THE AMERICAN DREAM THE AMERICAN DREAM
Commenting on a bar graph
Stage 1: Presenting the document: the introduction
(rephrase references) This bar graph published by the INS in the 1990 statistical Yearbook shows the changing origins of immigrants to the USA from 1841 to 1920, (define main notion) that is to say where immigrants came from before settling in the USA, (give context) in the 19th century at the time of the Industrial Revolution.
Stage 2: Analysing the document
| DESCRIBING A BAR GRAPH - What you see structured (≠ parts) and detailed description |
INTERPRETING A BAR GRAPH - What you know add and structure the definition of key notions |
| 1st PERIOD: FROM 1841 TO 1880 • Flows - 1841-1860: more than 4 million immigrants - 1861-1880: approximately 5 million • Origins - 1841-1860: nearly 1 million and a half Irish, Germans, approximately half a million British - 1861-1880: 1.5 million Germans = large increase, 1 million British = rise , half a million Irish = fall |
1st PERIOD: FROM 1841 TO 1880 • Flows A small number of immigrants = small immigration • Origins Immigrants coming from Europe and more precisely from northern and western Europe = old immigration |
| 2nd PERIOD/ FROM 1881 TO 1920 • Flows - the 1880s-1890s: 9 million - the 1900s-1910s: more than 14 million • Origins - the 1880s-1890s: 2 million Germans, 1 million Irish, British, Italians, Austrian-Hungarians = turning-point - the 1900s-1910s: 2 million Italians, Austrians, Russians = sharp rise, half a million British = drop |
2nd PERIOD/ FROM 1881 TO 1920 • Flows A large number of immigrants = mass immigration • Origins Immigrants from Europe too but more precisely from southern and eartern Europe = new immigration |
Stage 3: Concluding
To conclude, (assess doc) we can say this document is reliable -as it comes from an official source, and unbiased as it shows mere figures without any interpretation, opinion.
To recap,(sum-up ideas) this bar graph shows the increasing quantity and diversity of immigrants to the USA and so the increasingly cosmopolitan US society. However, these different ethnics communities won’t mix and will form a multicultural society.