writing+skill+1

WRITING SKILLS The following skills will help you to implement these strategies in the Writing section of the TOEFL iBT INTEGRATED TASK

Writing Skill 1: NOTE THE MAIN POINTS AS YOU READ In the integrated task in the Writing section of the TOEFL iBT, you will have to read an aca­demic passage as part of the task. It is important for you to be able to read an academic pas­sage of around 300 words in a short period of time. Look at an example of a reading passage that is part of an integrated writing task on hindcasting.

Reading Passage 1 It is common knowledge that forecasting is an attempt by meteorologists to determine what the weather will be like in the future. Hindcasting is the opposite of forecasting, an attempt to determine what the weather was like in the past. Meteorologists wish that records of the weather had been kept in full for at least a few millennia, but it has been only in the last century that detailed records of the weather have been kept. Thus, meteorologists need to hindcast the weather. and they do so by using all sorts of information from other fields as

diverse as archaeology, botany, geology, literature, and art. These pieces of information from other fields that are used as a basis for drawing conclusions about what the weather must have been like at some point in the past are called proxies.

As you read the passage, you should take notes on the topic and main points of the reading pas­

sage. Look at these notes on the topic and main points of the reading passage on hindcasting.

TOPICOF READING PASSAGE:hindcasting (trying to determine what the weather was like in the past) main points about the topic:

• detailed weather records kept for less than a century

• proxies (information from various other fields) used to hindcast weather

These notes show that the topic of the reading passage is hindcasting, which means trying to determine what the weather was like in the past The main points about hindcasting are that detailed weather records have been kept for less than a century and that proxies, which are pieces of information from various other fields, are used to hindcast weather.

WRITING SKILLS 249

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Now look at another example of a reading passage that is part of an integrated writing task on emotions.

Reading Passage 2 Humans all around the world, from culture to culture, seem to have a lot in common in terms of emotions. People from every comer of

the world seem to express the same emotions: they all experience happiness and sadness, and they all experience anger and fear and surprise.

In addition to sharing the kinds of emotions they experience, people all around the world seem to use the same facial expressions to convey emotion. A facial expression that conveys happiness in the northern hemisphere of the wood also does so in the soethem hemisphere, and

a facial expression that conveys anger in the eastern hemisphere also

conveys anger in the western hemisphere.

These similarities in emotions around the world lead to the conclusion that the expression of emotions is something that is intrinsically natural in humans rather than something that is acquired from one's individual culture. That is to say, the expression of emotions seems to be natural throughout humanity rather than something that is learned in a specific culture.

As you read the passage, you should take notes on the topic and main points of the reading pas­

sage. Look at these notes on the topic and main points of the reading passage on emotions.

TOPICOF READING PASSAGE:similarities in emotions from culture to culture main pointe about the topic:

• same emotions af:'ound the world

• same facial expressionsto show emotions around the world

• conclusion that-emotions are Intrineic (natural)

These notes show that the topic of the reading passage is similarities in emotions from culture to culture. The main points about the topic are that people experience the same emotions around the world, that people use the same facial expressions to show emotions around the world, and that a conclusion can be drawn from this that emotions are intrinsic, or natural. The following chart outlines the key information you should remember about dealing with

the reading passage in the integrated writing task.