Six Traits: How to Teach Ten Powerful Concepts About Great Ideas

1. How Do Writers Get Their Ideas? How Should You Get Your Ideas For Writing?

Idea generation is basically the same process regardless of what aspect of life you are getting ideas for. In other words, getting ideas for writing is not much different than getting ideas for solving problems, making improvements, creating plans, or inventing useful products.

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. — John Steinbeck, author (1902–1968)

How do we get our idea? Here are the basics:

Sources of Ideas: Experience, reflection, learning, knowledge, research, reading, watching, listening, discussion, dreams, observing, springboards, thought experiments, synthesizing, combining, imagining, thinking, brainstorming, and other idea-generation techniques.

We often can’t leave getting ideas to chance, which is why idea-generation techniques are so powerful. Writing without prewriting is called freewriting. I always say, “Freewriting is prewriting.” Prewriting is critical in all multi-paragraph writing that is not intended to be freewriting or prewriting!

Here is a list of some popular idea-generation techniques:

Prewriting and General Idea-Generation Techniques: brainstorming, mind mapping, graphic organizers, storyboarding, freewriting, journaling, listing, clustering, outlining, prompt analysis, questioning, and researching.

Sometimes, getting lots of ideas is not enough. Sometimes, we need to think differently—sometimes, we need to generate ideas that fall outside the box. Be sure to read a Complete Explanation of Creative Thinking as a Life Skill for more on this. In the meantime, here is a list of creative-thinking words to get you started:

List of Synonyms Related to Creative Thinking: Creative problem solving, creative ideation, inspired thinking, innovative thinking, non-linear thinking, synthetic thinking, lateral thinking, divergent thinking, unconventional thinking, applied imagination, and thinking outside the box.

The Three Basic Ways We Get Ideas

In short, we have three basic ways to come up with ideas:

1. Idea Generation Techniques: 1) Logical or 2) Creative
2. Unconscious Processing: We Get Ideas as We Live Life
3. Unconscious Processing: We Get Ideas While We Sleep, aka Putting the Subconscious Mind to Work

I discuss all three ways in depth in How Do Great Writers and Thinkers Get Their Ideas? How Should You Get Your Ideas? Throughout history, many of the greatest breakthrough ideas have come to great thinkers during periods of unconscious processing rather than direct, focused thought. Our best or most important ideas often just come to us. In short, think about something deeply, then go do a mundane, routine, or repetitive activity or take a nap. Really, think deeply and then take a nap!

2. What is a Good Idea? What are Good Ideas?

Ideas are highly subjective. They require the correct time, place, audience, occasion, and expression to be considered good or bad. Think of every great speech and every great story. Think of the great ideas that they put forth. In reality, a great idea for one person may be a terrible idea for someone else.

Also, ideas are highly genre dependent. If your story’s plot (ideas) and themes (ideas) are not compelling, it will not be a great story. If your idea for solving a problem is not well supported, it will not be received as a valuable idea.

What do we mean when we think of “ideas” as related to the Six Traits of Writing? Is it the Six Traits’ job to say that “we should live in peace and harmony” is a great idea? It is a great idea! But that’s not what we are talking about when it comes to evaluating ideas in writing.

Here are two lists of qualities of excellent ideas. Keep this in mind: Although great ideas may be the most crucial trait in writing, it’s not enough just to have great ideas. We must organize them and express them well. In one sense, it’s almost impossible to separate ideas from organizing ideas and making a coherent point with those ideas.

Qualities of Excellent Ideas #1: Important, interesting, clear, focused, manageable, well supported, well thought out, appropriately developed, necessary, relevant, interconnected, hierarchical, accurate, unified, deep, profound, substantial, appropriate, concrete, informed, informative, focused, purposeful, deliberate, intentional, rational, reasoned, meaningful, substantiated, strategic, insightful, coherent, logical, valid, factually correct, and credible.

For many types of writing, we may wish to add these qualities:

Qualities of Excellent Ideas #2: Creative, inspired, imaginative, figurative, sensory, revealing, enlightening, personal, thoughtful, original, powerful, effecting, innovative, thought-provoking, reflective, persuasive, compelling, memorable, inspiring, and emotive.

Be sure to check out this valuable resource: Six Traits of Writing: Tips, Checklist, and Cheat Sheet. You will find a checklist for each of the Six Traits, including Ideas!

3. Every Idea Must Have a Beginning, Middle, and Ending

Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC) wrote about the importance of “beginning, middle, and ending” in Poetics. When it comes to writing, many students don’t grasp the concept of “beginning, middle, and ending” in their ideas. This is especially true with young writers. They start an idea, and it rambles on endlessly.

