Okay, so this month’s collection is purely academic writing. This stuff is the closest you will get to reading TOEFL articles outside of the TOEFL. Don’t worry, though, I will have more random junk next month. I promise.
Everything is from “Science News,” which I get in the mail every couple of weeks. Here are a few highlights from the November and December issues. I took the headlines from the print version, so they might not match what you see online.
- ” Why Were Megalodon Sharks So Big ?” asks questions about why some ancient sharks got so massive. This would make a perfect integrated writing question, as it presents some theories… and then presents the challenges to them. One of the theories is intrauterine cannibalism. What the f–k?
- “Farming on Mars Will be Nothing Like in The Martian” is a fun article. I mention it here because “The Martian” is a book I recommended in an earlier column.
- “Who Invented Bone Points?” is a nice long article that resembles some of the historical articles you will get in the reading section. Lots of great vocabulary here.
- “Toads on Two Islands are Shrinking Fast” is a nice long biology article that looks a bit like what you will see in the reading section.
- “Early American Women Hunted Game” is another article covering early human history. It is a medium-length article.
- “A Night with Colugos” is a feature-length article, which means it is a lot longer than what you will get on the test. But it is a lot of fun. It is also a breezy and light read. You’ll enjoy it. Interestingly, I visited the island in Malaysia discussed here. I didn’t have a great impression of it, but the article makes it look really wonderful. Now I hope to return.
That’s all for now, but more to come in March!
