Skill 2: Develop supporting ideas

After you have decoded a writing topic to determine the overall organization of your respose, you need to plan how to develop your ideas. You need to provide as much support as possible for the ideas in your essay, using reason and examples and making your answer as personal as possible. To have an effective essay, you need strong support.

The writing topic

Each writing topic shows you exactly what you should discuss and how you should organize your response. you must decode the topic carefully to determine the intended way of organizing response.

Essay Topic

Some people prefer large weddings with lots of people, while others prefer small weddings with only very close friends and family. discuss the advantages of each type of wedding. then indicate which you prefer and why.

paragraph 1: INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH
mentioning the advantages of large and small weddings

paragraph 2: FIRST SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH
listing and discussing the advantages of large weddings

paragraph 3: SECOND SUPPORTING PARAGRAPH
listing and discussing the advantages od small weddings

paragraph 4: CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
whether you prefer large or small weddings and why

Skill 1: Decode the topic

The first and most importat step when writing an essay on the TOEFL test is to decode the topic to determine what the intended outline is. wrtting topics generally give very clear clues about how your answer should be constructed. it is important to follow the clear clues that are given in the topic when you are planning you answer. you probably will not be given much credit for a response that does not cover the topic in the way that is intended.

The score TWE

The score of the TWE is included on the same form as your regular TOEFL score, but it is not part of your overall TOEFL score. it is a separate score on a scale of 1 to 6, where 1 is the worst score and 6 is the best score. the following table outline what each of the scores essentially means:

TEST OF WRITTEN ENGLISH TWE SCORES

6.- the writer has very strong organizational, structural, and grammatical skills.

5.- the writer has good organizational, structural, and grammatical skills. however, the essay contains some errors.

4.- the writer has adequate organizational, structural, and grammatical skills. the essay contains a number of errors.

3.- the writer shows evidence of organizational, structural, and grammatical skills that still need to be improved.

2.- the writer shows a minimal ability to convey ideas in written english.

1.- the writer is not capable of conveying ideas in written english.

Strategies for the test of written english TWE

1.- read the topic carefully and write about it exactly as it is presented. take several minutes at the beginning of the test to be sure that you understand the topic and to outline a response.

2.- organize your response very clearly. you should think of having an introduction, body paragraphs that develop the introduction, and a conclusion to end your essay. use transitions to help the reader understand the organization of ideas.

3.- whenever you make any general statement, be sure to support that statement. you can use examples, reasons, facts, or similar details to support any general statement.

4.- stick to vocabulary and sentence structures that you know. this is not the time to try out new words or structures.

5.- finish writing your essay a few minutes early so that you have time to proof what you wrote. you should spend the last three to five minute checking your essay for errors.

Test of written English (TWE)

The test of written english (TWE) is a writing section that appears on the TOEFL TEST several times a year.
On the TWE you will be given a specific topic and you will be asked to write an essay on that topic in thirty minutes. The TWE will be given at the beginning of the TOEFL test, before the listening comprehension, structure and written expression, and reading comprehension sections.