托福作文三剑客之考官讨厌什么样的作文模板1

1无老师网站《考官讨厌什么样的模板》1

LookatthistemplateforaTOEFLessayintroduction:

Somepeoplethinkthat[ESSAYTOPIC].Othersdisagree.Ifasked,bothgroupswouldprovidelogicalreasonstosupporttheirstance.Ithinkthat[YOUROPINION].LetmeshowyouwhatImean.

Looksgood,doesn’tit?Thisisagreatintroduction,butitdoesnotdemonstratewritingability–itisobviousthatthestudenthasmemorizedthisintroductionforuseonevery

likethis?Wouldyoutakeoffpoints?Here’swhattheETSOfficialGuidetotheNewTOEFLiBTsays:

“Donot‘memorize’longintroductoryandconcludingparagraphs…”

TOEFLIndependentEssayIntroduction:BarronBarron’’s

Saturday,August22nd,2009

Barron’sTOEFLiBT(2008)suggestsaverybriefintroduction:

1.Introductorysentencewithopinion(giveyouropinion)2.Outlinesentence(explaintheorganizationoftheessay)

TheBarron’sformatmightgiveusanintroductionlikethis:

Althoughmanypeoplelikedogsmorethancats,Iwouldmuchratherownacat.TherearetwomainreasonswhyIhavethispreference.

Thefirstsentenceisaninterestingone.Barron’srecommendsstudentsbeginwitha“concessionclause.”(Aconcessionclausebeginswithwordsandphraseslikealthough,eventhough,despite,inspiteofthefactthat,etc)Thelastsentenceisalsonoteworthy–itsogeneralthatitcouldbeusedinanyessay.Butbewarned:itisnotagoodideatogivetheratertheimpressionthatsentenceshavebeenmemorizedforuseinallessays.

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TOEFLIndependentEssayIntroduction:PrincetonReview

Friday,August21st,2009

1.Paraphrase(restatetheessayquestion)2.Interpret(givetopic)无老师新浪微博：/noteacherwxl

Second,thephrasetheissueisimportantbecauseisnotalwaysappropriate,2无老师网站《考官讨厌什么样的模板》Second,thephrasetheissueisimportantbecauseisnotalwaysappropriate,2

3.Thesisstatement(giveyouropinion)

Usingthisformat,alongwiththephrasesrecommendedbyPrincetonReview,wemighthaveanintroductionlikethis:

Theissueathandiswhetherdogsmakebetterpetsthancats.Thisissueisimportantbecausemanypeoplehaveahardtimechoosingapet.Ibelievethathavingacatisthebetteroptionbecausecatsareself-sufficientandlessdemandingoftheirowner.

Thereareacoupleproblemshere.Firstofall,itisobviousthattheintroductionisatemplate.soitcansometimesresultinverycomicalorawkwardwriting.Intheintroductionabove,forinstance,whetherpeoplepreferdogsorcatsisnotanissue.Neitherisitimportant.Finally,itisnotalwaysadvisabletomakeadirectreferencetotheessayquestionwithphrasessuchastheissueathandorthestatementabove.

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TOEFLIndependentEssayIntroduction:Kaplan

Friday,August21st,2009

Kaplan(2008-2009edition)suggestsathree-partintroduction:

1.Hook(getsthereader’sattention)2.Background(additionaldetailsabouttopic)3.Thesisstatement(youropinion)

Usingthisformat,wemighthaveanintrolikethis:

Accordingtoarecentsurvey,fiveoutofsixpeoplepreferdogstocats.Thisishardlysurprising,asmostpeopleconsiderdogsmoreloyalthancats.However,thereareplentyofadvantagestoowningacat.Infact,Ibelievethatcatsmakemuchbetterpetsthandogs.

Interestingly,Kaplanalsooutlinesafour-partintroduction:

1.Hook(getsthereader’sattention)2.Background(additionaldetailsabouttopic)3.Thesisstatement(youropinion)4.Forecasting(howtheessayisorganized)

Thisfour-partformulamightgiveusanintroductionlikethis:

Accordingtoarecentsurvey,fiveoutofsixpeoplepreferdogstocats.Thisishardlysurprising,asmostpeopleconsiderdogsmoreloyalthancats.However,thereareplentyofadvantagestoowningacat.Infact,Ibelievethatcatsmakemuchbetterpetsthandogs.Indeed,catsarenotonlyself-sufficient,butalsolessdemandingoftheirowner.

无老师新浪微博：/noteacherwxl

3无老师网站《考官讨厌什么样的模板》3Noticehowthelastsentencetellsthereadertoexpecttwoparagraphs:oneabouthowcatsareself-sufficient,oneabouthowcatsarelessdemanding.

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TOEFLIndependentEssayIntroduction:Longman

Friday,August21st,2009

Longmansuggestsathree-partintroduction:

1.Interest(somethingtogetthereaderinterested)2.Topic(whattheessayisabout)3.Organization(howtheessayisorganized)

Usingthisformat,wemighthaveanintrolikethis:

Accordingtoarecentsurvey,fiveoutofsixpeoplepreferdogstocats.Forbetterorworse,Iamintheminorityofthosewhowouldmuchratherhaveacat.Unlikedogs,catsarenotonlyself-sufficient,butalsolessdemandingoftheirowner.

