TOEFL Writing Task Summary

Writing Task Details

Integrated Writing Task ● You are given 3 minutes to read an academic

passage.
● Listen to a lecture on the same topic.
● Write an essay summarizing the lecture and the
reading passage and showing the relationship
between them.
○ Do not express your own opinion or
bring in any information form outside
the passage and the lecture.

Independent Writing Task You read a prompt (a topic)

express your opinions in your response.

Writing: 30 minutes

How ETS rates your writing responses.

● How well you ​address the topic.

● How well you ​develop and support your ideas.
● How well you ​organize the essay and connect your ideas.
● How well you use the English language, including ​grammar, vocabulary, and writing conventions​.
○ "Writing conventions" are the special rules of writing in English, including spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization.

TOEFL Integrated Writing Task criteria

● How well you ​select important information from the lecture.

● How well you ​relate the lecture points to the reading points.

● How well you ​organize the essay and provide details.

● How well you use the English language, including ​grammar, vocabulary, and writing conventions.

Technique and preparation to improve your writing skills

● compare your essay with high-scoring essays.

● listening,
● note taking,
● paraphrasing,
● expressing different types of relationships in your essay.
 TOEFL Integrated writing task.
Types of Scenarios
1. Contradiction
2. Supporting with examples
3. Problems/Solutions

Tips on taking notes

1. Attention for the main point of each paragraph.
2. Transition words.

Contradiction

Intro Body Paragraphs Conclusion

● Paraphrase the question Each body paragraph ​adds detail and Summarize the intro (don't forget to
● Present the ​points​ used in shows the relation​ between the paraphrase​).
the lecture to ​cast doubt​ on reading and the lecture.
the reading.

Template

The reading and the lecture are both about ________.

Whereas the author of the reading states that ________ , the lecture suggests that _____.

The lecturer casts doubt​ on the main points made in the reading by providing two/three reasons.

First of all, according to the reading ________. ​However, the lecturer disputes​ this point.
He says that ________.
(Optional) Furthermore he/she mentions that _______.

Secondly, the reading states that _______. ​Nevertheless, the lecturer refutes this argument.
He/She argues that __________.
(Optional) In addition he/she points out _________.

Finally, the reading claims that _______. ​On the other hand, the lecturer believes that ​____.
He/She thinks that _________.
(Optional) Moreover he/she feels that _________.

In conclusion, although the reading and the lecture are about ________, the two/three main ​points made in the reading
are effectively challenged by the lecturer.

Support with details

Intro Body Paragraphs Conclusion

● Present the main point of the Each body paragraph ​covers one Summarize the intro with ​different
reading and the lecture. main point from the listening and words.
● Paraphrase the question explains in detail how it support the
adding the two/three points main points of the reading.
detailed in the body
paragraphs.

Template

The reading and the lecture are both about ………….. The reading states that …….. . ​The lecture builds upon those
same ideas to give a more comprehensive picture with two/three examples.
 First of all, according to the reading, …… . ​Supporting this idea, the lecturer explains that​ ….. (Optional) Furthermore,
he/she mentions that .....

Secondly, the reading states that ….. ​The lecturer then goes on to explain that​ ……….. (Optional) In addition, he/she
points out …

Finally, the reading claims that ….. ​In support of this idea, the lecturer brings up the point that​ ………... (Optional)
Moreover, he/she feels that ...

In conclusion, although the reading and the lecture both discuss ___, ​the two/three main points made in the reading are
effectively supported by the lecturer.

TOEFL independent writing task

● you will be asked a question.
● plan and write an essay in response to this question.

High scoring essay structure.

High scoring essay structure

Introduction Body A/B/C Conclusion

General ​background information​ about Each body paragraph is used to Summarize each of your key points.
the essay topic explain one key point.

Thesis statement​ that includes your A high scoring essay has 3 ​body Restatement of the thesis statement
main opinion on the essay topic​ and a paragraphs, but if you find yourself you wrote in your introduction
preview of your key points running out of time, you can just write
2.

Brief summary​ of your main ideas.

Question Types

Agree or Disagree

Description Sample Question How to address

Give you a ​statement of opinion​ and Do you agree or disagree with the ● Issue that affects people in
ask you whether you ​agree or disagree following statement? All students general or a specific group​ of
should be required to study art and people.
music in secondary school. Use ● Your reasons should not all
specific reasons to support your be personal.
answer. ● Focus on what is true for the
group of people being asked
about, not just what is true
for you.

