[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ width=”100%” max_width=”100%” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”100%” max_width=”100%” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Intro” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Have you heard of the Six Traits of Writing? The truth of teaching writing is that it\u2019s not as simple as just six traits. Although the Six Traits of Writing is a practical and effective assessment and evaluation tool, it falls short as an instructional tool. Put simply, I would not focus my writing instruction on just six traits. In reality, students need a larger and better writing vocabulary. Furthermore, the Common Core State Standards does not use the Six Traits of Writing.<\/p>\n
Did you know that many school districts use genre-specific rubrics on their writing assessments? In other words, many districts use many different traits. If you are at all confused about what I just said, I urge you to check out these two resources:<\/p>\n
1. Free PDF: How to Use the Six Traits of Writing and the Common Core Traits to Teach Writing Across the Curriculum<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Academic Vocabulary for Critical Thinking, Logical Arguments, and Effective Communication<\/a>:<\/strong> Learn and teach the words that matter in writing. Improve the way you and your students think and communicate forever!<\/p>\n The four traits we will look at relate to all forms of writing. Additionally, they are essential traits in academic expository and argument writing. Although the Six Traits does include one of our traits (Organization), the other three traits reinforce and bring meaning and clarity to the word Organization.<\/p>\n To put it mildly, I\u2019m an enthusiastic organizer. However, that term alone doesn\u2019t always capture the real goal in many activities. It doesn\u2019t with writing. Let\u2019s take a closer look at our four critical traits!<\/p>\n These four traits combine to capture an essential aspect of writing and communication. Moving forward, I\u2019ve placed them in two groups:<\/p>\n 1. Organization and Coherence<\/span><\/strong> ensure ideas are structured logically and flow smoothly, making the writing easy to follow.<\/p>\n 2. Logic and Reasoning<\/span><\/strong> provide the foundation for constructing sound arguments and explanations, helping writers connect ideas in a rationally convincing and informative manner.<\/p>\n Together, these traits make writing clear, logical, and intelligible by guiding readers through structurally and logically sound content.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Org & Coher” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”14px|16px|14px|16px|true|true” border_radii=”on|9px|9px|9px|9px” border_width_all=”8px” border_color_all=”#1258b2″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Once again, we will look at organization and coherence together. Let\u2019s begin by examining how Google\/Oxford Dictionary defines them.<\/p>\n Interestingly, coherence doesn\u2019t exactly mean what we may think it means. Here is how I tend to think of the adjective version of the word:<\/p>\n In short, the goal of organization<\/strong> and coherence<\/strong> is to connect ideas to form a unified whole and make writing intelligible. Briefly, here\u2019s how Coherence<\/strong> and organization<\/strong> relate and interact:<\/p>\n 1. Coherence<\/strong> requires organization<\/strong> to order and link ideas clearly to create reader understanding.<\/p>\n 2. Organization<\/strong> refers to the structure of ideas, while Coherence<\/strong> ensures that those ideas connect and are communicated in a way that makes the ideas flow smoothly, logically, and intelligibly.<\/p>\n In an excellent article on coherence, Anita Brostoff makes this point:<\/p>\n The notion that incoherence lies in the failure to achieve continuity has been accepted since Alexander Bain. Upon this basis, I have defined incoherence as writing in which separate, unrelated ideas appear to be juxtaposed: they are next to, but not connected to, each other. Thus the reader can\u2019t follow, or has difficulty reconstructing the underlying structure of the discourse. \u2013 Coherence: \u201cNext to\u201d Is Not \u201cConnected to\u201d (1981) by Anita Brostoff<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In summary, Coherence and Organization relate to these five topics: 1) Order, 2) Unity, 3) Connection, 4) Showing Order, and 5) Showing Connection.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Org, Coher, Writing Process” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”14px|16px|14px|16px|true|true” border_radii=”on|9px|9px|9px|9px” border_width_all=”8px” border_color_all=”#1258b2″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n I\u2019m a big fan of organization. I like things orderly. However, the goal of organization is coherence. The reality of writing is that coherence is created through all three stages of the writing process:<\/p>\n Teachers often misuse the concept of Organization to teach students to create overly simplistic or formulaic writing pieces. Although this is part of the process of learning to write, the reality of writing about complex ideas is that the ideas become organized and coherent through a process. That process is called the WRITING PROCESS.<\/p>\n Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/strong><\/span> teaches both organization and coherence, but it does so in the context of the writing process. The methodology is founded on a two-stage prewriting process that directly relates to and creates the structure for students\u2019 writing. In short, it is the only writing curriculum that instills in students an intuitive understanding of how ideas connect in organized and natural writing. It uses the A, B, C Sentence \u2122 and Secret A, B, C Sentence \u2122 to build a practical mastery of the Hierarchy of Ideas in writing! Finally, once you get results, I teach you how to build on those results to become a highly effective writing teacher!