2018-03-02 TOEFL: ind writing

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Writing Section: two tasks, 20 and 30 minutes of writing
1 integrated: 3 minutes to read a text, listen to a lecture on the same topic, 20 minutes to summarize the points from the lecture and explain how they relate to points from the reading
2 independent: read a choice question prompt, 30 minutes to write an essay to answer the question and support your answer.
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DELTA p. 396 gives examples of the two types of choice questions you might see
- agree/disagree: “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? …”
- some people/other people: “Some people like…. Others prefer…. Which do you prefer?”
The prompt always ends with, “Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.”
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You should brainstorm some reasons for both options before you start preparing your response.
Take one minute to brainstorm reasons for each side in the second sample prompt on this page.
- With a lot of people: group/social activities (sports), talk about your life, you’ll have someone to help, you can learn something from other people, no socialization at work
- Alone or with one: do what you want, sleep, reading a book, get to know yourself, think deeply, already socialized at work/school
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- You can invent a job or childhood that helps support your “opinion”.
- One of your reasons could simply be that ____ is your favorite liesure activity, and it has to be done alone/in a group.
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A typical response to this will have five paragraphs:
1 Introduction (what you’re writing about, what your opinion is, how you’ll support it)
2-4 Body Paragraphs (reasons for your opinion and supporting details and examples)
5 Conclusion (restate your opinion and summarize your reasons, something for the reader to take away)
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Body Paragraphs need to do three things:
- State one reason for your opinion.
- Convince the reader that your reason is true.
- Convince the reader thast this reason really supports your opinion. (This can be the conclusion sentence of that paragraph.)
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You can start with an outline “framework” on the computer to make sure you can organize your ideas well:
Some people think
Others prefer
In my opinion,
I have three reasons for this opinion.

First,
For example,
This means

Another reason is
For instance,
In other words,

Finally,
For example,
As a result,

In conclusion, I think
due to
In the future, when you
you should
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p. 397 - Take 5 minutes to brainstorm ideas and write a short outline for the first prompt.
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BREAK
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Write independent responses to ETS 1 tests 2 and 4.
When you are finished, email them to me.