TOEFL WRITING TASK 2: INDEPENDENT ESSAY

The independent essay is often seen as the easier of the two essays. Here the students are
required to answer a short question about a personal experience or about their opinion on
some matter. The phrasing will be longer, but a typical question might be something like
“What is the best gift to give to a child?” This can be answered in a four-paragraph essay
consisting of an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion.

Step One: How to plan and outline an answer

Here’s what a TOEFL essay outline for the question given above should look like:

And here’s what that outline looks like when it is filled in:
 The “main point” serves as a specific answer to the question at hand, while the two reasons
are, logically, reasons why the answer is true. It is important that the reasons be unique…
overlap is bad practice. The details, as you can see, expand and justify the reasons. Make it
clear at this point that each reason+detail+detail set will serve as a single body paragraph
in the essay.

Note: some students and teachers create THREE reason+detail+detail sets, which leads to
three body paragraphs in the final essay. This is fine, though I recommend against it – with
only thirty minutes to write, I find that most students cannot complete three well-
developed paragraphs.

Step Two: How to write an introduction

The first paragraph of the TOEFL independent essay is, of course, the introduction. The
introduction is easy. Every introductory paragraph can be written using a four to six
sentence template. Here it is:

 Sentence one: A “hook” that serves to introduce the topic. This sentence references the
question/topic of the essay and draws the reader into the essay.
 Sentence two: The main point. The key thing here is to state the main point in a short,
concise, grammatically correct way. Getting too fancy will lead to grammatical errors
(at best) or confusion on the part of the grader (at worst).
 Sentence three: A transitional sentence. Something simple like “I feel this way for two
reasons which I will explore in this essay” always works.
 Sentence four: A single sentence summary of the first reason. This sentence should
begin with something like “first.” (Optional)
  Sentence five: A single sentence summary of the second reason. This sentence should
begin with something like “second.” (Optional)
 Sentence six: A very short conclusion that restates the main point.
Using this template, one could answer the above question like this:

“There are many wonderful gifts that one can give to a young
child. I am of the opinion that the best gift to give to a child is
a pet. I feel this way for two main reasons. First, a pet is a
very educational gift. Second, an animal can be a good friend
to a child as her or she grows up. For these reasons, I feel
that there is no better gift to give to a child than a pet.”
That’s a pretty simple introduction, but it works. Following a familiar template every time
you write a practice essay is the key to writing a concise, readable and grammatically
correct introduction. If you go “off template” you are more likely to make errors. Some of
you may have heard that using a template is boring. Don’t listen to that… the TOEFL is
about getting a high score, not about using rhetorical flourish to impress your friends and
neighbors.

Step One: How to write a body paragraph an answer

As I said above, you should make one body paragraph from each of those
reason+detail+detail groupings. Start by writing a topic sentence which summarizes each
“reason,” and begin this topic sentence with “first” or “to begin with.” The topic sentence of
the second body paragraph should begin with something like “secondly.” Again… simple,
but effective is the key!

You should devote about half of the paragraph to elaborating on each reason, separating
the two with a transitional phrase like “moreover” or “additionally.” It is extremely
important to use such transitional phrases throughout the paragraph. In addition to use
transitional phrases, include personal examples to bolster arguments.

Here’s a sample body paragraph:

“To begin with, a pet is a very educational gift. Children who

have a pet can easily learn about responsibility. A pet has to
be fed each day and must be given a chance to exercise. A pet
owner also has to observe the health of their pet and take
action if it becomes ill. Practicing this kind of responsibility
will help a child to mature. Moreover, a pet can help teach a
child about the stages of life. Pets grow much faster than
humans and a young child can learn a lot by observing how
their pet grows up. I had a pet gecko as a child and watching
it grow from a baby to a full-sized adult taught me a lot and
got me really interested in biology and nature.”

Here’s another:

“Secondly, I feel that a pet makes great friend and

companion. It is beneficial for children to have pets because
animals are never judgmental. A child might have a bad day
at school or he might get in a fight with his friends, but he
will never fight with his pet, for it will love him
unconditionally. Furthermore, pets can prevent children
from being lonely. In modern society, parents are often too
busy to spend time with their children and often leave them
home alone. This might make some kids feel lonely, but
those children who own pets will never feel alone.”
These are pretty basic, but I think you get the idea.

Strep Three: How to write a conclusion

I always recommend that my students write a very short conclusion. I don’t feel that it is
necessary to write a very long conclusion, as the independent essay doesn’t need to be any
more than four hundred words.

Anyhow, the conclusion serves as a basic summary of what has come before. You can do
with a basic, three sentence template. Here it is:

 Sentence one: re-state your main point, begining with a phrase like “to sum it up…” or
“in conclusion.”
 Sentence two: restate your two reasons, beginning with a transitional phrase like “this
is because…”
 Sentence three: Once again, restate your main point but using different words
Here’s a sample:
“To sum it up, I feel that a pet is the best gift for a child. This
is because pets are very educational, and because they make
great friends. There really is no better gift that a child can
receive than a pet.”