Support or Oppose

Description Sample Question How to address

Support or oppose a situation. I has recently been announced that a Focus on the ​pros and cons​ of the
new restaurant may be build in your situation.Use ​more pros​ in your
neighborhood. Do you support or reasoning ​if you support​ and ​more
oppose this plan? cons if you oppose.
 Preference

Description Sample Question How to address

Choose between two options and Some people prefer to live in a small Use your ​personal experience and
answer what do you prefer. Use town. Others prefer to live in a big city. reasons​ to support your answer.
specific reasons and examples to Which place would you prefer to live
answer it. in? Use specific reasons and details to
support your answer.

If Imaginary

Description Sample Question How to address

Give you a hypothetical situation and Imagine that you are preparing for a Choose something that is easy to write
ask what you would do or choose. trip. You plan to be away from your about.
home for a year. In addition to clothing Use modals as ​"would"and "could".
and personal care items, you can take
one additional thing. What would you
take and why? Use specific reasons
and details to support you choice.

Description or Explanation

Description Sample Question How to address

Describe a certain type of person How do movies and television Focus on ​characteristics.
(good qualities) influence people's behavior? Give
Choose or be given something to reasons and examples to support your
explain. answer.
Explain the reasons or effects of
something.

Compare and Contrast

Description Sample Question

● Give you two subjects and ask you to

○ Compare and contrast them.
○ Show the similarities and differences Variation 1
between them.
○ Compare the advantages and It has been said, "Not everything that is learned is contained
disadvantages of only one subject in books". Compare and contrast knowledge gained from
○ State your personal opinion or preference experience with knowledge gained from books. In your
opinion, which source is more important? Why?

Variation 2

Some young children spend a great amount of their time

practicing sports. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages
of this. Use specific reasons and examples to support your
answer.

Compare aspects of two subjects Compare the advantage and disadvant

subject.

Introduction Gives an overview of comparison and Gives an overview of advantage and

your personal opinion if the question disadvantage and your personal
asks you. opinion if the question asks you.
Body A Compare and contrast both two subject Discuss the advantage of the subject.
in one aspect.

Body B Compare and contrast both two subject Discuss the disadvantage of the
in another aspect. subject.

Conclusion Give a summary of comparisons Summarize the advantage and

between two opinions and restate your disadvantage, and include a
personal opinion if the question asks reinstatement of your personal opinion
you. if the question asks you.

● When the question is ​asking you to compare aspects​ of ​two subjects​,​ each body paragraph compares and
contrasts​ two subjects ​in one aspect​.
● When the question is ​asking you to compare pros and cons of one subject​, your ​first body paragraph
discusses the advantage​ and ​your second body paragraph discusses the disadvantages.

Introductory Paragraph Structure

General Background Information Thesis Statement

● Brief history of the topic. ● It's the most important sentence

● Why this subject is controversial or important. of the essay.
● Other people opinions on the topic. ● Main opinion on the essay topic.
● May include a preview of your key
points.
● Don't copy and paste the question
you must ​paraphrase​ it.

Sample Question
Developing an industry is m
​ ore important than​ saving the environment for​ endangered animals.​ Do you agree or disagree 
with the statement? Use specific details and examples to support your viewpoint. 

General Background Information 

How to organize The ​debate​ on the competition between economic development and the protection of endangered 
species has been going on for decades. 

Technique Begin with two sides of opinions on the essay topic. 

● There are different views on​____ . S​ ome argue that​____ W
​ hile others point to​___. I​ n 
my opinion​ ______. 
● People take/hold different views on​____. S
​ ome people​ ____ ​Other people​ ___. ​As far 
as I am concerned​ _____. 

Begin with the general public’s opinions 

● Society generally holds the idea tha​t______ 
● It is generally believed that​____ 
● There is a widely held perception that​______ 
 

Introduce a fact that raises a question about the essay topic 

● _____ t​ his raises the question of whete​r____ 
● _____ m ​ any people begun to question whete​r____ 

Introduce a debate on the essay topic 

● There is much debate over whether or not 
● The debate on _​ ____ ​has been going on for___ 

Mention the advantage or disadvantage of a subject as a way to contrast your main opinion on the 
subject. 
● While there are negative consequences of​ _____ i​ t's also true that they can bring many 
benefits. 
Example I disagree with the statement that developing industry should​ take precedence over​ saving the 
environment for ​endangered species​ because I firmly believe that destroying the environment will 
eventually take its toll on humans in the long run. 
 
