TOEFL iBT Independent Writing, Improving facilities or hiring high-quality professors?

Writing Topic

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. It is more worthwhile for a university to spend money on improving facilities than on hiring high-quality professors.

 

☆Let’s Think

This question is made up of a comparison. It compares the importance of facilities and professors for a university. Before thinking about each word, let’s generalize them. Facilities can be generalized as the hardware or machines in this comparison. Professors can be interpreted as the software, or brains (researchers) and human beings with personalities and feelings (teachers). Which is more important hardware or software, machines or brains? Without good equipment, professors cannot perform well, but abundant information that the sophisticated machines can provide is useless if there is no one who knows how to use machines and how to interpret information. It is often said that a top-class chef can prepare a good dish with just a pan and some leftover in the refrigerator.

 

At the same time, university facilities also include those for students such as dormitories, gyms, and so on. Good facilities can attract more students, especially those who go to university mainly to enjoy the last page of their adolescence. Students who live away from home might take good dormitory facilities into consideration in choosing a university. Students who enjoy sports would choose the university with good facilities for sports.

 

☆Paragraph development

A paragraph of the body of an essay often develops its main idea as follows:

【Main Idea】 (主張)

【Explanation】 (主張の説明)

【Detail / Example in general】 (一般的な例)

【More Specific Detail / Example】 (より具体的な例)

【Conclusion】 (結論)

 

Sample Paragraph Development

【Main Idea】 (主張)

For the primary purpose of university, facilities come next to professors.

【Explanation】 (主張の説明)

University is the place for research and development and for training people to be creative, so that we need smart people who know how to use facilities to make good results.

【Detail / Example in general】 (一般的な例)

No matter how smart the technology is and no matter how valuable the data is, they are nothing to non-specialists.

【More Specific Detail / Example】 (より具体的な例)

A few years ago, an Internet site WikiLeaks released confidential government documents on the web, making them practically open to public. However, people who understand their value and can use them for society are rare. Most of the documents that could change our lives if used will continue to exist on the web without being touched.

【Conclusion】 (結論)

Universities need more smart people who can use resources well to benefit society.

 

 

Your test paragraph development

Now let’s practice paragraph development. Choose one of the reasons you have come up with, make it the main idea, and develop it using the following form. As this is a tentative part of your real essay, use simple words and sentences for supporting details and focus on the logic and ideas.

 

【Main Idea】 (主張)

 

【Explanation】 (主張の説明)

 

 

【Detail / Example in general】 (一般的な例)

 

 

【More Specific Detail / Example】 (より具体的な例)

 

 

 

【Conclusion】 (結論)

 

 

♦Essay-writing procedure

Here is a procedure that could help you finish writing the full essay before the time is up, meeting the minimum 300-word requirement. One good point of this procedure is that with this you can avoid forgetting or missing time to write the conclusion.

 

1.    Read the writing topic carefully.

 

2.    Brainstorm, typing down the would-be points for the essay.

 

《The image of typing down the would-be points for the essay》

@@&!*&

$$$$

#`*&%#@&%

$BB

 

3.    Put the points in order. (They will make the topic sentences of the paragraphs of the body.)

 

《The image of putting the points in order》

【Point 1】#`*&%#@&%

【Point 2】@@&!*&

【Point 3】$$$$$BB

 

4.    Write the topic sentences of the conclusion and introduction paragraphs.

For example.

1)    Write the conclusion topic sentence

 

【Point 1】#`*&%#@&%

【Point 2】@@&!*&

【Point 3】$$$$$BB

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Because of #...and @,,,, it can be concluded that children should be more free.

2)    Write the introduction topic sentence

 

【Introduction = Outline】I agree with the idea that it is more worthwhile for a university to spend money on improving facilities than on hiring high-quality professors because of # and @.

【Point 1】#`*&%#@&%

【Point 2】@@&!*&

【Point 3】$$$$$BB

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Because of #... and @,,,, it can be concluded that facility is more important than the faculty for today’s university.

 

5.    Develop body paragraphs.

 

The image of developing the first point (The first paragraph of the body).

【Introduction = Outline】I agree with the idea that it is more worthwhile for a university to spend money on improving facilities than on hiring high-quality professors because of # and @.

【Point 1】#`*&%#@&%. This means that #`****&###```&%%%%. For example, □△○. This is especially true in the case of ◎ because …. It cannot be denied that ■▲● happens, but in reality, □◎◎. Therefore, it can be said that #`*✿&%#@&%□☉✿.

【Point 2】@@&!*&

【Point 3】$$$$$BB

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Because of #... and @,,,, it can be concluded that children should be more free.

 

6.    Develop conclusion and introduction paragraphs.

7.    Go over the whole essay, focusing on one thing such as a grammatical mistake you often make.

 

 

Note: You do not have to follow this procedure when you take the test. This procedure might be useful for a writing topic that is somewhat rather difficult to deal with. Also, you do not always have to stick to the basic essay and paragraph structures. The important thing to remember is to make the points clear before telling their details and to deal with the expected counterargument in an appropriate part of the essay..

 

 

– Ideas used in Let’s Think and Sample Paragraph Development in the writing above is taken

from a YouTube interview video with IMT Professor Noam Chomsky –