<\/p>\n Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/strong><\/span> doesn\u2019t teach knowledge exactly. It creates skill. The goal of the curriculum, which you should accomplish in months, is to get beginning and struggling writers to create well-organized, coherent multi-paragraph writing quickly, easily, and naturally.<\/p>\n Admittedly, to build on those results, teachers must develop and understand additional tools, techniques, and concepts related to organization, coherence, and other traits. Therefore, let\u2019s consider various ideas related to organization and coherence.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with these five critical questions. These questions should guide every paragraph and every whole composition. These questions capture the essence of organization and coherence.<\/p>\n In writing, we must start with the end in mind\u2014but often, we can\u2019t begin with the end. It\u2019s more accurate to say that we discover the end through the writing process. Writers frequently believe they know what they want to say when they begin writing but only discover their true or fuller message as they end.<\/p>\n That being said, here are fifteen concepts that can help teachers guide students in creating organized and coherent writing by thinking about and starting with the end in mind.<\/p>\n At a minimum, writers should create a tentative or working organizational plan through prewriting. But keep this in mind: We organize our writing and create coherence three times: 1) while prewriting, 2) while writing, and 3) while rewriting. The writing process is recursive. It\u2019s round and round until you get it right or decide to publish or quit.<\/p>\n Writing that is unintelligible is incoherent. A piece of writing is coherent and intelligible when the order, the connections, and the relationships of the ideas are clear and logical. We create coherence by using many strategies and techniques. Here are four critical concepts that are the foundation of the techniques and strategies that create coherence.<\/p>\n 1. Unity:<\/strong> <\/span>A paragraph and whole composition must have unity to have perfect coherence, as any sentence that does not belong creates confusion and harms understanding. In short, the reader must stop reading and attempt to figure out the relationship between the ideas. Of course, we can mark digressions as digressions, which may not harm coherence but does harm the flow.<\/p>\n 2. Common Thought Patterns and Structures:<\/strong><\/span> The structure of a paragraph and a whole composition often uses common and natural thought patterns that the reader already understands: e.g., time order, cause-effect, problem-solution, claim and proof, compare-contrast, topic sentence (beginning), concluding sentence (ending), etc. These patterns and structures have built-in coherence because our brains automatically grasp them.<\/p>\n 3. Textual Cues:<\/strong> <\/span>Transitional words and phrases, signal words, synonyms, pronouns, and repetition of keywords all help create coherence. They all create links and connections within a text. Think back to the previously mentioned article \u2018\u201cCoherence: \u2018Next to\u2019 Is Not \u2018Connected to.\u201d\u2019 If sentences next to each other are not connected, no textual cue can show how they are connected. However, sometimes a connection exists but is not obvious\u2014we must make that connection clear through a textual cue.<\/p>\n 4. Hierarchy of Ideas:<\/strong><\/span> Textual cues and text structures help create and communicate a hierarchy of ideas, which creates coherence: e.g., thesis statement, topic sentence, major details, minor details, elaboration, etc. Once upon a time, I was naive and believed that topic sentences clearly marked this hierarchy of ideas. Well, topic sentences are implied at least half of the time in professional writing<\/a><\/strong>. In short, readers must constantly ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the writer\u2019s point?\u201d This doesn\u2019t make a hierarchy of ideas less important\u2014it makes it more important\u2014for both readers and writers.<\/p>\n Once again, the goal of organization is coherence. The Six Traits treats organization as the goal. However, to be effective writers, we must understand the purpose of organization in writing, or we end up with a bland formula.<\/p>\n To be clear, I\u2019m all for organization! I love it! I love the word itself! Still, I know that coherence is the goal. Also, to be fair to Organization, Organization is the more popular and common writing term. Let\u2019s take a closer look at it.<\/p>\n As the heading indicates, many vital words surround the topic of Organization<\/strong>. Although the words in the heading differ, their purpose is essentially the same.<\/p>\n Organization is necessary to express and support important, complex ideas and to do so coherently. Of course, a well-organized piece of writing is not necessarily good if the ideas are not important and interesting. For this reason, getting ideas and organizing ideas are two sides of the same coin. In fact, many of Aristotle\u2019s (384 BC \u2013 322 BC) Topics of Invention (getting ideas) are now a foundation for many common patterns of organization.<\/p>\n Organization in writing comes from four sources:<\/p>\n Formula puts the horse in front of the cart. A formula begins with an organizational structure; a writer only needs to get ideas to fill in the blanks. As a tool for teaching writing, formulas teach specific ways of logical thinking and presenting ideas.<\/p>\nThe Four Traits: Organization, Coherence, Logic, and Reasoning<\/h2>\n
Organization and Coherence<\/h2>\n
Organization<\/h3>\n
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Coherence<\/h3>\n
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Organization, Coherence, and the Writing Process<\/h2>\n
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Organization and Coherence: Tools, Techniques, and Concepts<\/h2>\n
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Fifteen Useful Organization and Coherence Concepts and Tools<\/h3>\n
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Coherence Concepts<\/h2>\n
Organization: Methods of Development, Arrangement, Pattern, Formula, Types of Paragraphs, etc.<\/h2>\n
1. Formula<\/h3>\n