TOEFL Academic Passage Structure

TOEFL passages adopt a top down approach to the organization of the passage structure. This means that beginning of each passage starts with a broad discussion around the topic and as the passages continues, more and more specific details are presented.

Reading and listening passages generally contain what’s called a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a statement that provides the main idea of the entire passage. It is usually found in the beginning part of the passage. For reading, the thesis statement is usually the final statement of the introductory paragraph and an introductory paragraph may look like this.

Roman Empire, at its height, was the most extensive political and social structure in western civilization. It ruled vast lands around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, Africa, and Asia and all of this empire was ruled via its central government in Rome. Nevertheless, keeping control of the empire proved to be difficult and its eventual disintegration is attributed to several factors.

The Thesis Statement

“Nevertheless, keeping control of the empire proved to be difficult and its eventual disintegration is attributed to several factors.”

This statement gives you an idea as to what kind of details you will see in the rest of the paragraph. The main idea of this passage is how the Roman Empire’s disintegration is attributed to several factors, so the rest of the passage will reveal some of the reasons which contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire.

Body Paragraphs

Each body paragraph then discusses one factor that may have contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. As illustrated in the image, the second paragraph can introduce the overexpansion and military overspending as a factor. Body paragraphs tend to have a topic sentence – usually the first sentence – which introduces the main idea of that particular paragraph. The following could be a topic sentence for the second paragraph.

“One reasons could be that the Roman Empire fell due to overexpansion and military overspending.”

This sentence clearly outlines the main idea of the paragraph and the rest of the paragraph will present further informaton on how overexpansion and military overspending was detrimental to the Roman Empire. The details could include

Administrative and logistical difficulties
Communication issues
Lack of resources to defend its vast frontiers

So academic passages adopt a top down approach, starting with a general discussion of the topic and then going into more specific details within the passage.

The Passage

The overall main idea of a passage is presented with a thesis statement. This statement outlines the overall main idea of the entire passage and further details are presented in each body paragraph to support the main idea within the thesis statement.

The Paragraphs

Each body paragraph focuses on one particular detail to support the main idea in the thesis statement. However, in each body paragraph, there is a topic sentence, which outlines the main idea of that particular paragraph. The details within that paragraph then supports the topic sentence of that paragraph