TOEFL iBT Independent Writing, actor, lawyer, or tour guide - revised -

Writing Topic:

Many different jobs are important to society for different reasons. Select one of these jobs and explain why you think that job is helpful to your society: 1) actor, 2) lawyer, 3) tour guide. Support your essay with specific reasons and examples.

                           

☆Let’s Think

1.      Here are some of the TOEFL iBT Independent Writing topics disclosed by ETS that sound similar to this writing topic. Do you notice any differences in the ways the questions are asked?

(1)  Choose one of the following transportation vehicles and explain why you think it has changed people’s lives.  • automobiles   • bicycles   • airplanes

(2)  Many parts of the world are losing important natural resources, such as forests, animals, or clean water. Choose one resource that is disappearing and explain why it needs to be saved.

Similar but different types of questions are as follows:

(3)  A friend of yours has received some money and plans to use all of it either

• to go on vacation   • to buy a car

Your friend has asked you for advice. Compare your friend’s two choices and explain which one you think your friend should choose.

(4)  You have enough money to purchase either a house or a business. Which would you choose to buy?

(5)  What do you want most in a friend — someone who is intelligent, or someone who has a sense of humor, or someone who is reliable? Which one of these characteristics is most important to you?

Notes

◍Questions (3), (4), and (5) ask you the better or the best choice while Questions (1) and (2) do not. Like Question (1) and (2), the writing topic of this lessen does not require comparison. Neither does it require you to choose the most important. The first sentence of this topic, “Many different jobs are important to society for different reasons”, meaning each job has its own significance, works as the condition where comparison of the given three jobs is not required.

◍Question (3) requires you to compare the choices while Questions (4) and (5) do not. However, in answering Question (4) and (5), even though there is no direction, you also need to compare the choices because you cannot convince the reader which is better or the best without mentioning both or all choices.

2.      Which of the following two sentences is more appropriate as the thesis of an essay for the writing topic of this lesson?

a.    The job of the actor is the most helpful to my society.

b.    The job of the actor is helpful to my society in many ways.

3.      Discuss how the actor, the lawyer, and the tour guide contribute to society.

☆Hints for Points

The actor

1. helps you learn about people, life, and the world by acting in a movie or a play.

e.g. historical period drama, biographical film etc.

2. helps develop your imagination and creativity by helping you experience a life which is totally different from yours or a fictional life that is often more real than a real life. The experience gives you visions about the past, present, and future and deep insight about people, society, and nature that make you a creative person like an artist, scientist, or entrepreneur.  e.g. science fiction movie, animated film (anime), etc.

3. helps you release stress by playing the role of an incredible character.

e.g. action, superhero movie, comedy, etc.

The lawyer

1. protects people’s rights by giving advice on what claim they can make and representing them in the law suits

e.g. improper dismissal, unfair trial, copy rights, violation of privacy, minority crime cases, etc.

2. can shed light on important issues in society and help make a difference by taking up a case related to these issues.  e.g. constitution, human rights, neglect of the government, death penalty, corporate crime, etc.

The tour guide

1. assist tourists make the most of their tour by helping them experience unfamiliar places and cultures safely and easily.  

e.g. giving information and advice, translating languages, making arrangements for the tourists, etc.

2. plays a role of a citizen diplomat by assisting mutual understanding of different peoples.  e.g. helping tourists and the local people communicate with each other and leaving good impression of the people and the country in tourists’ minds and vice versa, etc.

☆Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3】

【Conclusion】

☆Sample Paragraph Development

【Main Idea】Lawyers help us protect our rights.

【Supporting Details】They are specialists of laws and fight in court for their clients. For example, a lawyer can give advice on what claim can be made and will fight in the law suit for you. If there is an employee whose employment contract was terminated for no proper reason, his or her lawyer will find the evidence of the wrongdoing of his client’s former employer and helps him or her get his job back or get compensated for the damage caused by the dismissal.

【Conclusion】In this way, the lawyer helps protect fundamental human rights, right to pursue happiness in this case.

Your Sample Paragraph Development

【Main Idea】

【Supporting Details】

【Conclusion】

Note: If you find it difficult to start with the topic sentence, it might be a good idea to follow your thought process while conforming to the English essay writing format. You could leave the first part of the paragraph blank and start with specific details and then put generalized ideas of the details above them. Also, you could make the conclusion of the paragraph first, and go back to the top of the paragraph, capping it with the main idea.