Some students learn 10 different ways to write the word "shows" (e.g. the graph shows). They find words like depicts, indicates, reveals, displays, exhibits etc. But none of these words are really appropriate for the kind of essay we are writing.
I advise my students to keep it simple and avoid making mistakes. Just learn one or two different ways to write the same thing. For example:
- shows = illustrates / compares
- graph = line graph
- chart = bar chart / pie chart
- the number of = the figure for
- increased = rose / saw an increase / there was a rise