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03 Traits of Effective Writing

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Traits of Effective Writing Chapter Opener

Start-Up Activity

Ask students, "What do you look for in a friend?" They will probably offer suggestions like, "someone fun," or "someone I can hang out with." Others might say, "a person I can trust" or "a person who gets me and lets me be who I am." As they offer ideas, write on the board adjectives like "fun," "easy-going," "trustworthy," and "accepting." After the conversation, list the opposites of these words "boring," "demanding," "back-stabbing," "judgmental."

Then sum up the two lists, saying something like "We can all pretty much agree that we want friends who are fun, easy-going, trustworthy, and accepting and not friends who are boring, demanding, back-stabbing, and judgmental." Call the first list "the traits of good friends."

Then say that readers use a similar set of traits when they befriend or reject books and other writing. In this chapter, students will have a close look at these traits of effective writing.

Think About It

“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”

—Groucho Marx

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Traits of Effective Writing

Let students know that all writing—from novels to articles to screenplays to essays—has key traits that make it great. Then lead them through the brief description of each trait on the page. Help them understand that the biggest trait is ideas, at the very top of the list, and all of the other traits support it. Organization puts the ideas in the best order, voice expresses the ideas in the best way, words carry ideas, sentences organize the words, and conventions make sure the writing follows the rules. On the next pages, students will look closely at each trait.

Check out additional free information about the traits of effective writing.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
NE ELA Standard:

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Writing Traits in Action

Read aloud the introduction to each trait, and then have a different student volunteer read each example aloud. Afterward, instead of reading the bracketed material, prompt a discussion of the trait.

  • What do you like about the (ideas) in this example?
  • What specific examples can you give?
  • Why do you think the (ideas) in writing are important?

Extension activity: Assign students to search for another piece of writing that strongly demonstrates a given trait. Students can find examples in textbooks, novels, games, poems, street signs, or any other writing they are interested in. Have students share the writing with the class and tell why they think it strongly demonstrates the trait. You might even offer extra credit for examples brought in from outside the classroom.

LAFS Standard:
NE ELA Standard:

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Engaging Voice and Original Word Choice

Before reading the voice and word choice material, choose an outgoing student to come to the front of the class. Tell the person that he or she needs to pretend to be you, teaching the class. Meanwhile, you will sit in the person's seat and do an imitation of him or her. As the two of you role-play, have the other students observe. Then go back to your usual roles and ask how the student adjusted his or her voice to sound like you, and vice versa. Ask what words the student used to imitate you, and vice versa.

Help your students realize that we can tell a lot from a person's voice and word choice: who the person is, what position the person has, what attitude the person has, what emotions the person is feeling, and so on. Those features are also apparent in a person's writing voice. Then present the examples on the page.

LAFS Standard:
NE ELA Standard:

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Effective Sentence Style and Correct, Accurate Copy

Have students imagine being the owner of a company and having an employee say each of these three sentences:

  • "After long consideration and a lot of soul searching, I've decided that the only way forward is to seek new employment opportunities elsewhere."
  • "I need to let you know that I have decided to leave the company."
  • "I quit."

Ask students how each sentence makes them feel, as the boss:

  • What is good about each sentence length?
  • What is bad about each length?
  • What situation would be most appropriate for each sentence?

Help students understand that different lengths and styles of sentences—and different types of punctuation—express ideas in different ways. Then present students the examples on the handbook page.

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Evaluating Your Writing

Now that your students understand the traits of effective writing, help them understand how to use them. The traits provide a tool for evaluating writing, figuring out what is working well and what could work better. The traits also help diagnose problems and provide solutions. Finally, the traits give students a language for discussing writing.

Provide your students a copy of the Assessment Rubric whenever they need to evaluate a given piece of writing. (Actually, you should provide them the rubric at the beginning of each writing assignment so that they know how their work will be evaluated.)

When you assess student writing, you might prefer to use a Teacher Rating Sheet.

See the free online Write AheadTeacher's Guide for much more on assessing writing.

State Standard Reference:
LAFS Standard:
NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

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English Language Arts: