You should begin the TOEFL Writing section by formulating some thoughts about your essay and writing a thesis statement. You are then ready to write the first paragraph of the essay—the introduction—which should serve these three functions:
a. Grab the reader's attention
b. Provide the reader with general information on the topic (but no specific details)
c. Present the thesis statement for the essay
As you write the first sentence of the introduction to your TOEFL essay, try to give your reader some idea of the topic of your essay in such a way that he or she will want to read more. Once you've written an attention-grabbing first sentence, provide general information on the topic of the essay. TOEFL essay topics are general enough that anyone taking the test should have some thoughts and feelings on the topic. The introduction should include enough general information on the topic to give the reader a foundational understanding of the topic without providing specific, detailed information about it. Finish your introduction with the thesis statement you've written. This will tell the reader exactly what you'll be discussing in the remainder of the essay.
Introductory Structure
Look at the following three sentences, which could be part of an introduction to an essay on the topic of writing an essay for the TOEFL. The sentences are not in the order that they would appear in the introduction. One of the sentences would best serve to grab the reader's attention, another provides general information on the topic, and the third is a thesis statement, which outlines how the essay will proceed after the introduction. Decide which sentence is the attention grabber.
- Test-takers have 30 minutes to plan and write the essay, and those who do not have a clear strategy for how best to write an essay may waste valuable time.
- Writing an effective essay on the TOEFL is easy, as long as you remember to use appropriate vocabulary, correct grammar, and a standard organizational format.
- Thinking about writing the essay on the TOEFL makes some students break out in a cold sweat!
Thinking about writing the essay on the TOEFL makes some students break out in a cold sweat!
The third sentence—Thinking about writing the essay on the TOEFL makes some students break out in a cold sweat!—is the best attention grabber. It uses humor to draw the reader into the topic. The first sentence in the list—Test-takers have 30 minutes to plan and write the essay, and those who do not have a clear strategy for how best to write an essay may waste valuable time—provides general information about writing an essay for the TOEFL, so it would appear somewhere within an introduction paragraph. Finally, Writing an effective essay on the TOEFL is easy, as long as you remember to use appropriate vocabulary, correct grammar, and a standard organizational format would serve as a good thesis statement, because it states the topic and gives an outline of what the remainder of the essay will address; in this case, that is vocabulary usage, grammar, and organization.
2>Essay types
After you have written a solid introduction to your TOEFL essay, you will write the body, where you will discuss the main points of the essay in detail. A separate paragraph should be devoted to discussing each main point. The main points you choose to write about, and the way you organize the paragraphs in the body of your essay, will depend on the type of essay you write. With some TOEFL essay topics, it may be possible to use one of two different formats.
Below are examples for the organization of the body of two different types of essays.
The purpose of a descriptive essay is to present a detailed picture of a person, place, object, event, or situation. A descriptive essay should have 4 or 5 paragraphs, depending on whether you choose 2 or 3 main points:
Paragraph 2: Detailed description of one primary feature or characteristic of the topic
Paragraph 3: Detailed description of another primary feature or characteristic of the topic
Paragraph 4: Detailed description of another primary feature or characteristic of the topic
Conclusion: Restatement of the thesis and summary of key issues
Paragraph 2: Similarities between the two things being compared
Paragraph 3: Dissimilarities between the two things being compared
OR
Paragraph 2: Advantages and disadvantages of one thing being compared
Paragraph 3: Advantages and disadvantages of second thing being compared
Conclusion: Restatement of the thesis and summary of key issues
3>Advanced essays of TOEFL: Paragraph level
Look at the following essay topic:
What are some important qualities of a good friend?
You would probably choose to write a descriptive essay, because this type would fit the goal of describing important qualities of a good friend. The first paragraph of the essay would be the introduction, in which you would write some general thoughts on friendship and include your thesis statement for the essay. The next two or three paragraphs would each address one quality that you feel is important in a good friend. The final paragraph of the essay would be the conclusion.
Example 1
A school administrator should begin by giving students a complete orientation to their new school. She or he should take them on a tour of the school, showing them the classrooms, gym, computer lab, band room, and cafeteria. She or he should tell them about the history o
| Topic sentence: | A school administrator should begin by giving students a complete orientation to their new school. |
| Supporting details: | take students on tour of school |
| | tell about history of school |
| | talk to them about what’s expected |
In the above paragraphs the topic sentence is about the school administrator’s job to give an orientation to new students. The orientation includes a tour of the school, its history, and a discussion of what is expected of students.
Example 2
| Topic sentence: | Everyone, children as well as senior citizens, can have important relationship with pets. |
| Supporting details: | Teaches children responsibility |
| | Elderly take care of dogs who, in turn, need them. |
Example 3
| Topic sentence: | One should spend time getting to know people before judging them. |
| Supporting details: | I don’t always make the best first impression |
| | We all have bad days. |
| | We all pick out the wrong clothing or say something wrong. |
Playing games also teaches us how to deal with other people. We learn about teamwork, if the game involves being on team. We learn how to divide and assign tasks according to each person’s skills. We learn how to get people to do what we want, and we learn that sometimes we have to do what other people want.
| Topic sentence: | 1.1 |
| Supporting details: | 1.2 |
| | 1.3 |
| | 1.4 |
| | 1.5 |
Cooking takes a lot of time. While the food might not actually be on the stove for long, you also have to consider the time that is spent shopping for the food, cleaning and chopping it, and cleaning up the kitchen after it is cooked.
| Topic sentence: | 2.1 |
| Supporting details: | 2.2 |
| | 2.3 |
| | 2.4 |
Paragraph 3
Watching movies and television can be good for us. One thing they do is giving us a broader window on the world. For example, seeing movies can expose us to people of different races and cultures that we don’t see often. We can then overcome some prejudices more easily.
| Topic sentence: | 3.1 |
| Supporting details: | 3.2 |
| | 3.3 |
| | 3.4 |
Paragraph 4
Our planet gives us everything we need, but natural resources are not endless. Strip mining devastates whole regions, leaving bare and useless ground. Deforestation removes old trees that can’t be replaced. Too much fishing may harm fish populations to the point where they can’t recover.
| Topic sentence: | 4.1 |
| Supporting details: | 4.2 |
| | 4.3 |
| | 4.4 |
Paragraph 5
The most important lesson can’t be taught; they have to be experienced. No one can teach us how to get along with others or how to have self-respect. As we pass from childhood into adolescences, no one can teach us the judgement we need to decide on how to deal with peer pressure. As we leave adolescence behind and enter adult life, no one can teach us how to fall in love and get married, or how to raise our children.
| Topic sentence: | 5.1 |
| Supporting details: | 5.2 |
| | 5.3 |
| | 5.4 |
Grammar And Usage For Better Writing
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