 

Technique  
Types of Thesis Statements 

Broad Thesis Statement:  Explicit Thesis Statement: 

Doesn't​ offer a p
​ review​ of your k
​ eypoints:  Offer an o ​ verview​ of ​your keypoints: 
   
There are ​three main reasons​ why people  I believe that​ all high school students 
attend college.  should have to study art and music 
because it is ​good for their brains,​ good 
for t​ heir personalities​, and good for their 
cultural understanding. 
 

Language Expressions 

Agree or Disagree  I agree/disagree that___. 

I agree Disagree to the idea/statement___. 
I agree/disagree with S + Verb-ing 
I take and opposing stance on 
 
In my opinion,____ 
I (strongly/firmly) believe that____ 
In my view, ______ 
As far as I am concerned, ____ 
It is my belief that ______ 
From my point of view, 
From my perspective, 

Support or Oppose  I support the plan/idea 

I approve of the plan/idea 
I am in favor of the plan/idea 
I offer support to the plan/idea 
 
I oppose/am opposed to the plan/idea 
I disapprove of the plan/idea 
I am against the plan/idea 
I hold an opposing view on the plan/idea 

Preference  I prefer to ____ (V + O). 

To me, _____(X) is far preferable to _____(Y) 
I prefer ____(X) to/over _____(Y) 
I would rather _____(V + O) then _____ (V + O) 
I would choose X. 
 
(Note that X and Y are nouns. V is the Verb. O 
is the object). 

If Imaginary  Use type 2 conditionals: 

If + Subject + simple past, Subject + 
would/could/might + verb 

Description or Explanation  In my opinion,____ 

I (strongly/firmly) believe that____ 
In my view, ______ 
As far as I am concerned, ____ 
It is my belief that ______ 
From my point of view, 
From my perspective, 
 Compare and Contrast  Depending on what the question is asking, 
the language expression used is the thesis 
statement varies. 

Body Paragraph Structure

Transition statement Topic sentence Supporting sentences

● Connects your thesis statement to ● Summarize the body ● Are used t​o explain in
the body's paragraph. paragraph’s purpose. detai​l the main idea
○ Use ​transition words. ● Create clear topic ● Reasons, examples, and
sentences ​early in the even personal
writing process, experiences.
○ Use ​transitions
between
supporting
sentences.

How to Write a good Topic Sentence 

● Make sure your topic sentence is c ​ oncise 

● Make sure your topic sentence gets ​right to the point 
● Avoid using facts​. ( Facts are better used in your supporting ideas) 
● Avoid talking about the what.​ Don’t just talk about the “what” –​ talk about the “why”​ as well. That is, don’t just 
think about the effect, but it’s ​cause. 

Examples of transitions words

Listing ● First/Second/Third 
● Firstly/First of All/Secondly/Thirdly/Lastly 
● In the first place/In the second place/Finally/Lastly 
 
More examples of Starters: 
● To begin with 
● To start with 
● For Starters 
 
Emphasize points: 
● First and foremost (first key point as the most important) 
● Last but not least (show the last point is as important as the others.) 

Addition ● In Addition 
● Furthermore 
● Additionally 
● Also 
● Next 
● Moreover 
● What's more 
● On top of that 

Summary ● In summary 
● To conclude 
● In closing 
● All in all 
● All things considered 
● Overall 
● Taking everything into consideration 
● In a nutsheel 
● To sum up 
● In Conclusion 

Contrast ● Conversely 
● On the contrary 
● By Contrast 
● By way of contrast 
● On the other hand 
  
Concession​ (not expected contrasting idea) 
 
● Nevertheless 
● Nonetheless 
● However 
 
Prepositional phrases  
 
● Pure contrast 
○ In contrast to 
○ As opposed to 
○ Contrary to 
 
● Surprise 
○ In spite of 
○ Despite 
○ Although 
○ Even though 
○ Where as 
●  
 
 
 

Compare ● Compare​ ____ w ​ ith​ ____. 

