This guide is for low-level students writing their TOEFL that is first independent. Advanced students may wish to skip directly to our advanced guide.

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(note, students pretty quickly may wish to skip right to our TOEFL essay templates)

Begin by making a plan of one’s essay. Consider the picture below:

The student starts by writing a “main point” at the top the chart. This is her “answer” to the relevant question posed https://essay-writer.com/ by the exam.

The student writes two “reasons” to support the primary point below the main point. They are broad and not too specific. However, they must be unique. The reason why really should not be comparable to one another.

Below each of the reasons, the student writes two “details.” These are more specific. They offer the reasons and explain why they have cited the reasons. They may also include examples from the student’s life that support the reasons.

Here’s an illustration outline for the question: “What is the best gift to provide to a young child?” It absolutely was published by an actual student. View it closely:

The student has filled when you look at the outline point-form that is using (not complete sentences). Her main point is “Best gift = pet.”

Her two reasons are “it is educational” and “it is an excellent friend.”

The information through the reason that is first “learn responsibility” and “learn stages of life.” The details through the reason that is second “never judgmental” and “children often alone these days.” The student has bigger ideas. she actually is likely to talk about how looking after the pet teaches responsibility and she actually is going to write that students are along because their parents tend to be away. nevertheless the outline is merely her ideas that are initial.

The rest for this article will show how to turn this outline into a complete essay. I’ll use simple English throughout the article. Advanced level students should probably use more vocabulary that is advanced sentence structure.

I teach my students to write a four paragraph essay into the independent writing section. This kind of essay is for enough time and that can be finished in the time allowed. Higher level students might try writing a five paragraph essay.

The four paragraph structure is:

• Introductory Paragraph
• Body Paragraph 1
• Body Paragraph 2
• Concluding Paragraph

Let’s focus on the paragraph that is introductory

My students use a sentence-by-sentence strategy to write their introductions. The technique is this:

• Sentence one: A “hook.” This is certainly an interesting sentence that comes before your main point. It references the question and draws your reader into the essay.
• Sentence two: most of your point. Within one good, clear sentence state most of your point. Don’t be too much time. Get to the idea!
• Sentence three: A transitional sentence. Try something like “I feel this real way for two reasons.”
• Sentence four: a single sentence summary of the first reason. Begin this sentence with “first” (you can leave this out if you are low on time).
• Sentence five: a single sentence summary of the second reason. Begin this sentence with “second” (you can leave this out if you should be low on time).

Talking about the relevant question above and utilising the given template, you can write an introduction similar to this:

“There are many great gifts that can be directed at a young child. I think that the best gift to offer a child is a pet. I feel because of this for 2 significant reasons, that I will explore into the following essay. First, a pet can be quite educational. Second, a pet could be a good friend to a child that is young.

Keep in mind that there are no references to your details in this paragraph. Save those for the physical body paragraphs.

Third step: Writing a body paragraph

It’s your possiblity to show off your essay writing ability. I don’t teach a strict model for this area of the essay.

I really do however, have some rules that are basic. They are:

1. Each reason gets its own paragraph. Don’t combine your reasons into one paragraph.
2. Start very first paragraph with a word that is transitional phrase like “first,” “to begin with,” and your second paragraph with “second” or “secondly.”
3. At the beginning of each physical body paragraph, clearly state your reason. Avoid using a hook, get to the just point. Next, state your details one after another, expanding each one to three or four sentences. It is possible to expand by including a personal example from your life. Including personal examples from your life into the essay is okay. In fact, i would recommend it.
4. Attempt to use transitional phrases in in the middle of your details (“moreover,” “furthermore,” “also”).

Listed here is a good example body paragraph made making use of the above outline:

“To begin with, a pet is a rather gift that is educational. Having a pet teaches children responsibility. A pet has to be fed every day and be given a chance to exercise. The owner of a pet even offers to observe the health of their pet and do something if it becomes sick. Practicing this type or types of responsibility is likely to make a young child more aged. Moreover, a pet might help teach a child concerning the stages of life. Animals grow even faster than humans and a young child can learn a whole lot by observing how their pet grows up. I had a pet gecko as a young child and watching it grow from a baby to a adult that is full-sized me a lot and got me very thinking about biology and nature.”

Remember that the outline was followed by this paragraph above quite closely. I stated my reason after which supported it with details. I expanded the information significantly through the point-form utilized in my outline.

My second body paragraph is created in much the way that is same

“Secondly, I feel that a pet makes friend that is great. It is beneficial to children to possess pets because they are never judgmental. A child could have a day that is bad school or he could be in a fight together with friends, but he will never fight with his pet. It will love him unconditionally. Furthermore, pets can prevent children from being lonely. These days parents tend to be too busy to blow time using their children. They often leave their kids home alone. This might leave some kids feeling lonely, but people that have pets will feel alone. never“

And that is the whole body of my essay! Pay attention to the way I used transitional words (“moreover” and “furthermore”) in the middle the 2 details in each paragraph.

I’m not a big fan of lengthy concluding paragraphs, due to the fact the essay that is independent pretty short. But I do teach a three sentence technique:

• Sentence one: re-state your main point and start with a phrase like “to sum it up…”
• Sentence two: restate your two reasons, starting with a transitional phrase like “this is because…”
• Sentence three: yet again, restate your main point but use different words

Here’s a conclusion for the essay we’ve been using the services of:

“To sum it up, I feel that a pet is the very best gift to offer to a child. Simply because pets are extremely educational, in addition they make great friends. There actually is no better gift that a young child can receive than a pet.”