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How to Teach Essay Writing in Secondary ELA

Teaching students how to write a multi-paragraph essay is a process, and it isn’t something that can be taught in one class period, nor is it a skill that we should expect our incoming students to know. Before I even assign my students a multi-paragraph essay, I first take several weeks to teach paragraph writing, and I typically do this with my short story unit.

However, once my students are ready to make the jump from paragraphs to an essay, I still continue to break down my writing instruction. When I teach essay writing in my high school English students, I break it down paragraph-by-paragraph to encourage them to be the best writer they can be. All of the lessons that I will refer to throughout this blog post are included in this print and digital essay writing teaching unit .

Teach Essay Writing in Middle School and High School ELA

Start with brainstorming.

I am a huge fan of group brainstorming, especially since I usually have some EL and SPED students mainstreamed in my college prep English classes. I usually dedicate an entire class period to brainstorming where students gather ideas, paragraph topics, and supporting quotes. You can read more about group brainstorming in this blog post  where I discuss brainstorming with my students and I teach them how to brainstorm an essay.

Outline the essay

After brainstorming, I move my students to the outlining phase of the writing process. This step is essential because it helps students organize their papers and stay on topic. Ever since I started dedicating an entire class period to in-class essay outlining, I’ve noticed a significant improvement in my students’ essays. You can read more about how I teach essay outlining in this blog post . When we focus on outlining the essay, I make sure that we focus on all of the essential components of an essay: thesis statement, topic sentences, and evidence.

Write the thesis statement

After the class has completed the brainstorming and outlining, I then move on to direct instruction for essay writing. Since students have already outlined their main ideas, they can start working on their thesis statement. I use my introduction and thesis statement lesson to help students write a meaningful thesis statement. I also look at examples of good thesis statements with my students and have students turn in their draft thesis statements to me before moving on.

Write the introduction

Once students have a solid working thesis statement (and I say working because it is possible for it to change throughout this process), I then have them move on to the introduction. Using the same introduction and thesis writing lesson, I then have my students work on drafting a hook and background information to complete their introduction. Now that students are in high school, I don’t accept a question as an acceptable hook. However, if my students get stuck, especially some of my lower students, I have them write their questions and then help them turn them into a statement.

Also, I’ve noticed that students sometimes have a hard time jumping on the hook. They tend to get stuck there, and when this happens, I have them jump right into the background information. In doing so, students get started writing, and they can go back to the hook later.

Topic Sentences

When I complete essay outlining with my students before the drafting process, I typically have them outline each paragraph with a topic sentence and then the quotes they want to use. Once we move from the introduction to the body paragraphs, I have them work on their topic sentence first. I use my topic sentences and body paragraphs essay writing lesson with my students at this point in the essay. Once students have a good topic sentence for their body paragraph, they write the rest of their body paragraph.

Write the body paragraphs

The next step in the writing process, especially for the first essay of the school year, is for students to write out the rest of their body paragraphs. If they’ve done their outlining correctly, they have a good idea about what they want to include in their body paragraphs. In this step, I really emphasize that my students need to provide support and analysis. They should be providing more explanation than simply restating their quotes.

Write the conclusion

Once students have their introduction and body paragraphs complete, I then have them move on to writing the conclusion. At this step, I teach conclusion writing to my students and have them restate the thesis and add a general thought to the end of the paragraph. At this point, I emphasize that students should not be adding in any new information. Also, one way to help students rephrase their thesis statement is to have them rewrite it in two sentences since a thesis statement is typically a one-sentence statement.

Complete peer editing

Provide time for essay revisions

Once students revise their essays and turn them in, I still like to provide students with some time to revise their essays after I grade them. This is where true learning and growth happen. It is when a student thinks they are done but then goes back to try to improve their essay. In this blog post about essay revisions , you can read more about how I conduct them in the classroom.

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How to Teach Essay Writing

Last Updated: June 26, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 91,633 times.

