Describing a natural process in task 1 writing

If you are unlucky enough to get a process diagram in academic task 1, it is quite possible that you will need to be able to
describe a process or cycle from nature. In this lesson, I talk you through how to approach this type of task with tips on
understanding the diagram and writing a description that is coherent and well-structured.
The diagram

Understanding the cycle what are the stages in it?

The first step is to remember that your goal is to provide a clear summary of what the diagram shows. This cycle is difficult
in that it has no obvious beginning or end. The idea is to try and look and see if you can divide the diagram into separate
parts. This makes it easier to write about than if you look at he whole diagram at once. Put another way, I ask myself if
there are any stages within this cycle I can use to structure my description.
The top tip is to look for visual clues and here I see two distinct stages by looking at the arrows: some point down and some
point up.

1. The food chain

Looking at the central part of the diagram, I see a row of arrows pointing downwards. This shows how carbon from the
atmosphere is used by plants and animals. It is, if you look closely, a food chain. The atmosphere provides CO2 to plants
which are eaten by insects which are eaten by small animals which are then eaten by larger animals. All I have to do now is
put this into decent English, trying not to repeat the language of the diagram too much.
2. Return of CO2 to the atmosphere
The second part of the cycle is quite straight forward. There are on either side a set of arrows pointing upwards to show the
return of CO2 to the atmosphere. This shows me that respiration, fuel consumption and waste products are the 3 ways in
which CO2 returns to the atmosphere to complete the cycle.

Thinking vocabulary
This diagram gives you a certain of language. You have the choice of whether to repeat it in your description or try and vary
it. What you do here will depend on how well you understand the diagram and the words. It is not an absolute disaster in
this task if you do repeat some of the words from the diagram as they are technical terms. You should, however, try and
find alternatives for the more general English words.
carbon dioxide: no alternative
atmosphere: no alternative
terrestrial and aquatic: either repeat the words, or if you understand them try land and water
primary, secondary, tertiary: these mean first, second and third level
consumers: try the word eat or vary it to consume or consumption
respiration: this means breathing

Read my sample description

This diagram shows how the carbon cycle works in nature. The first part of the cycle is providing plants and animals on both
land and sea with the carbon dioxide they need to exist and the second part of the cycle is the return of carbon dioxide to
the atmosphere.
The first part of the cycle shows a food chain where plants and grasses absorb carbon dioxide from the air. These plants
are a food source for primary consumers such as insects which are in turn eaten by the second level consumers, including
smaller birds and fish. At the end of this food chain are larger animals and mammals which use the secondary level
consumers as a source of carbon and food.
The second part of the cycle shows how there are two main ways in which carbon dioxide is returned to the atmosphere.
This can either happen as a result of living beings breathing or consuming fuel, or as a product of the waste and remains
from their death.

IELTS writing task 1 process diagrams

The process diagram is in many ways the odd one out in academic task 1 and it requires some different language from the
other task types. This lesson shows you some of the skills you need to tackle a process diagram. In it, I talk you through
some of the difficulties in describing a process and suggest some basic techniques to help you understand the diagram and
write the description. You will also find a sample task and description.
Reading a process diagram find the beginnings and ends
The first step in learning to write about a process diagram is to see where the process starts and ends. Sometimes it is
evident, frequently it is less so. This is important information as it will help structure your writing. The obvious thing to do is
to start at the beginning and carry on until you get to the end.
An example

Where is the beginning here? The customer pays by credit card (item 1). Where is the end? The merchant receives his
money (item 7). We now know part of the structure of our report.
Understand the different stages of the process
The next point is to try and understand how the process works. Typically, there will be some problem in understanding the
diagram: it is not always the case that everything is in a natural order. The key is to stop and think and look. This is a visual
task and you need to look at all the visual clues. What you are looking for are normally simple things. It is often a good idea
to ask yourself the WH questions.
In the diagram above, we see the following details:
there are 5 parties involved (the pictures) (WHO)
there are 7 stages in the process (the numbers) (HOW MANY)
some of the arrows point in two different directions this needs to be explained
item 4 seems to be out of order as it is next to 1
Find a way of organising your description
This is another thinking task. Before you start writing, you want to see if there is some way to organise your report into
paragraphs. This is not absolutely essential but it can help the organisation of your writing. In the diagram above, there
does seem to be a logical solution, as the process falls in to two parts:

1. the customer receives his goods

2. the merchant gets his money
As this is the case, I am going to do the logical thing and divide my description into two main paragraphs. One to describe
the authorisation process until the customer gets his/her money and one for the payment process until the merchant is paid.
The introduction and conclusion
This is a key part of your description. What you need to do here is to give the examiner an overall view of the process.
Again, you want to ask yourself questions, such as:
what happens as a result of this process?
is there any change involved?
how many stages are there in this process?
is there one simple process or are there variations within the process?
Typically, you will either write a longer introduction or add a conclusion. You will not normally need both an extended
introduction and conclusion.
The language of the description
Topic language
The process will normally be an everyday event that everyone is familiar with, you should not need any specialised
language. Sometimes, as in this example, you will be given some topic vocabulary. If you are, be careful of two points:
1. try to vary the language if you can, but dont worry too much if you cant. It may be that the language you are given
is the correct topic language and there are no, or few, variations
2. dont copy language incorrectly. If you are given a verb, you may need to change it into a noun
Sequencing language
Some of the most important language you need is vocabulary to say in what order things happen. It is important to have
some variation here. Some very basic options are:
next
then
after
before
once
See this download for an explanation of this language: Sequencing language for process diagrams (37434)
Passives
A key grammatical area is very often the passive. We use this when it is not important who does the action. So, if you
have a process diagram showing the making of wine, you may choose to write:
the grapes are crushed and their stems are removed
Put simply, we make the passive by taking part of the verb to be and adding the 3rd form of the verb.
This diagram shows the different stages in the process of making a purchase with a credit card. We can see that it is a
complex transaction with no fewer than five different parties involved and there are seven different steps until the merchant
receives payment.
The first step is that the customer offers to pay for the goods by credit card. At that point, the merchant has to request for
the payment to be authorised by the credit card organisation, which must also request authorisation in turn from the
consumers bank. Once that authorisation has been received, the merchant can then release the goods to the customer.
The merchant, however, does not receive the money for the transaction until it has paid a fee to the credit card
organisation. After that has been paid, the consumers issuing bank will transfer the money for the transaction to the
merchants own bank, which will then credit the merchants bank account with the amount of thepurchase less the credit
card fee. (168)