2018-06-22 TOEFL: writing

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
---
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-your-hormones-work-emma-bryce
---
Read and listen to the material again for last week’s integrated writing.
Then look at the sample responses with your partner. What scores do you think each one should get? Why? (Use the score description on the website or p. 386 of your book to help you decide.)
---
A - 4 - Overall good organization and only minor language problems, but some connections to the text are unclear (especially about meerkats eating before acting as sentinels).
B - 5 - All three points from both the lecture and the text are included, and connections between the sources are clear. Minor language errors don’t make anything difficult to understand.
C - 2 - The point about selfishness in organ donation (from the lecture) is fairly clear. Most other things about this response are bad.
D - 3 - It includes the points from the lecture, but is very vague about how it relates them to the reading. There are also language problems that make points unclear.
E - 1 - The little information from the lecture in this response seems to suggest that it supports the reading. Language errors make any connections unclear.
---
Be careful about word form errors.
altruism - a noun for the characteristic
altruistic - an adjective for someone or something that demonstrates altruism
independent - adjective to describe someone or something with independence
independence - noun for what an indpendent person has
---
Writing Section: fourth and final section, two tasks, about 1 hour total, 50 minutes of writing
1 integrated: 3 minutes to read a passage, listen to a lecture, 20 minutes to write about the points from the lecture and how they relate to points from the reading passage.
2 independent: read and hear a choice question prompt, 30 minutes to write and support your opinion
---
BREAK
---
Independent Writing - A good format for your response is the typical 5-paragraph essay American students learn in school.
---
There are two common types of prompt for the independent writing:
- agree/disagree: “Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?”
- some people / other people: “Some people believe…. Others think…. Which do you prefer?”
Every prompt ends with, “Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.”
---
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Students should not be allowed to use cell phones in any class.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
---
Remember: there are often multiple ways to disagree with a statement.
- reasons why cell phone use is actually not that bad
- reasons why it shouldn’t be a rule
- reasons why it shouldn’t apply to all classes
---
Five-paragraph response:
1 Introduction: give background on the topic and summarize the options you’re choosing between, state your opinion (thesis statement), lead-in connecting this to the reasons you’ll give
2 First reason: state the reason, give details and examples to convince the reader that the reason is true and that it supports your thesis
3 Second reason: state the reason, give details and examples to convince the reader that the reason is true and that it supports your thesis
4 Third reason: state the reason, give details and examples to convince the reader that the reason is true and that it supports your thesis
5 Conclusion: restate your thesis and summarize your main reasons, give a recommendation or prediction that the reader can take away from your essay
---
“Typically, an effective essay will contain a minimum of 300 words.”
---
Run-on sentences and comma splices happen when two (or more) independent clauses are in a single sentence without a coordinating conjunction or semicolon (;).
---
Handout: with your partner, add periods (.) in the correct places to fix these run-on sentences. (Periods are not the only way to fix them, but they are a very simple way.)
2 noisily.
3 summer.
4 pattern.
5 piano.
6 team.
7 seen.
8 class.
9 school.
10 tune.
11 parties.
12 room.
13 room.
14 school.
15 night. (This is the one that really needs additional information to make sense, such as “Otherwise” at the beginning of the second sentence.)
16 pie.
17 footnotes.
18 noise.
19 hour.
20 house.
21 lawyer.
22 corner.
23 big.
24 altered.
25 you.
---
What other things could we do instead of these basic “fixes”?
2 noisily(,) and the dog / noisily. Meanwhile, the dog
3 summer because I
4 pattern, but she
5 piano, so we / piano. Therefore, we
6 team, but this
7 seen, so I  (this one was fine already)
8 class, so naturally
9 school because his
10 tune, and I  (this one was also fine)
11 parties, but no one
12 room(,) and the
13 room, so I / room. For this reason, I
14 school because it
15 night. Otherwise, we / night or (else) we will / night. If not, we will
16 pie, but the
17 footnotes because he
18 noise(,) and it’s
19 hour, but no one
20 house because this
21 lawyer(,) and everyone
22 corner, but I
23 big, but I’ll
24 altered or (else) I’ll / altered. Otherwise I’ll
25 you, but too
---
Homework: respond to this independent writing prompt and email me at [email protected]

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
	It is better to have broad knowledge of many academic subjects than to specialize in one specific subject.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.