Teaching students how to write an essay is a big undertaking, but this is a crucial process for any high school or college student to learn. Start by assigning essays to read and then encourage students to choose an essay topic of their own. Spend class time helping students understand what makes a good essay. Then, use your assignments to guide students through writing their essays.

Choosing Genres and Topics

• Narrative, which is a non-fiction account of a personal experience. This is a good option if you want your students to share a story about something they did, such as a challenge they overcame or a favorite vacation they took. [2] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• Expository, which is when you investigate an idea, discuss it at length, and make an argument about it. This might be a good option if you want students to explore a specific concept or a controversial subject. [3] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• Descriptive, which is when you describe a person, place, object, emotion, experience, or situation. This can be a good way to allow your students to express themselves creatively through writing. [4] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• Argumentative or persuasive essays require students to take a stance on a topic and make an argument to support that stance. This is different from an expository essay in that students won't be discussing a concept at length and then taking a position. The goal of an argumentative essay is to take a position right away and defend it with evidence. [5] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• Make sure to select essays that are well-structured and interesting so that your students can model their own essays after these examples. Include essays written by former students, if you can, as well as professionally written essays.

Tip : Readers come in many forms. You can find readers that focus on a specific topic, such as food or pop culture. You can also find reader/handbook combos that will provide general information on writing along with the model essays.

• For example, for each of the essays you assign your students, you could ask them to identify the author's main point or focus, the structure of the essay, the author's use of sources, and the effect of the introduction and conclusion.
• Ask the students to create a reverse outline of the essay to help them understand how to construct a well-written essay. They'll identify the thesis, the main points of the body paragraphs, the supporting evidence, and the concluding statement. Then, they'll present this information in an outline. [8] X Research source

• For example, if you have assigned your students a narrative essay, then encourage them to choose a story that they love to tell or a story they have always wanted to tell but never have.
• If your students are writing argumentative essays, encourage them to select a topic that they feel strongly about or that they'd like to learn more about so that they can voice their opinion.

Explaining the Parts of an Essay

• For example, if you read an essay that begins with an interesting anecdote, highlight that in your class discussion of the essay. Ask students how they could integrate something like that into their own essays and have them write an anecdotal intro in class.
• Or, if you read an essay that starts with a shocking fact or statistic that grabs readers' attention, point this out to your students. Ask them to identify the most shocking fact or statistic related to their essay topic.

• For example, you could provide a few model thesis statements that students can use as templates and then ask them to write a thesis for their topic as an in-class activity or have them post it on an online discussion board.

Tip : Even though the thesis statement is only 1 sentence, this can be the most challenging part of writing an essay for some students. Plan to spend a full class session on writing thesis statements and review the information multiple times as well.

• For example, you could spend a class session going over topic sentences, and then look at how the authors of model essays have used topic sentences to introduce their claims. Then, identify where the author provides support for a claim and how they expand on the source.

• For example, you might direct students to a conclusion in a narrative essay that reflects on the significance of an author's experience. Ask students to write a paragraph where they reflect on the experience they are writing about and turn it in as homework or share it on class discussion board.
• For an expository or argumentative essay, you might show students conclusions that restate the most important aspect of a topic or that offer solutions for the future. Have students write their own conclusions that restate the most important parts of their subject or that outline some possible solutions to the problem.

Guiding Students Through the Writing Process

• Try giving students a sample timeline for how to work on their essays. For example, they might start brainstorming a topic, gathering sources (if required), and taking notes 4 weeks before the paper is due.
• Then, students might begin drafting 2 weeks before the paper is due with a goal of having a full draft 1 week before the essay's due date.
• Students could then plan to start revising their drafts 5 days before the essay is due. This will provide students with ample time to read through their papers a few times and make changes as needed.

