6 TRAITS OF WRITING

WHAT ARE THE 6 TRAITS OF WRITING? Ideas and Content Organization Voice Word Choice Sentence Fluency Conventions

IDEAS AND CONTENTAs you start your writing, you will have to brainstorm ideas. Your ideas and content are the reasons for writing a paper or a paragraph.

Ask yourself these questions:- What is my main idea?- Are my ideas focused and clear?- What important details should I include?- Is my topic interesting?

ORGANIZATION Organizing your ideas

helps a reader move through a paper or story in a meaningful way.

Ask yourself these questions:

Does my beginning grab the readers’ attention?

Is my paper easy to follow?

Do my details connect with the main idea?

Does my conclusion wrap up the end of the story, essay, or paragraph?

VOICEVoice is what makes your writing interesting, what gives your writing a unique style, and shows your personality to the reader.

Questions to Consider:

• Can the reader tell I am passionate about my topic?• Does this writing sound like me?• What emotions am I trying to show my readers?• How do I want my readers to feel?

WORD CHOICEThe words that you choose to include in your paragraph, story , or essay can also affect whether or not your writing keeps the reader engaged. Here are a few tips for good word choice:

- Use specific words (instead of went, use traveled).- Use words that grab the readers’ attention.- Use words that appeal to the readers’ 5 senses (spicy

refreshing, chilly, etc.).- Use unique words ( instead of “ran” use “zoomed”).- Avoid using the same word too many times.

SENTENCE FLUENCYSentence fluency is how your sentences work together. As a writer, you want your sentences to be easy to read and to flowtogether nicely.

My uncle’s farm is in Oklahoma. My uncle is named Tom. Tom is my favorite uncle. My uncle likes to drive the tractor. My uncle is lots of fun.

Do these sentences show correct fluency? What could be corrected?

CONVENTIONS

Conventions are something you use every day in whatever you write. When proofreading your writing, you need to correct errors for spelling, grammar usage, capitalization, punctuation, etc.

You should already practice this everyday, so you are probably already a pro!However, every writer has to proofread their work, no matter how long they have been writing.