We must teach students to take control of their ideas. This short list captures the essence of unity in writing (the heart of main ideas), which is extremely helpful to understand:

1. Sentence Idea: Every sentence expresses one idea that has a beginning, middle, and ending.

2. Paragraph Idea: Every paragraph expresses one idea that has a beginning, middle, and ending.

3. Whole Composition Idea: Every whole composition expresses one idea that has a beginning, middle, and ending.

Please note that I’m not structurally dogmatic in the beginning, middle, and ending concept. For example, most paragraphs simply begin and end in a way that creates the feeling of beginning, middle, and ending. Writers use emphasis, climax, or other techniques to create a rhythm or feeling of beginning, middle, and ending.

Every idea has a beginning, middle, and ending. Sometimes, a writer expresses an idea in a single sentence, sometimes in several sentences, sometimes in a paragraph, and sometimes in a whole composition. In 1966, respected writing teacher and theorist Paul C. Rodgers, Jr., put it this way when discussing the paragraph: “In essence the paragraph today is just what it has been since the beginning, an ‘expanded sentence’ – logically, structurally, semantically.”

With the help of subordination, coordination, hyphens, and semicolons, many paragraphs, maybe most, can be written as a single sentence. Of course, that’s not our goal. But the point remains: Every sentence in a paragraph is connected “logically, structurally, semantically” because all the sentences pertain to the same idea.

Put another way: Every idea has a beginning, middle, and ending, and sometimes that idea is expressed in a sentence, sometimes in a paragraph, and sometimes in a whole composition.

A writer must determine and control every idea’s beginning, middle, and ending. Many natural writers feel beginning, middle, and ending in their ideas. In contrast, rambling stream-of-consciousness writers do not feel their ideas’ beginning, middle, and ending. Formulaic writers follow the formula of beginning, middle, and ending in their ideas but do not feel it, so they are stuck with a formula as their only tool.

4. Every Idea is an Accordion: The Long Version vs. The Short Version

Have you heard of an elevator pitch? An elevator pitch is a concise and persuasive summary of a product, idea, or project that can be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Yes, an elevator pitch is the short version. People present the elevator pitch in hopes of being able to give their longer pitch.

We often don’t know how much time we have to make our point. The elevator pitch prepares us for those moments of opportunity where we have almost no time. Here is a quote that captures the accordion aspect of ideas:

Dominic Cummings: If you look on the survey, you’ll find copies of the war book. Here’s our message in a sheet. Here’s our message in a paragraph. Here’s our message in a sentence. — Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019)

“Every Idea is an Accordion” relates to the fact that “Every Idea Has a Beginning, Middle, and Ending.” It’s also related to the concept of narrowing and broadening a topic. However, in reality, we change the idea when we narrow or broaden a topic. For example, a narrowed idea is only a part or aspect of the broader idea. In contrast, the concept that every idea is an accordion captures the fact that every idea has a long and short version. As pointed out in the Brexit quote, the point of the long version is the same as the point of the short version.

One writer may devote a single sentence to the friendly nature of a dog, others a paragraph, a page, or an entire essay. In Moby Dick (1851), Herman Melville devoted an entire chapter (1,848 words) to the description of a whale tail. What’s the chapter called? “Chapter 86. The Tail.”

Every idea is an accordion. We can expand that idea, and we can contract it. Some say Melville went too far with his whale-tail idea. Few say that he did not go far enough. Writing requires judgment, and this is especially true when it comes to the expansion and contraction of ideas. Do you think Melville’s writing teacher would have said, “I love where you are going with that whale-tail idea. People are going to love that!”? I don’t think so. But Melville knew best!

What makes a topic sentence a topic sentence? What makes a detail a detail? What makes a thesis statement a thesis statement? The only thing that makes a topic sentence a topic sentence is that we expand on that sentence. That topic sentence might be a detail in a different paragraph or a thesis statement in a different whole composition.

Writing is a process of figuring out what ideas you want to expand on and what ideas you want to contract or delete. If you explain a minor idea quickly, it’s a good idea. If you expand on it unnecessarily, it may become a bad or boring idea. If you explain the idea well, it’s a good idea. It is a bad idea if you don’t explain it enough and the reader is confused. Your next paragraph may come from a detail in your current paragraph. You may raise a question in one paragraph and answer it over the next three paragraphs.

In short, expand ideas and contract ideas, and always have a beginning, middle, and ending for your ideas. Stay in control of your ideas. On the other hand, you can let them run wild and see where they take you if you are willing to revise them later and bring them under control.

5. The Quadrant of Important and Interesting Ideas

The “Quadrant of Important and Interesting Ideas” is a simple model for helping students think about ideas. Although this model is a bit of an oversimplification, I still like it as a reference point and an excellent place to begin discussing ideas.

Of course, across the curriculum, ideas can’t be just important and interesting—they must provide the correct answer. Furthermore, they must be relevant, valid, connected, and credible. Ideas across the curriculum can be important and interesting and follow sound logic, but they can still be off-topic, misguided, or just plain wrong.

