Components of Good Writing
- Topic choice—choose a topic you feel passionate about
(see What is a Good Topic?)
- Main Idea—the meaning and development of your message
- Organization—the internal structure of your piece—beginning, middle, and end—staying with your main idea
- Good introductory sentence that draws your readers in and keeps them reading
- Voice—your unique way of telling your story, how you create it and bring your topic to life
- Word choice—intriguing words—active verbs, descriptive adjectives—the language you use to write your piece and convey your message
- Authentic dialogue—dialogue that sounds like real people talking and doesn’t sound fake
- Using details and being aware of cause and effect
- Good sentences—clear sentences that flow and captivate your reader—no choppy sentences and no run-on sentences
- Good concluding paragraph and finishing sentence
- Proper punctuation, grammar, as well as good presentation
Problem Areas To Be Aware Of
- Choosing a topic you don't know enough about
- Getting off topic—rambling
- Trying to tell too much—overload of information
- Mixing up tenses and point of view
- Improper punctuation, grammar, and misspellings
Modes of Writing
- Narrative—to tell a story
- Expository—to inform or explain
- Persuasive—to construct an argument
- Descriptive—to paint a picture with words
- Imaginative—to create a new way of seeing things