• Freewriting, which is when you write freely about anything that comes to mind for a set amount of time, such as 10, 15, or 20 minutes.
• Clustering, which is when you write your topic or topic idea on a piece of paper and then use lines to connect that idea to others.
• Listing, which is when you make a list of any and all ideas related to a topic and ten read through it to find helpful information for your paper.
• Questioning, such as by answering the who, what, when, where, why, and how of their topic.
• Defining terms, such as identifying all of the key terms related to their topic and writing out definitions for each one.

• For example, if your students are writing narrative essays, then it might make the most sense for them to describe the events of a story chronologically.
• If students are writing expository or argumentative essays, then they might need to start by answering the most important questions about their topic and providing background information.
• For a descriptive essay, students might use spatial reasoning to describe something from top to bottom, or organize the descriptive paragraphs into categories for each of the 5 senses, such as sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel.

• For example, if you have just gone over different types of brainstorming strategies, you might ask students to choose 1 that they like and spend 10 minutes developing ideas for their essay.

• Try having students post a weekly response to a writing prompt or question that you assign.
• You may also want to create a separate discussion board where students can post ideas about their essay and get feedback from you and their classmates.

• You could also assign specific parts of the writing process as homework, such as requiring students to hand in a first draft as a homework assignment.

• For example, you might suggest reading the paper backward 1 sentence at a time or reading the paper out loud as a way to identify issues with organization and to weed out minor errors. [21] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source
• Try peer-review workshops that ask students to review each others' work. Students can work in pairs or groups during the workshop. Provide them with a worksheet, graphic organizer, or copy of the assignment rubric to guide their peer-review.

Tip : Emphasize the importance of giving yourself at least a few hours away from the essay before you revise it. If possible, it is even better to wait a few days. After this time passes, it is often easier to spot errors and work out better ways of describing things.

Community Q&A

• Students often need to write essays as part of college applications, for assignments in other courses, and when applying for scholarships. Remind your students of all the ways that improving their essay writing skills can benefit them. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/index.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/narrative_essays.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/expository_essays.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/descriptive_essays.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/argumentative_essays.html
• ↑ https://wac.colostate.edu/jbw/v1n2/petrie.pdf
• ↑ https://www.uww.edu/learn/restiptool/improve-student-writing
• ↑ https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/reverse-outline.original.pdf
• ↑ https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/brainstorming.shtml
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/faculty-resources/tips-on-teaching-writing/situating-student-writers/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/faculty-resources/tips-on-teaching-writing/in-class-writing-exercises/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/

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Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers

P LANNING, PARAGRAPHING AND POLISHING: FINE-TUNING THE PERFECT ESSAY

Essay writing is an essential skill for every student. Whether writing a particular academic essay (such as persuasive, narrative, descriptive, or expository) or a timed exam essay, the key to getting good at writing is to write. Creating opportunities for our students to engage in extended writing activities will go a long way to helping them improve their skills as scribes.

But, putting the hours in alone will not be enough to attain the highest levels in essay writing. Practice must be meaningful. Once students have a broad overview of how to structure the various types of essays, they are ready to narrow in on the minor details that will enable them to fine-tune their work as a lean vehicle of their thoughts and ideas.

In this article, we will drill down to some aspects that will assist students in taking their essay writing skills up a notch. Many ideas and activities can be integrated into broader lesson plans based on essay writing. Often, though, they will work effectively in isolation – just as athletes isolate physical movements to drill that are relevant to their sport. When these movements become second nature, they can be repeated naturally in the context of the game or in our case, the writing of the essay.

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Planning an essay

The Boys Scouts’ motto is famously ‘Be Prepared’. It’s a solid motto that can be applied to most aspects of life; essay writing is no different. Given the purpose of an essay is generally to present a logical and reasoned argument, investing time in organising arguments, ideas, and structure would seem to be time well spent.

