Many students take a TOEFL class not because they are taking the test, but because they want advanced English practice. Many of these same students want to learn how to write an American-style, five-paragraph essay (intro, three body paragraphs, conclusion). Case in point: In my last TOEFL class, almost half of my students wanted more help writing five-paragraph essays.
The best book for learning how to write American-style essays is Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT. Yes, it is a TOEFL book but it is also great for learning how to write essays. Speaking and Writing teaches you how to write basic and advanced opinion-based essays and fact-based essays used in American colleges and universities. You also learn essential rhetoric strategies including deduction and induction. I also teach you basic and advanced thesis strategies and basic and advanced introduction and conclusion strategies. After you learn how to write a five-paragraph essay, I teach you how to self-analyze your essays using the argument analyzer OPDUL=C. By doing so, you can quickly and proficiently self-correct your essays for greater coherence. Speaking and Writing Strategies does all that using a graphics-based teaching system I call argument mapping. All you have to do is follow the argument maps and you will be writing American-style essays in no time.
Remember: Everything in Speaking and Writing Strategies was developed and tested in American university classrooms, including TOEFL classes, business writing classes, and advanced essay classes. Open Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT and you are stepping into a real American university classroom.
Want to learn how write American-style five-paragraph essays? It's all in the book.
The Pro
