things, or comparing the changes over time.

It's even more complicated when we are given an essay assignment like this one:

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

These charts give information about future sales of blue jeans in Turkey. The bar chart shows the estimated sales of jeans for two companies next year in Turkey. The pie chart shows the projected market share of the two companies in jeans at the end of next year.

Write a short report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below.

Write at least 150 words.

Now what??

There are two charts and we must write about both of them at the same time. But don't worry - we can use the same method that we used for writing about one bar chart, as long as we remember this simple tip for writing about more than one chart:

Write about the charts together. 

Do not separate them!

Students have a bad habit of writing about the charts separately rather than together. This will reduce your score. The charts have been shown together because they have a relationship to each other. You must try to understand this relationship and explain it. 

With this in mind, let's see what kind of general statements we can make about the charts.

Remember that your introduction sentence can be more or less taken from the task assignment at the top of the page. We want to begin very generally, giving information that includes both of the charts. 

Here is a good introduction:

These charts give information about the future jeans sales of two different companies in Turkey. The bar chart shows projected sales for each month of next year, while the pie chart illustrates the percentage of market share that will be held by each company.

Please note: we have included information about both charts equally. Now we must see if there's anything that we can say that is true for both charts. Start looking for notable features!

Look at both charts. Generally speaking, which company is projected to sell more jeans next year? Write a sentence summarizing the biggest trend:

From the chart, we can easily observe that Jack & Jones Co. is going to have higher average sales and a larger portion of market share in the coming year. This should be our first statement after the introduction.

From both charts, it's clear that the Jack & Jones jeans company will exceed Mango Co. in both profits and market share in the upcoming year.

Now that we have shown the relationship between the charts, the rest is smooth sailing! Simply follow the model that we used for a single bar chart. Make sure to mention some notable features on each chart:

• Mention a Notable Feature
• Give A Detail to Support Notable Feature
• Mention Another Notable Feature
• Give Another Detail to Support Notable Feature

When we return to the conclusion, it's important that we write about both charts together again. Don't write about just one!

A good conclusion can restate the information from the beginning in a new way. Like so:

Generally speaking, we can conclude that Jack & Jones Co. is projected to be more successful next year in Turkey, both in terms of market share and raw profits.