Toefl exam Essentials

THE BODY: SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS
After you have written your introduction, begin composing the
body of your essay (about three paragraphs long). To create an effec-
tive essay, each paragraph in your essay needs to be effective, too.
Follow these guidelines as you write each supporting paragraph:
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Avoid introducing several ideas within one para-
graph. By definition, a paragraph is a group of sentences
about the same idea.
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Treat each paragraph as a mini-essay, with its own
thesis (a topic sentence that expresses the main idea of
the paragraph) and supporting details (examples).
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List at least one detail or example for each main
supporting idea.
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Keep each paragraph about 3–4 sentences long. Your

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TOEFL EXAM ESSENTIALS
essay for the TOEFL exam will be short. If you write
more sentences in each paragraph, you may run out of
time and space. If you write fewer, you will most likely
not develop your idea sufficiently.
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