6 TRAITS OF GOOD WRITING GOOD WRITERS DEVELOP

6 TRAITS OF GOOD WRITING

GOOD WRITERS DEVELOP THEIR 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. IDEAS ORGANIZATION VOICE WORD CHOICE SENTENCE FLUENCY CONVENTIONS

IDEAS • Clarity—The reader understands your intent or purpose. • Focus—You stay on the topic. • Good information—You use facts and your experience. • Important details—You go beyond the obvious. • Perspective—you make the reader “see” differently.

ORGANIZATION • Grabber hooks the reader’s attention. • Order and logic are evident. • Transitions are helpful. • Easy to follow, but not too predictable. • Thoughtful ending.

VOICE • Sounds like YOU! • Brings the topic to life. • Might make the reader laugh—or cry—or think! • Is appropriate for the audience, topic, and purpose. • NOT boring!!!

WORD CHOICE • STRONG VERBS • PRECISE NOUNS • WORD PICTURES • MINIMAL REDUNDANCY • NO MODIFER OVERLOAD • FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

SENTENCE FLUENCY • Easy to read. • Varied sentence length. • Varied sentence types. • Varied and purposeful sentence beginnings.

CONVENTIONS • Looks professional. • No big, glaring errors. • Spelling correct on simple words. • End punctuation correct. • Paragraphs show new topics and new speakers.

MORE CONVENTIONS • Quotation marks used to set off dialogue. • Capitals on all proper nouns and to begin all sentences. • Noun-verb agreement. • No arbitrary shifts in tense.

HOW? • PRACTICE • LEARN THE RULES • WATCH THE PROS • BE PART OF THE TEAM • KEEP TRYING • READ • ENCOURAGE OTHERS