Lesson Two: The structure of ibt independent writing

Introduction

On the Written portion of the TOEFL, you will be asked to write an essay that is more than one paragraph long. The reason for this is that in U.S. academic culture, essays need to be several paragraphs long in order for students to express their ideas clearly and for instructors to determine whether or not students understand the material.

Knowing how to organize your ideas in such long essays is very important for academic success.

Generally, academic essays have a similar format. They are at least five paragraphs long, although often they are much longer. Also, the basic structure of each of these paragraphs is the same as that which we have already studied. In addition, the paragraphs in the U.S. academic essay can be divided into three basic kinds: (1) the introductory paragraph, (2) the body paragraphs, and (3) the concluding paragraph.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

1. describe the structure pattern of an independent writing task.
2. identify the structure pattern of sample TOEFL independent writing responses.

Lesson Activities

• Go to the document File:A TOEFL independent writing sample.pdf, read the sample writing.
• Discuss with your peers why paragraph 1, paragraph2-4, paragraph 5 were marked in three different colors
• Discuss with your peers the features of paragraph 1, the common points of paragraph 2-4, and the features of paragraph 5.
• Go to the document File:Structure analysis of the sample writing.pdf, read the italicized part to learn how writing professionals analyzed the structure of ibt independent writing

Assignments

• Go to the following sample writings you have read in lesson one,
  • Write an structure outline for each essay
  • Identify the main thesis of each essay
  • Identify the topic sentences and supporting sentences in the body paragraphs in each writing

1. "Doing Unenjoyable Things" File:Sample TOEFL Essay 1.pdf
2. "Money & Success"File:Sample TOEFL Essay2.pdf
3. "Studying Abroad"File:Sample TOEFL Essay3.pdf

Reflection

Through the activities and assignments in this lesson, the learners should have understood the structure of a satisfactory TOEFL independent writing. Through identifying the structure pattern of a test writing, students should have understood that they do not have to struggle a lot for how to organize the structure of the writing. Instead, they should have understood that they just need to follow a specific introduction-body-conclusion writing pattern.

To go on to the next unit click here: Lesson Three: The content of ibt independent writing

Click here to return to the beginning of the course: TOEFL ibt Independent Writing Step-by-step