● Make comparison between​ ____ and ____ 
● He ​compared life to a journey.  
● We can c​ ompare _​ _____ ​to​ _____ 
● Her singing c ​ an be compared​ to Whitney Houston's. 
● Her singing i​ s comparable​ to Whitney Houston's 
● Her singing c ​ ompares with/to​ Whitney Houston's 
● He says skiing is fun but d ​ oesn't compare to​ snowboarding. 
● Compared to/with​ astronomy, cosmology is a young science. 
● In comparison to/with​ astronomy, cosmology is a young science. 
● In comparison to​ the languages spoken around the world, Mandarin 
is spoken by the most number of people. 
● Compared to today’s​ internet speeds, telephone internet 
connections are extremely slow. 
● Europe contains a group of separate nation states, ​so compared to 
the USA and Japan, it could be considered a lot. 
 
Comparative adjectives 

● Developing countries are m ​ ore​ reliant on alternative energy 

production ​than​ developed countries (are). 
● Picasso’s art is ​better than​ Van Gogh’s (art).   
● The contribution of the electronic light to human welfare is 
greater than​ any other invention (is). 
● Solar energy is c ​ heaper than​ any other source of energy (is). 
● I study ​harder than​ John (does). 
● Computers impact human life ​more profoundly than​ cellphones. 
● Western countries ​consume more oil than​ the Middle East 
(does). 
● East Asia ​produces more notebook computers than​ any other 
area (does) in the world. 
● Solar power a ​ ccounts for less​ total energy production t​ han​ gas 
or coal (does). 
● Big cars that use a lot of petrol a ​ re less popular now than (they 
were) twenty years ago. 
● It is easier to travel to a different place n​ ow than (it was) thirty 
years ago. 

Using quantifiers 

● The contributions of the electronic light to human welfare is ​far

greater than​ those of any other invention.
 ● His salary as an online tutor ​is slightly higher than​ that of a
teacher.
● Western countries ​consume two times more oil than​ the
Middle East.
● Solar power accounts for ​far less total energy production than
gas or coal.
● It is ​much easier​ to travel to a different place now ​than (it was)
thirty years ago.
● I am ​a bit more interested in music than (I am interested in)
sports​. 

Quantifiers showing a big Quantifiers showing a small

difference difference

● A lot of/lots of ● A little

● Far/far greater than ● A bit of
● Much ● A few
● Any ● None
● Plenty of ● Not any
● Several ● Slightly
● Significantly ● marginally
● Considerably

Quantity expressions

● The contribution of the electronic light to human welfare is​ as

great as those of ​any other invention.
● I studied ​as hard as​ he did.
● Western countries consume ​as much oil as​ the Middle East.
● It is ​as easy to travel to different place now as third years
ago.

 
 

Similarity ● Similarly 
● Likewise 
● By the same token 
● Along similar lines 
● In a similar way to 
● In a similar fashion to 
 

Cause and Effect (Result) ● Because 

● Because of 
● Since 
● Owing to 
● Consequently 
● As a consequence 
● As a result 
● Result in (almost instant) 
● Lead to (steps between cause and effect) 
● Contribute to (part of several factors) 
● Give rise to (unexpected change) 
 
Words that show cause  Words that show effect 

Combination with adjectives:  Combination with adjectives: 

● Primary cause  ● Have a significant 
● Leading cause  effect/impact on 
● Underlying cause (root  ● One effect/on 
cause)  ● Negative effect/impact 
● Main cause  ● Positive effect/impact 
 ● Major cause  ● Adverse effect/impact 
● Main reason  ● Beneficial effect/impact 
● Primary reason   
● Critical factor  Detailed results: 
● Key factor  ● Result (direct cause) 
● Crucial factor  ● Outcome (what is likely to 
● Contributing factor  happen) 
 
Used as a verb 
● Causes 
● Is caused by 
● To factor in (consider 
something important) 
●  
 
 

Generalizing ● Generally 
● On the whole 
● In most cases 
● In general 

Reformulation Use if you want to say something in a different way. 

 
● That is 
● In other words 
● To put it simply 
● That is to say 
 

Highlighting Use if you want to draw attention to something among many other things. 
  
● In particular 
● Specifically 
● Particularly 
● Namely 

Giving Examples ● For example, 

● For instance, 
● Take “something”, for example, 
● To give a clear example. 

Alternatives ● Alternatively 
● As another possibility 
 

Conclusion Paragraph Structure

● a restatement of the thesis statement you wrote in your introduction
○ Because of the _____ I oppose/support the idea of _______
○ As I have tried to show _______
○ In conclusion, ________
● a brief summary of your ​main ideas.