IELTS Academic Reading · Scanning and reading in detail · Lesson 7 of 12
Diagram label completion
Label a diagram using words from the text. Learn to read the diagram first and follow the language of location and position.
In this lesson you will
- learn to understand a diagram before you read the text
- identify what kind of information is missing and the key words to scan for
- follow the language of location and position in a text
- complete a diagram labelling task
The question type
What is diagram label completion?
You complete the labels on a diagram using information from the text. The diagram may show a machine, a part of a building, a natural process or anything else that can be drawn.
- You either write words from the text (check the word limit), or choose from a box of options.
- The answers usually come from one part of the text, but they are not necessarily in text order.
- Pay special attention to words about location and position: above, below, deepest, shallowest, beneath, attached to, along…
A Remarkable Beetle
A Introducing dung1 beetles into a pasture is a simple process: approximately 1,500 beetles are released, a handful at a time, into fresh cow pats2 in the cow pasture. The beetles immediately disappear beneath the pats digging and tunnelling and, if they successfully adapt to their new environment, soon become a permanent, self-sustaining part of the local ecology. In time they multiply and within three or four years the benefits to the pasture are obvious.
B Dung beetles work from the inside of the pat so they are sheltered from predators such as birds and foxes. Most species burrow into the soil and bury dung in tunnels directly underneath the pats, which are hollowed out from within. Some large species originating from France excavate tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the dung pat. These beetles make sausage-shaped brood chambers along the tunnels. The shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller Spanish species that buries dung in chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear tree. South African beetles dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the pat. Some surface-dwelling beetles, including a South African species, cut perfectly-shaped balls from the pat, which are rolled away and attached to the bases of plants.
C For maximum dung burial in spring, summer and autumn, farmers require a variety of species with overlapping periods of activity. In the cooler environments of the state of Victoria, the large French species (2.5 cms long) is matched with smaller (half this size), temperate-climate Spanish species. The former are slow to recover from the winter cold and produce only one or two generations of offspring from late spring until autumn. The latter, which multiply rapidly in early spring, produce two to five generations annually. The South African ball-rolling species, being a sub-tropical beetle, prefers the climate of northern and coastal New South Wales where it commonly works with the South African tunneling species. In warmer climates, many species are active for longer periods of the year.
Glossary
1 dung: the droppings or excreta of animals · 2 cow pats: droppings of cows
Source: IELTS Academic Reading sample tasks (ielts.org).
Questions 6–8
Label the tunnels on the diagram below using words from the box.
Dung beetle types: French · Spanish · Mediterranean · South African · Australian native · South African ball roller
- 6
- 7
- 8
Do the next two exercises before you answer, then come back and check.
- 6 South African “South African beetles dig narrow tunnels of approximately 20 cm below the surface of the pat.”
- 7 French “Some large species originating from France excavate tunnels to a depth of approximately 30 cm below the dung pat. These beetles make sausage-shaped brood chambers along the tunnels.”
- 8 Spanish “The shallowest tunnels belong to a much smaller Spanish species that buries dung in chambers that hang like fruit from the branches of a pear tree.”
- The South African ball roller is a distractor: it lives on the surface and rolls balls away. It doesn't dig tunnels. Mediterranean and Australian native beetles are not mentioned in this part of the text.
Understand the diagram first
- What does the diagram show?
- What kind of information is missing in gaps 6–8?
- Which are the best key words to scan for?
- What can you see about the three tunnels, even before you read?
Now you know to look for depths and comparisons in the text: 30 cm, 20 cm, the shallowest. You can also use the shapes in the diagram: tunnel 7 has sausage-shaped chambers, and tunnel 8 has chambers hanging like fruit.
In what order?
In what order should you use these reading skills to complete the diagram?
- Detailed reading, but only when you are sure you have found the relevant section.
- Scanning the text for the key words (tunnel, cm).
- Skimming the part of the text around the key words to check that it is about the missing information.
Tunnel appears once in paragraph A, but there it is not about the missing information. It appears several times in paragraph B, and that is the relevant section. Read paragraph B in detail.
Follow-up
Describe the diagram in your own words
Write a short summary of the diagram to show you have understood it. This is also good practice for Academic Writing Task 1.
Write a summary
Write 3–5 sentences. Don't copy whole sentences from the text.
The diagram shows the tunnels that three species of dung beetle dig beneath a cow pat. The Spanish beetle digs the shallowest tunnels, just below the surface, with small chambers branching off them. The South African species makes a narrow tunnel that goes down to around 20 cm. The French beetle digs the deepest tunnels, reaching approximately 30 cm, with sausage-shaped chambers along their length.
Strategy summary
- Study the diagram. What does it show? What can you understand from the shapes, numbers and labels already there?
- Check the instructions: words from the text (how many?) or options from a box?
- Decide what is missing (a name, a part, a material…) and choose key words to scan for.
- Scan for the key words, then skim around them to find the one relevant section.
- Read that section in detail. Follow the location and position language and match it to the diagram. Remember, the answers may not be in text order.
Activities adapted from Cambridge English IELTS teaching activities (© UCLES 2009) and British Council IELTS teaching materials.