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12025 Yale Court
Irvine, CA 92620
 Office: (949) 936-6900
 Fax: (949) 936-6909
Attendance:(949) 936-6901
 Directions and Map
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What Teachers Look for in Writing
(The Six Traits of Writing)
Ideas
- Makes sense.
- Gets and holds my attention.
- Has a main idea, thesis, center, sense
of purpose.
- Writer draws on experience.
- Says something new, or says it in a
fresh way.
- Full of ideas that add interest and
important information.
Word Choice
- Makes me say, “Yes, that’s just the
right word or phrase.”
- Long after reading, some words still
tug at my memory.
- Words are used correctly.
- The writer chooses wisely, but isn’t
afraid to stretch.
- This writer knows the language of the
topic-but doesn’t try to
impress me with phony, bloated phrases.
- Simple language is used when it gets
the job done.
Organization
- The opening makes me want to keep
reading.
- Has a logical order or pattern.
(definition, proposal, problem solution, comparison
-contrast, story
unfolding over time, etc.)
- I can follow the story or main points.
- Sometimes I can predict-sometimes the
writer surprises me.
- Ends well.
- Ties up loose ends.
- Doesn’t stop abruptly.
- Doesn’t end with, “Then I woke up and
it was all a dream!”
- Doesn’t repeat with, “Now you know the
three reasons we should fight pollution.”
- It’s smooth going-easy on the ear.
- I could easily read this aloud.
- Almost every sentence begins in a
slightly different way, OR
- Repetition is rhythmic and stylistic,
not annoying.
- Some sentences are long; some aren’t.
- Sentences aren’t choppy. Yet they do
not meander aimlessly as if length alone were a virtue and there was no
particular need to rush to the end and be done with it.
Voice
- Sounds like a person wrote it.
- Sounds like a particular writer.
- Writing has style, flavor.
- Reaches out to me, the reader.
- Brings me “inside.”
- Makes me respond.
- Makes me feel.
Conventions
- The writing is clean and polished. It
looks proofread.
- Most things are done correctly.
- Careful, controlled use of conventions
makes meaning clear and reading easy.
- No BIG errors shout at me
from the page:
Hey!
- Pay attenSHUN two me! Fergt IDEAS and
VIOCE! Think? About the mistakes!, A lot!”(Grammar and
spelling incorrect to catch your eye and make a point. The
ideas and voice get lost if the grammar and spelling are poor.)
- Spelling, punctuation, grammar,
capital letters, and paragraph indenting:
The writer has thoughtfully attended to ALL conventional details.
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