Given that essays can take a wide range of forms and that we all have our own individual approaches to writing, it stands to reason that there will be no single best approach to the planning stage of essay writing. That said, there are several helpful hints and techniques we can share with our students to help them wrestle their ideas into a writable form. Let’s take a look at a few of the best of these:

BREAK THE QUESTION DOWN: UNDERSTAND YOUR ESSAY TOPIC.

Whether students are tackling an assignment that you have set for them in class or responding to an essay prompt in an exam situation, they should get into the habit of analyzing the nature of the task. To do this, they should unravel the question’s meaning or prompt. Students can practice this in class by responding to various essay titles, questions, and prompts, thereby gaining valuable experience breaking these down.

Have students work in groups to underline and dissect the keywords and phrases and discuss what exactly is being asked of them in the task. Are they being asked to discuss, describe, persuade, or explain? Understanding the exact nature of the task is crucial before going any further in the planning process, never mind the writing process .

BRAINSTORM AND MIND MAP WHAT YOU KNOW:

Once students have understood what the essay task asks them, they should consider what they know about the topic and, often, how they feel about it. When teaching essay writing, we so often emphasize that it is about expressing our opinions on things, but for our younger students what they think about something isn’t always obvious, even to themselves.

Brainstorming and mind-mapping what they know about a topic offers them an opportunity to uncover not just what they already know about a topic, but also gives them a chance to reveal to themselves what they think about the topic. This will help guide them in structuring their research and, later, the essay they will write . When writing an essay in an exam context, this may be the only ‘research’ the student can undertake before the writing, so practicing this will be even more important.

RESEARCH YOUR ESSAY

The previous step above should reveal to students the general direction their research will take. With the ubiquitousness of the internet, gone are the days of students relying on a single well-thumbed encyclopaedia from the school library as their sole authoritative source in their essay. If anything, the real problem for our students today is narrowing down their sources to a manageable number. Students should use the information from the previous step to help here. At this stage, it is important that they:

●      Ensure the research material is directly relevant to the essay task

●      Record in detail the sources of the information that they will use in their essay

●      Engage with the material personally by asking questions and challenging their own biases

●      Identify the key points that will be made in their essay

●      Group ideas, counterarguments, and opinions together

●      Identify the overarching argument they will make in their own essay.

Once these stages have been completed the student is ready to organise their points into a logical order.

WRITING YOUR ESSAY

There are a number of ways for students to organize their points in preparation for writing. They can use graphic organizers , post-it notes, or any number of available writing apps. The important thing for them to consider here is that their points should follow a logical progression. This progression of their argument will be expressed in the form of body paragraphs that will inform the structure of their finished essay.

The number of paragraphs contained in an essay will depend on a number of factors such as word limits, time limits, the complexity of the question etc. Regardless of the essay’s length, students should ensure their essay follows the Rule of Three in that every essay they write contains an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Generally speaking, essay paragraphs will focus on one main idea that is usually expressed in a topic sentence that is followed by a series of supporting sentences that bolster that main idea. The first and final sentences are of the most significance here with the first sentence of a paragraph making the point to the reader and the final sentence of the paragraph making the overall relevance to the essay’s argument crystal clear. 

Though students will most likely be familiar with the broad generic structure of essays, it is worth investing time to ensure they have a clear conception of how each part of the essay works, that is, of the exact nature of the task it performs. Let’s review:

Common Essay Structure

Introduction: Provides the reader with context for the essay. It states the broad argument that the essay will make and informs the reader of the writer’s general perspective and approach to the question.

Body Paragraphs: These are the ‘meat’ of the essay and lay out the argument stated in the introduction point by point with supporting evidence.

Conclusion: Usually, the conclusion will restate the central argument while summarising the essay’s main supporting reasons before linking everything back to the original question.

ESSAY WRITING PARAGRAPH WRITING TIPS

●      Each paragraph should focus on a single main idea

●      Paragraphs should follow a logical sequence; students should group similar ideas together to avoid incoherence

●      Paragraphs should be denoted consistently; students should choose either to indent or skip a line

●      Transition words and phrases such as alternatively , consequently , in contrast should be used to give flow and provide a bridge between paragraphs.

