The Six Traits of Effective Writing

The six-traits of effective writing are the key characteristics of good writing. When students learn the traits, they are empowered to improve their own writing because it helps them develop the language they need to talk about and examine their own writing and be thoughtful responders to other writers' work.

For an overview of the traits, get started with this tutorial .

What are the Six Traits?

1. Ideas
   Good writing has clear ideas, a purpose, or focus. It should have specific ideas and details.
   
   
2. Organization
   Writing should have a beginning, middle, and an ending and be well organized and easy to follow.
   
   
3. Voice
   Your writing should connect with your audience, fit your purpose for writing, and reveal your voice.
   
   
4. Word Choice
   Good writing has specific nouns and verbs and strong words that deliver the writer's message.
   
   
5. Sentence Fluency
   Sentences should vary in length, with a variety of sentence beginnings. The writing should flow smoothly from sentence to sentence.
   
   
6. Conventions
   Strong writing is edited for grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling so the writer's ideas are easily understood.

Six-trait Rubrics

Rubrics, based on the six-traits, allow you to evaluate your students' writing with criteria that helps students improve their writing with each draft.

See Also:

The Six Traits of Effective Writing for Students

Write Traits® Workshops

 

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