{"id":3089,"date":"2016-04-25T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=3089"},"modified":"2018-09-21T19:12:23","modified_gmt":"2018-09-22T02:12:23","slug":"2-top-online-writing-labs-for-toefl-prep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/2-top-online-writing-labs-for-toefl-prep\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Top Online Writing Labs for TOEFL Prep"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TOEFL Writing responses are\u00a0a lot like short college essays.\u00a0So university online writing labs provide great TOEFL prep.<\/p>\n<p>Online writing labs, sometimes called \u201cOWLs,\u201d are university-sponsored websites full of writing tips, tricks, and advice. These sites can help you develop\u00a0your English academic writing skills\u00a0as you prepare for the TOEFL exam. Below, I\u2019ll guide you through two OWLs from top universities<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The Purdue Online Writing Lab<\/h2>\n<p>Purdue is one of the top private universities in the USA, and their OWL website has a subsection <a href=\"https:\/\/owl.purdue.edu\/owl\/english_as_a_second_language\/esl_instructors_tutors\/esl_instructors_and_students.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">just for ESL students and teachers<\/a>. Purdue\u2019s ESL writing resources include long, example-filled tutorials on the proper use of punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and paraphrasing in English academic writing.\u00a0<span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">The ESL section also includes a lot of cultural context for American academic writing<\/span><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">More tips and tricks on writing structure, grammar, mechanics, and common academic essay types can also be found in Purdue Owl\u2019s <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5\" href=\"https:\/\/owl.purdue.edu\/owl\/general_writing\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">General Writing<\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\"> portal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Purdue\u2019s free online database of writing resources is huge, equivalent to getting an entire free writing textbook. And the database is useful for another reason\u2014Purdue OWL is very well respected by university professors throughout the English-speaking world. You will likely be asked to use Purdue&#8217;s website in some of your future classes. Using this valuable online tool in TOEFL prep is a good way to become familiar with Purdue OWL before you begin using it in your degree classes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writer\u2019s Handbook<\/h2>\n<p>Not all online writing labs clearly label themselves as OWLs. In some case they may be headed as \u201cWriting Resources\u201d or \u201cWriting Handbooks.\u201d Handbook-format college OWLs are known for a central table of contents page and easy-to-navigate links. UW-Madison, one the America\u2019s most prominent public research universities, has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.writing.wisc.edu\/Handbook\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a particularly nice handbook-style OWL<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>All important subpages are linked in the table of contents on this OWL&#8217;s landing page.\u00a0For TOEFL prep, I especially recommend the links that are closer to the bottom of the main contents page. The tutorials under the headings \u201cWriting Process and Structure,\u201d \u201cImproving Your Writing Style,\u201d and \u201cGrammar and Punctuation\u201d are very TOEFL-relevant.<\/p>\n<p>Once you click the links under the headings, you\u2019ll find quite a few other additional links that really focus on the kinds of problems ESL students may face. Important highlights include <a href=\"http:\/\/www.writing.wisc.edu\/Handbook\/CommonErrors.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a dozen common writing mistakes and how to correct them<\/a>, a guide to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.writing.wisc.edu\/Handbook\/QPA_paraphrase2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">successful paraphrasing<\/a>, a set of lessons<a href=\"http:\/\/www.writing.wisc.edu\/Handbook\/ClearConciseSentences.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> on good sentence structure<\/a>, tips <a href=\"http:\/\/www.writing.wisc.edu\/Handbook\/Thesis.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on how to develop an argument<\/a>, and much more.<br \/>\n&nbsp; <\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>The takeaway<\/h2>\n<p>Madison\u2019s handbook-style writing lab is not quite as large and comprehensive as Purdue\u2019s. However, both Purdue and Madison\u2019s formats have their advantages. If you want to really focus on TOEFL-style academic writing and get a large books\u2019 worth of tips without having to actually buy a book, Purdue is a good option for you. If you want a more focused, simpler resource that highlights the key concepts\u00a0of TOEFL and academic writing, Madison\u2019s handbook might be for you.<\/p>\n<p>In my next post on this subject, we\u2019ll look at some lesser known online writing labs and guides. Even schools that aren\u2019t so well-known can offer a lot of good materials.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TOEFL Writing responses are a lot like short college essays. So university online writing labs provide great TOEFL prep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13605],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-3089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-skills"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>2 Top Online Writing Labs for TOEFL Prep<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TOEFL Writing responses are a lot like short college essays. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C50&amp;q=Recine+magoosh&amp;btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}