HOW TO EDIT AN ESSAY

Students shouldn’t expect their essays to emerge from the writing process perfectly formed. Except in exam situations and the like, thorough editing is an essential aspect in the writing process. 

Often, students struggle with this aspect of the process the most. After spending hours of effort on planning, research, and writing the first draft, students can be reluctant to go back over the same terrain they have so recently travelled. It is important at this point to give them some helpful guidelines to help them to know what to look out for. The following tips will provide just such help: 

One Piece at a Time: There is a lot to look out for in the editing process and often students overlook aspects as they try to juggle too many balls during the process. One effective strategy to combat this is for students to perform a number of rounds of editing with each focusing on a different aspect. For example, the first round could focus on content, the second round on looking out for word repetition (use a thesaurus to help here), with the third attending to spelling and grammar.

Sum It Up: When reviewing the paragraphs they have written, a good starting point is for students to read each paragraph and attempt to sum up its main point in a single line. If this is not possible, their readers will most likely have difficulty following their train of thought too and the paragraph needs to be overhauled.

Let It Breathe: When possible, encourage students to allow some time for their essay to ‘breathe’ before returning to it for editing purposes. This may require some skilful time management on the part of the student, for example, a student rush-writing the night before the deadline does not lend itself to effective editing. Fresh eyes are one of the sharpest tools in the writer’s toolbox.

Read It Aloud: This time-tested editing method is a great way for students to identify mistakes and typos in their work. We tend to read things more slowly when reading aloud giving us the time to spot errors. Also, when we read silently our minds can often fill in the gaps or gloss over the mistakes that will become apparent when we read out loud.

Phone a Friend: Peer editing is another great way to identify errors that our brains may miss when reading our own work. Encourage students to partner up for a little ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’.

Use Tech Tools: We need to ensure our students have the mental tools to edit their own work and for this they will need a good grasp of English grammar and punctuation. However, there are also a wealth of tech tools such as spellcheck and grammar checks that can offer a great once-over option to catch anything students may have missed in earlier editing rounds.

Putting the Jewels on Display: While some struggle to edit, others struggle to let go. There comes a point when it is time for students to release their work to the reader. They must learn to relinquish control after the creation is complete. This will be much easier to achieve if the student feels that they have done everything in their control to ensure their essay is representative of the best of their abilities and if they have followed the advice here, they should be confident they have done so.

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A Quick Guide to Teaching Any Middle School Academic Essay

Using the six traits of writing as common language for teaching any academic essay.

Whenever I met with my middle school English department, sat down with a colleague to collaborate, or simply talked to other others that teach any type of writing, the question would always come up: “So, how do you teach the essay anyway?” The academic essay is often largely subjective in terms of skill sequence and design involved in a unit plan. As I get the opportunity to work with more and more teachers, I find that this type of assignment is largely assigned based on the teacher’s own personal learning experiences, the teacher’s experiences with their mentor teacher, or a commonly known set of skills that everyone thinks is accurate. I am not saying that my way to teach any academic essay is better than anyone else’s method of teaching the essay. This post serves as a starting point for a larger discussion about how the genre of academic essays is implemented throughout the various grade levels. The goal should always be consistent. For the sake of this post, I am going to use the Six Traits of Writing as a common language to talk about how writing is taught in a classroom. I like the six traits of writing because all of the terms used can apply to many different types of writing. Throughout this post, you will find examples and tips on how to approach each part of the academic essay.

What do I mean by academic essay?