6. Make a Statement: Most Ideas Are in Statement Form

We communicate most of our ideas in statements—aka, declarative sentences. Oddly, we teach students that the four types of sentences are essentially equal when, in reality, statements make up at least 90% of the sentences we all read and write.

Statements are a concrete expression of an idea. What does that mean? Stating doubt or confusion is different from being doubtful or sounding confused. Statements are clear and concrete expressions of ideas. Check out 250 Types of Ideas for Creating Powerful, Logical, and Effective Writing. You will discover over 250 types of ideas, along with 250 ways of stating those ideas.

For this next part to make complete sense, you should quickly look at the 250 types of statements. In short, teach your students about the types of ideas and how to state their ideas clearly, logically, creatively, and powerfully. Bring control to their thinking, comprehension, and communication. To be clear, I created an entire program that teaches this kind of thinking: Academic Vocabulary for Critical Thinking, Logical Arguments, and Effective Communication. It’s for absolutely everyone!

Teach students that there is a specific logic even in a short, simple paragraph like the one below. We say things by making statements! Take a look!

7. Organized Ideas: The Hierarchy of Ideas

Coherent ideas form a Hierarchy of Ideas. What is that? A hierarchy of ideas is a structured and logical way of organizing thoughts and information. The ideas are ranked, ordered, and placed at levels based on importance, specificity, or membership in categories.

A hierarchy is composed of three relationships:

1. Superordinate: Higher in class, rank, importance, or position.
2. Coordinate: Equal in class, rank, importance, or position.
3. Subordinate: Lower in class, rank, importance, or position.

Please analyze the text in this section. It is marked by hierarchies of ideas. Here is a brief analysis:

1. The Heading: The heading “Hierarchy of Ideas” is superordinate in this section. However, the heading is coordinate with the other headings in this article. On the other hand, the heading is subordinate to the headline title.

2. The First Two Sentences of this section, “Coherent ideas form a hierarchy of ideas. What is that?” express the main point of that first paragraph. In reality, the two sentences are probably coordinate with the section heading and superordinate for the entire section.

3. The Numbered List is subordinate to the “three relationships” sentence above it. The “three relationships” sentence is superordinate to the numbered list.

4. The Bolded Text in the Numbered List: Each item in the list begins with bolded text, which is essentially a heading for the item in the list. The bolded text is superordinate to what follows the colon.

As a rule, every idea on a LIST is coordinate with the other ideas on the LIST. Almost every list has an accompanying heading; that heading is superordinate to the list.

Hierarchy of Ideas is one of the most critical concepts in school. Almost everything that students learn in school relates to Hierarchy of Ideas. Table of Contents, chapters, sections, lessons, essays, reports, stories, paragraphs, main ideas, details, thesis sentences, and sentences all come in the form of a Hierarchy of Ideas.

If you want to teach clear and organized paragraph and multi-paragraph writing FAST, check out Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay. It is a complete system and methodology that uses the A, B, C Sentence ™ and the Secret A, B, C Sentence ™ to build a practical and intuitive mastery of the Hierarchy of Ideas in writing!

8. Explicitly Stated Ideas vs. Implied Ideas

Ideas are either explicitly stated or implied—or somewhere in between. In reality, every explicitly stated idea implies other ideas. In Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking (2015), psychologist Richard E. Nisbett says, “Everything’s an inference.” I won’t get into the full meaning of that here. I point it out to emphasize just how vital making inferences is for proper understanding and comprehension.

Most teachers know that making inferences is critical to academic success. However, most people don’t recognize or grasp how much life revolves around inferences and implying, even though we all use these processes constantly. In reality, reading, writing, communication, and relationships would be much easier if so much was not implied on so many levels and in so many different ways. In reverse, it would also be easier if people did not make inferences so often.

Here’s a brief summary of how the process works:

1. They imply ideas (well, poorly, or unconsciously). We infer ideas (correctly, incorrectly, or irrationally).

2. We imply ideas (well, poorly, or unconsciously). They infer ideas (correctly, incorrectly, or irrationally).

Many experts believe that grasping the main idea is the most essential skill in reading. In fact, it’s fundamental to understanding any text. Did you know that studies show that at least half of main ideas are implied in the paragraphs in professionally written text? Put simply, topic sentences are not as common as you have been told.

Please think about the two concepts below. Think about how they relate to outlining as a reader vs. as a writer. Think about how they relate to reading comprehension.

1. Hierarchy of Ideas
2. Explicitly Stated Ideas vs. Implied Ideas

The connection between these two concepts is profound in every aspect of thinking and communicating. I will provide a few illustrations.

