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Conventions. The sixth element of the 6 + 1 Writing Traits. What are conventions?. Spelling Punctuation Capitalization Grammar Paragraphing Having correct conventions means that the reader can pay more attention to your creative thoughts and ideas. Spelling . I don’t know how to spell!
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Conventions The sixth element of the 6 + 1 Writing Traits
What are conventions? • Spelling • Punctuation • Capitalization • Grammar • Paragraphing Having correct conventions means that the reader can pay more attention to your creative thoughts and ideas.
Spelling I don’t know how to spell! I am a bad speller! You just tell me how to spell it! These excuses will not work. What should you do if you don’t know how to spell a word? • Look it up in the dictionary • Ask a friend • Look at the resources around you
Punctuation Know the different types of punctuation. • period . • comma , • question mark ? • exclamation point ! • colon : • hyphen – • ellipse … • parentheses ( ) How are all of these punctuation marked used?
Capitalization When do I use capital letters? • Names of people – Christopher Columbus • Words used as names – grandpa • Titles used as names – President Bush • Abbreviations – NFL • Proper Nouns – New York City • Historical Information – Civil War • Organizations - Republican
Capitalizationcontinued • Geographic Names – Agusta, Maine • Nationalities – Egyptian • Languages – Spanish • Titles – Freckle Juice • First Words – The sky is blue. • Days & Months – Monday, January • Holidays – Easter • Greetings – Dear Charlie, • Closings – Your friend, Margo
Grammar • Check all your sentences. • One cool fall day Tom, Bill, and Bobby. • One cool fall day Tom, Bill, and Bobby went to go fishing they caught only on fish all day. • Do you have sentence fragments or run-on sentences? • Do your subjects & verbs agree? • Bill walk to the fishing hole. • Tom, Bill, and Bobby loves to go fishing.
Paragraphing • A paragraph is a group of sentences that concentrate on one topic. • Indent each time you begin a new topic. • Each paragraph should include a… • Topic sentence – tells what the paragraph is about • Body – detail sentences that back up the main idea • Closing sentence – sums up the big idea
Conventions In order to be good at editing you need to develop an eye for mistakes. • Check everything • Check it again • Read it out loud • Have a friend check it • It is hard to edit your own paper because you know what you want to say. Although that may not be what is written on the page. • Conventions is the most important of the traits.
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