An academic essay boils down to an essay that is assigned with a specific prompt and has a particular structure. There is a common expectation for how the assignment will be graded whether that involves teacher feedback, rubrics, or other evaluation tools. This could include many different types of writing including, but not limited to:

Narrative (Personal, descriptive, viewpoint, historical, linear, non-linear)

Expository (Informational, cause & effect, problem & solution, compare & contrast, definition, classification, process)

Argumentative (Persuasive, research, analysis, personal)

Literary Analysis (8th-grade and higher) Note: Literary Analysis is not included in this post.

The expectation is that everyone completes a similar assignment under a number of specified guidelines and a certain set of skills are included in the objectives of the assignment.

Why the Six Traits of Writing?

Use your writing voices.

VOICES is an acronym to remember each part of the Six Traits of Writing. The Six Traits of Writing is a writing framework made largely popular with the books created by Ruth Culham. Often, they are also called Six +1 Traits of Writing when you add the element of Presentation into the equation. Again, this framework applies to all types of writing, so as we move throughout the blog post, you will see how I apply the ideas of the Six Traits of Writing to the academic essay. I also use this framework to help guide my feedback. This is a bonus if you are a newer or pre-service teacher and you are asked, “How are you going to grade this assignment?” Some of these feedback points can be great places to start when it comes to assessing student work.

While it is called VOICES as a way to help you remember what the Six Traits of Writing are called, the order they should be taught is the following:

Organization

Word Choice

Sentence Fluency

Conventions

In middle school, the majority of the time spent on teaching material is on ideas and organization; however, I find many teachers get caught up with teaching and assessing conventions and word choice. While they are important, it is more important to make sure that the awesome ideas that kids have in their minds are getting down on the page. There are some classes that never move on from ideas and organization. As long as you are meeting students where they are, you are able to help move them forward.

The goal is to balance all of the Six Traits of Writing in any given writing piece.

The Six Traits of Writing Explanation and Examples

Voice -the tone and presentation of the piece.

Voice will be determined by the genre of writing. When we start the year with narrative writing, students are introduced to points of view and the first-person, second-person, and third-person. Often, for more informal writing, first-person narration and pronouns are used quite often. In more formal papers like an argument paper or a research paper, a teacher might specify to use third-person narration and pronouns only. This would take the many “I think that…” out of a student’s writing piece and replace them with more direct examples.

Some standards to go by if stuck:

Narrative Writing uses first-person and second-person

Expository Writing uses first-person and third-person depending on the assignment

Argumentative Writing uses third-person depending on the assignment

Example Voice Teacher Feedback Comments:

Third person pronouns only 

Too informal of a tone, writing sounds like a casual conversation 

Robot writing. Writing does not sound like you. 

Remove narration of your own writing. Example: I’m going to show you an example of...

Organization -How the writing is presented to the reader, what goes where

The organization of an academic essay largely depends on who is teaching the setup. All teachers should include examples and give a lesson on how they think an essay should be organized before assigning a paper. Many teachers start with the five-paragraph model as a beginning point on how to show students what a piece of writing should look like. Some people despise the five-paragraph essay. For the sake of this post, I am going to show you the setup that worked for me for over 10+ years of teaching for both a paragraph with evidence and an overall essay. The organization will change depending on genre and assignment, but these are two examples to get you started.

Paragraph Setup:

Topic Sentence

Supporting Detail-Introduces Evidence

Supporting Detail-States and Cites Evidence

Supporting Detail-Explains Evidence (This part may be more than 1 sentence depending on the amount of evidence presented)

Concluding Sentence/Transition

Essay Setup:

Introduction

Hook/Attention Grabber

Summary of Issue/Topic

Claim Statement/Position Statement/Thesis Statement

Body Paragraph (Similar to Paragraph Setup Above)

Topic Sentence (Goes back to claim reason)

**Repeat for each body paragraph**

Restate Claim

Review Reasons

Call-to-Action

Example Organization Teacher Feedback Comments:

Hook missing. 

Topic sentences need to go back to reason in the claim 

Introduce evidence with a signal phrase 

Needs transition words between paragraphs 

Needs to restate the claim in the conclusion 

The conclusion needs to have a call-to-action 

New idea=new paragraph! 