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TOEFLIntegratedEssayPracticeandCorrection

Wednesday,October29th,2008

ManystudentsalreadyusetheonlineTOEFLessaycorrectionservicetopracticewritingIndependentEssays.TheywriteessaysonlineandanativespeakerofEnglishcorrectsitforthem.However,notmanystudentsknowthattheycanalsopracticetheirIntegratedEssays.Studentsusetheirownmaterialstoreadatextandlistentoalecture.Thentheywriteanessayandsendittotheteacherbyemail.Whenyousignup,justbesuretomentionwhatmaterialsyou’reusing,sotheteachercangiveyoumoreaccuratefeedback.

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BadTOEFLIntroductionsintheIndependentEssay

Monday,October27th,2008

Here’sanintroductionthatonestudentrecentlywrote:

andprovokingstatement,andIhavespecificreasonsforagreeingwithit.Iwilldiscussthesereasonsinthefollowingparagraphs.

无老师新浪微博：/noteacherwxl

4无老师网站《考官讨厌什么样的模板》4Hereareafewpotentialproblems:

1.Inthisintroduction,thethesisstatementwasthefirstsentenceoftheintroduction.Thethesisstatementisusuallythelastsentence,notthefirst.2.Inthisintroduction,thestudentwrites,“Iwilldiscussthesereasonsinthefollowingparagraphs.”Alwaysavoidadirectreferencetotheessayortothereader.Forexample,don’tusephraseslikethese:“inthisessay,”“thisessaywilldiscuss,”“Iwillgiveyou,”or“Iwilldiscuss.”Thisisnotgoodacademicwriting.Infact,eventheETSTOEFLguidesuggestsavoidingthis.3.Theintroductionwasrathershort.Mosteffectiveintroductionsarelongerthantwoorthreesentences.

Formoreinformationaboutwritinganintroduction,visitthetutorialonessayintroductions.

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SpellingintheTOEFLEssay

Sunday,October26th,2008

Inanidealworld,youshouldhavenospellingmistakesinyourTOELFessays.However,theworldisneverideal,andnobody’swritingiseverperfect.Everybodymakesmistakes,evennativespeakersofEnglish.(Infact,you’llprobablybeabletofindsomespellingmistakesintheseblogposts!)IfyouspellreasonablywellinEnglish,don’tworrytoomuchaboutyourspellingontheTOEFLessay.

ItispossibletogetahighscoreonyourTOEFLessayevenifyoumisspellafewwords.However,ifyoumakeamistake,itshouldbeanhonestmistake.Forexample,ifyouspellthewordmistakeasmstake,itisobviousthatthisisatypo,asimplemistakemadewhiletyping.However,spellingwillaffectyourscoreinthefollowingsituations:

1.Youmisspellthesamewordthroughouttheessay.Inthiscase,itbecomesclearthattheproblemismorethanasimpletypo.2.Youmisspellaverybasicword.Forexample,youspellreadasreed.SuchabasicmistakeisaclearindicationthatyourlevelofEnglishmaybequitelow.3.Youmisspellsomanywordsthatitbecomesdistractingwhenreadingtheessay.Thsiswatimeanbymispeliignmanywrds.Inthiscase,itisobviousthatyoudidnothaveenoughtimetoproofreadyouressay.

Iftherearesomewordsthatyouoftenmisspell,memorizethemandlearntospellthemcorrectly.Ifyoumakemanymistakeswhiletyping,alwaysleave5minutestoproofreadyouressaybeforesubmittingit.

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HowManyParagraphsShouldaTOEFLEssayHave?

Sunday,October26th,2008

无老师新浪微博：/noteacherwxl

StillotherTOEFLbooksteachboth!Youcanuseeitherformat,5无老师网站《考官讨厌什么样的模板》StillotherTOEFLbooksteachboth!Youcanuseeitherformat,5HereareafewrecommendationsforwritingaTOEFLessay:

IndependentEssay

essay,hereisthestructure:

PARAGRAPH1:IntroductionPARAGRAPH2:Mainpoint/idea1PARAGRAPH3:Mainpoint/idea2PARAGRAPH4:Conclusion

Thestructureforthefive-paragraphessayisalmostthesame:

PARAGRAPH1:IntroductionPARAGRAPH2:Mainpoint/idea1PARAGRAPH3:Mainpoint/idea2PARAGRAPH4:Mainpoint/idea3PARAGRAPH5:Conclusion

Boththefour-paragraphessayandthefive-paragraphessayareacceptable.However,itismuchmoredifficulttowriteafive-paragraphessay.Withthe30-minutetimelimit,itisdifficulttodevelopthreeparagraphswithstrongsupportingstatementscontainingdetailsandexamples.

FormoreinformationabouthowtowriteanIndependentEssay,visitthesite’sessaywritingtutorial.

IntegratedEssayTherearetwoacceptablestructuresfortheTOEFLIntegratedEssay.Thefirstiscalledblockformat:

PARAGRAPH1:IntroductionPARAGRAPH2:MainpointsfromthereadingPARAGRAPH3:MainpointsfromthelisteningPARAGRAPH4:Conclusion

Thesecondstructureiscalledthepoint-by-point:

PARAGRAPH1:IntroductionPARAGRAPH2:Firstmainpointfromthereading+firstmainpointfromthelisteningPARAGRAPH3:Secondmainpointfr