The Six Traits of Writing

1. The Six Traits of Writing Ideas Organization Voice Sentence Fluency Word Choice Conventions

2. Ideas • Ideas that writers use should be powerful and significant. • Details that writers include should be interesting, specific, and descriptive. • It should be clear that the writer has a lot of insight into the topic.

3. Organization • Organization should be logical and effective. • The beginning should be captivating and engaging. The reader should immediately be drawn in and want to read further. • The middle pulls the reader along while flowing smoothly. The ideas are all connected together and can be easily followed. • The ending leaves the reader thinking.

4. Voice • Voice is the ability to have the writer’s personality show through the writing. • It is individual, unique (just like a person) and appropriate to the topic and audience. • Voice allows the writer to express feelings and emotions and enables the reader to feel them.

5. Sentence Fluency • Sentences sound smooth and expressive when read aloud. • The length of sentences varies. Some are short, some are long, some are in-between. • The sentences begin in different ways or are structured differently internally (use of sentence formulas).

6. Word Choice • Specific, vivid, precise words are used. • The best way to state something is how you write. • Word choice creates pictures in the readers’ minds (sensory details).

7. Conventions • All conventions are correct and communicative. • Proper nouns and beginnings of sentences are capitalized. Everything else is not. • All words are spelled correctly. • All punctuation marks are placed (commas, periods, apostrophes, quotation marks, semi-colons, etc.). • Verb tenses are consistent.