Needs a creative title. 

Paragraph off-topic 

Missing evidence to support reasons

Ideas- The main idea, supporting details, evidence, and explanation

Ideas are the heart of any good paper. This is where you get the argument, the main idea, or the details that really bring the paper to life. Ideas should be the first thing discussed and brainstormed in the writing process. I often recommend using a graphic organizer to help students get their ideas down in a logical way.

Example Ideas Teacher Feedback Comments:

Claim is missing 

More background information/summary needed in the introduction

Provide more explanation of evidence in your paragraphs. State why the evidence matters and how it relates to the reason. 

Counter-claim is not present/not clear

A repeat of ideas already stated before. 

Remove personal opinion 

Stating the obvious. 

Remove retell of a book or story

Conventions -Editing process involving grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization

Conventions are the typical copy-editing marks that get circled or corrected on a draft. The use of computers has largely made spelling errors an easy conventions mistake to fix before draft turn-in day. Capitalization is also easily corrected. The ideas around grammar and punctuation may require more direct teaching or lessons to help kids learn the rules around these areas.

Example Conventions Comments:

Spelling. Misspelled word. 

Comma usage. Insert or delete a comma. 

Period usage: Insert or delete a period. 

Capitalization error(s) 

Missing quotation marks. 

Punctuation with quotation marks. Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks. 

Cite evidence with quotation marks and page number 

Indent paragraphs. 

Title formatting. Italicize book titles! 

Excellent Word Choice -Vivid word selections to help with meaning, clarity, and interest

This is where the revision and editing process can get more fun! Helping students learn about vivid verbs and swapping out the general “things” and “stuff” for more interesting words is half the fun when working with students on an academic essay. Perhaps, if you have a group of students who use a ton of boring words over and over again, you can have a sort of “word funeral” to outlaw them from some drafts. I did this around Halloween one year, and the kids loved it. You can also have them doing brainstorms on posters for words that are better to use in their papers. Kids love synonyms. Show them how awesome words are on paper and in real life.

Example Word Choice Comments:

Unnecessary words. This section is fluff, filler, or material that just takes up space without saying anything new. 

Overused word (s). You seem to use the same word over and over again. 

Switch out the word for a more interesting word. Find a synonym. 

Needs powerful and active verbs. 

Include more adjectives to help your writing with description. 

Write out the number. Example 2=two. 

Write in present tense. You are talking ABOUT the text now. 

Vague pronoun

Sentence Fluency -How the writing SOUNDS, the rhythm and pace

This is one of the more advanced traits to teach, and also the reason why it is second to last on my priority list when I am looking at the Six Traits of Writing. In middle school, you will be focusing on sentence fragments and run-ons. These can also be helped with lessons on punctuation. The goal is to help kids realize that their writing has a particular sound, and the bigger goal is to help them realize that their writing should sound like them-no matter the voice they are using in their writing.

Example Sentence Fluency Comments:

Awkward phrasing/choppy. Avoid choppiness in your writing. You likely have stacked several short sentences together or repeatedly used the same sentence starter. Combine sentences together to connect your ideas and make your writing flow. 

Vary how you start sentences. Start sentences with different words. 

Vary your sentence length. A lot of your writing sounds the same because the sentences are the same length. 

Sentence fragment. A sentence must have a complete thought. Your sentence is missing a piece. 

Run-on sentence. Break up your longer sentence into two or three.

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Want more examples? Want to check out grading best practices for assignments like these?

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Writing Mindset Reflection: How do you teach the academic essay? What is your favorite part of the writing process?

A dedicated educator with over a decade of experience in public education, specializing in English Language Arts, writing instruction, and using mentor texts in the classroom. Stephanie currently works as an educational consultant. When she isn’t talking about teaching, she is with her family, spending time journaling, and enjoying a fresh cup of coffee.

