How to Write a TOEFL essay

Same rules as a general expository essay, with a few extra guidelines.

 

Step 1) Read the question

Which is better, chocolate or vanilla?

 

Step 2) Answer the question. The answer is your thesis.

Chocolate is better

 

Step 3) Make a list of reasons that support your thesis. This is your outline.

Chocolate is better than vanilla.

Taste

Health

Social

 

Step 4) Add specific examples and explanations to your reasons.

Chocolate is better than vanilla.

Taste

More complex

not just sweet

Stimulates the brain

Health

Keeps you happy

Antioxidents

Social

Vanilla is produced by slaves in Africa

Chocolate is better for the environment

 

Step 5) Add a summary of your reasons to the beginning and the end. These are your introcution and conclusion paragraphs.

The two most popular desert flavors in the world are chocolate and vanilla. Many people prefer both, but they are incorrect, because in truth, one flavor is better than the other. Because of its taste and its benefits to health and the environment, chocolate is better than vanilla.

Flavors

not just sweet

Stimulates the brain

Health

Keeps you happy

Antioxidents

Social

Vanilla is produced by slaves in Africa

Chocolate is better for the environment

Because of its role in the global environment, health, and human culture, chocolate a clearly a better flavor than vanilla. As more people come to realize the obvious superiority of chocolate, this form of dessert will hopefully replace vanilla entirely.

 

Step 6) Make the explanations into sentences and add transitions. This is your essay.

The two most popular desert flavors in the world are chocolate and vanilla. Many people prefer both, but they are incorrect, because in truth, one flavor is better than the other. Because of its taste and its benefits to health and the environment, chocolate is better than vanilla.

Compared to vanilla, chocolate tastes better, with more complex flavors. People eating chocolate will enjoy a flavor that is not only sweet, but deep, dark, and bitter. Chocolate can indeed possess infinite varieties of experience, as its taste and odor change drastically with small changes in the production possess. These flavors work to stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain, creating a food to which vanilla cannot compare.

Chocolate offers health benefits, as well as enjoyment. By stimulating the brain, chocolate increases the happiness of the person eating it. Since happiness has been linked to general health and wellbeing, chocolate contributes to health. In addition, the antioxidents contained in chocolate help slow aging and prevent heart disease.

Aside from the multiple benefits to the individual, chocolate improves the larger world in a way vanilla does not. As opposed to the ecologically damaging plantations that produce vanilla, chocolate comes from environmentally friendly farms. The people who produce chocolate are also better paid than the near-slaves who are forced to make vanilla. In this way, the purchase of chocolate will improve the general health of our planet and its society.In our modern globalized society, people must be conscious of these considerations, when they make their food choices.

Because of its role in the global environment, health, and human culture, chocolate clearly has a better flavor than vanilla. As more people come to realize the obvious superiority of chocolate, this form of dessert will hopefully replace vanilla entirely.

 

And there’s your essay! Easy, right?

For more information, see these web resources:

http://www.testmagic.com/test/viewtopicsofessays6.asp

http://www.testmagic.com/knowledge_base/toefl/writing/samples/index.htm

http://www.goodlucktoefl.com/free-sample-toefl-essays.html

http://www.engvid.com/5-types-of-toefl-essays-patterns/