Six Traits of Writing

An overview

Word Choice

●The language is rich, natural, and yet

succinct.

●Words are specific, precise, and

appropriate.

●Powerful words provide energy for the

piece.

Weak example of word

choice

●Seth ran out of the forest to the place

where the trees met the road. He was

frozen with fear at the sight of the truck

stopped on the road and Maggie’s bike

underneath it.

Strong example of word

choice:

●Seth, breathless, came stumbling out of

the pine forest to a clearing where the

trees met the paved road. His heart

arrested at the sight of the Wal-mart

semi-truck jack-knifed across the lanes

of the county road and Maggie’s

crippled bike pinned beneath it.

Sentence Fluency

●The writing has a natural flow and rhythm.

●Varied sentence structure and length

demonstrate conscious planning.

●The sentences are rhythmic and graceful.

Weak example of sentence

fluency

●Eva sat at her rock hard student desk. She impatiently tapped her pencil. It was not going to be pretty. She was hoping this test would be easy. She had a feeling Ms. Steiner was going to slay her. Steiner was always trying to break them. She tried to make them need her. She tried to make them pine for her superior intelligence. She wanted them to admire her excellent taste. Eva had to admit she had it.

Strong example of sentence

fluency

●Sitting in her rock-hard student desk, Eva impatiently tapped her pencil. It was not going to be pretty. She was hoping this test would be easy, but she had a feeling Ms. Steiner was going to slay her. Steiner was always trying to break them, make them need her, worship her for her superior intelligence, and (Eva had to admit) excellent taste.

Conventions (spelling,

grammar, punctuation, etc.)

●The writer correctly utilizes a wide

range of standard writing conventions.

Some minor errors may exist, but they

do not detract from the overall quality of

the paper.

Weak example of

conventions

●when He was neerly thrtean, my

Brother got his armm badley brocken at

the alboe When it heelled and his fears

of never being abel to play football were

Assuaged he was seldum self

consciouse about His injure. LOL.

Strong example of

conventions

●When he was nearly thirteen, my

brother Jem got his arm badly broken at

the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s

fears of never being able to play football

were assuaged, he was seldom self-

conscious about his injury.

Content (ideas)

●The writing is focused, well developed,

and enhanced by details.

●The purpose is clear and concise.

●The thesis (or purpose) is strongly

supported by well-chosen and

integrated details.

●Ideas are engaging or sophisticated.

Weak example of content

●On Tuesday, December 22, I went about my

business going to class as usual. After school

my friend came and picked me up to go to his

house. After we got to his house, we grabbed

our fishing stuff and started to go to my

house. It was on the way to my house,

coming down the street, that we saw this cool

old car.

Strong example of content

●Mel and I couldn’t wait to get out of school so we could go fishing. We only had one period left, and had that class together: Spanish. I knew we were supposed to be studying irregular -ir verbs, but I couldn’t concentrate. Instead of chanting conjugations with the class, I was imagining tying flies and hooking worms with surgical precision.

Organization

●The order and structure move the reader through the text easily.

●An interesting hook draws the reader into the paper, and a conclusion leaves the reader with a sense of resolution.

●Smooth, effective transitions exist among all elements (sentences, paragraphs, and ideas).

●Paragraphing is natural and appropriate.

Weak example of

organization●Once upon a time there was a girl named Betty. She

had a younger sister named Annette. Annette liked to play piano. They were a year apart. Betty was a Junior in high school and Annette was a sophomore in high school. They both lived with their parents in California. They were both beautiful. Betty had long pretty dark brown hair and brown eyes, she was tall, but not too tall, she had medium brown skin, and Annette had light brown hair and light brown eyes, she was tall, too, but like an inch shorter than Betty. She had light colored skin. They both had their own friends and their own interests. Betty liked to rollarblade with their friends and they made lots of

plans to go on the weekends a lot.

Strong example of

organization

●Betty was a mean girl. You know, the kind you clear the hallway for in high school and secretly hope develops a serious weight problem in college. That girl. The only thing that made Betty bearable was how much her younger sister embarrassed her. Both sisters were beautiful, Betty was the darker, taller version of her fairer sister. But even though they looked like sisters, the similarities stopped there. Betty loved to be outside with her friends while Annette preferred the companionship of her rock collection.

Voice

●The writer speaks directly to the reader in a way that is individual, compelling and engaging.

●The reader feels a strong interaction with the writer, sensing the person behind the words.

●The writer takes a risk by revealing who they are and what they think.

●The writing makes you think about and react to the author's point of view.

Weak example of voice

●There are 5 people in my family: Mom, Sara,

Lucia, Fritz, and Mr. TarTar, the cat. My dad is

a salesman, but we don't know where he is.

We live in Wisconsin in a small house outside

of town. There's a lot of chores to be done

because we grow a lot of our own food. Also,

we make chairs to sell in the winter time.

Strong example of voice

●I'm not a weird religious crazy, even though from the outside, it might look that way. Sure I have 3 siblings and a mom and we live in the woods. Sure we grow our own food and make furniture to sell to rich people who live in the city. Sure my dad left to sell Bibles and never came back.  Come to think of it, maybe we ARE religious crazies and nobody bothered to tell me. Huh. I'll guess I'll have to ask Mr. TarTar.