1. Part vs. Whole: The relationship of each paragraph’s main idea to the whole composition’s main idea is usually implied except in extremely formulaic writing. Still, readers must be able to grasp how each PART relates to the WHOLE even when the writer doesn’t explicitly state the connection. Once again, the relevant connection is often implied.

2. Story: In stories, many of the most important ideas are implied through subtext and theme. Show, don’t tell. There is an old saying in the theater and now in Hollywood: If the scene is about what the scene is about, the story is in deep trouble. Put another way, a great story is never about what the story is about. There is a name for this type of storytelling where all the ideas are stated explicitly, and nothing is left to the imagination or implied. It’s called “on the nose” writing. And it’s not a good thing.

3. “What’s your point?” Although we can use this question to address incoherent communication, people also use it when others weakly imply their point. Of course, we rarely say it so directly, but we think it and then ask questions.

9. Idea Terminology: Generic Terms vs. Specific Terms

We have many terms in the world of writing. Regarding ideas, some terms are generic, and others are specific. Be sure to read Improve Your Paragraph Instruction by Using Better Terms Correctly for more on this topic.

1. Generic Terms for Ideas: Main idea, topic sentence, detail, support, supporting detail, concluding sentence, elaboration, commentary, thesis statement, focus statement, etc.

2. Specific Terms for Ideas: Claim, reason, fact, cause, benefit, statement of contrast, comparison, example, belief, opinion, offer, assertion, compliment, definition, etc. Be sure to read 250 Plus Types of Ideas.

As pointed out elsewhere, most ideas are expressed in statement form. Understanding this fact is a great start. But please keep this in mind: It’s difficult to teach writing when you rely on too many generic terms. Students often remain confused about what exactly a thesis statement is for years. What is a thesis statement? It’s a claim.

10. How Do Ideas Relate to Genre?

Ideas are at least half of genre. The rest is techniques. That’s just a guess, but I hope it helps you understand how critical ideas are to genre. Is this important? Genre is one of the most worthwhile concepts in writing to study and understand. The genre and the audience are the target, and the audience is part of the genre.

Of course, if you don’t know what kinds of ideas exist, this doesn’t help you much. Be sure to check out these to resources.

1. 250 Plus Types of Ideas for Creating Powerful, Logical, and Effective Writing
2. Academic Vocabulary for Critical Thinking, Logical Arguments, and Effective Communication

I could have titled Academic Vocabulary something else—like Academic Ideas. Academic vocabulary helps express academic ideas. It’s difficult to have academic ideas without the vocabulary.

Admittedly, most words and ideas relate to most genres to some degree. Stories have arguments, and arguments often include short stories. Having said that, genres are grounded in the ideas to a large degree.

I begin many writing assignments with students by targeting genre. To be clear, I’m near-obsessed with genre. I believe it is one of the most critical, helpful, and interesting aspects of writing. When students are about to pick up a pencil, why not try to place them in the right ballpark by asking a few questions?

Once the writing assignment is in front of us, my first few questions are often:

1. What genre are we going to write in?
2. More specifically, what genre is it?
3. What kinds of ideas will we be looking for and using?

Why don’t I do this every single time? Because there is so much to teach in writing. Before students pick up a pencil across the curriculum, I’m always reviewing writing expectations to some degree. That’s how you teach writing. This genre-idea aspect is critical, but many things are critical in writing.

I always do this for big assignments. Why be off-target right from the start on a big assignment? What a waste of time! However, I also do this exercise on short and common assignments. How short and how common? Let’s consider answering end-of-chapter comprehension questions.

Question: What genre are we going to write in?

Students Answer: Academic expository or argument short answer.

Questions: What types of ideas might we use?

Students Answer: Facts, reasons, claims, explanations, statements of proof, etc.

Every genre uses specific types of ideas.

Have you heard of the Four Modes of Discourse? In short, it’s one of the most important models ever created related to writing. It’s still a foundation for everything students learn about writing. I call it the Four Main Genres because it makes more sense to people.

In short, every single sentence we communicate falls into one of Four Main Genres: 1) Explaining, 2) Narrating, 3) Describing, 4) Arguing/Persuading. That’s profound. Every sentence is related to genre. In every sentence, we are doing one of these four activities:

1. Expository: We inform and explain.
2. Narrative: We tell what happened.
3. Description: We create pictures in the minds of our readers.
4. Argument: We provide evidence and give reasons to prove things and persuade.

People often describe a sentence as a complete idea. Question: Based on the Four Modes of Discourse, what are you doing with that idea?

Conclusion: The more you teach students about specific types of ideas, the more they will be able to accurately direct those ideas to specific genres. I’ve had young students be able to write nice stories once they grasp that they just need to tell what happened (narrative statement/story fact) one sentence after the next. Everything else is extra. At its heart, that’s what a story is—a series of narrative statements. That’s the genre!