Daycare Affirmations for the Next Drop Off

Introduction to journaling for beginners.

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8 easy ways to teach essay writing skills

Teachers play a critical role in teaching various educational skills and developing a young brain. Every genius had modest beginnings and was instructed by a tutor. Teaching is a challenging profession. It often involves dealing with disobedient youngsters who refuse to listen.

Since the pandemic, most high schools, colleges, and universities have moved their lectures online, and students and their tutors must connect using technology.

Due to the global economic downturn, educators have been forced to modify and adjust their instructional methods. They were required to learn new tactics and adapt them to their instruction. Similarly, when a person prepares to become a teacher, they must adjust to the new practices and realities.

However, it involves developing fresh methods to capture the students’ interest, which is not always simple, particularly concerning topics that pupils already deem boring.

Consider academic writing skills as an example. How often have your pupils regarded you with boredom or indifference because you assigned them writing? Writing is an enjoyable and effective means of expression. This post discusses 8 easy ways to teach essay writing skills, which you can share with your students to make essay writing an easy and enjoyable activity.

Nurturing essay writing skills in your pupils

Choose an interesting topic.

The first thing your pupils should consider before writing an essay is the subject. Remember that an essay reveals your students’ research and writing abilities. Therefore, you are responsible for educating them on how to do research. Try to reject the suggested themes if they are too simple for a student, and you will find that writing such an essay will not take much time.

Without research, an essay is not an essay. Explain to your pupils that choosing a subject they understand well and can research is usually preferable. Every student should develop strong research skills. Thus, pay attention to practising various research techniques with them. Describe in detail the methods they may use to gather all the necessary information, how to utilize this knowledge effectively, and how to identify the essential facts.

Focus on the basics of writing

Refreshing your student’s foundational writing abilities should be the first step to teaching essay writing skills. You should pay particular attention to the following: adverbs; adjectives; punctuations; tense; speaking, and so on.

You should not overburden the students. Provide information in logical pieces that pertain to a particular subject. Be sure you are patient since youngsters cannot focus like adults. Always make adjustments and provide straightforward explanations. Give examples so that they may fully comprehend the material.

Start with a thesis statement

You should collaborate with your students to generate a thesis statement. Comprehending this concept is difficult for many people, but it is crucial. To facilitate comprehension, please follow the steps below:

• Give explicit instructions
• Provide simple illustrations
• Help to grasp every detail
• Offer some instructions to get started

Start by elaborating on the significance of a thesis statement in essay writing. It is the essay’s main topic, and your narrative hinges on it. You will know how to convey the narrative if you construct it.

Show students how to write an outline

An outline is one of the most critical components of any essay. It makes a writer disciplined and structured and keeps all the important tasks in front of them. It is particularly crucial for youngsters with limited focus and a tendency to forget key facts. You must demonstrate how to develop an outline and describe its practical significance.

Be careful to demonstrate several outline forms. Teenagers like vivid objects and recall them more quickly. Teach the students first to compose the body, then the introduction, and finally, the conclusion.

Creating an introduction takes time and effort. You’ll need to assemble the fundamental gist of your essay in the beginning, even before you have the complete piece written. Thus, concentrate on the essay’s body first and write the introduction after you have the basic flow jotted down.

How to teach writing skills: What do I use?

Make use of the following items to streamline your tasks.

Use technology

We live in an age of technological advancement that permeates every aspect of human endeavour. Education is not an exception. You can use various intelligent tools with youngsters. Modern students are obsessed with smart applications and devices. It is an ideal opportunity to increase their enthusiasm for essay writing.

Grammar checks and digital organizers are among the most entertaining and helpful applications for high school, college, and university students. When they utilize grammar checkers, they can identify frequent errors that include punctuation, spelling, grammar, selection of words, and stylistics. In addition, there are online essay-writing services that can help students with their essays. In fact, the essay writing service CustomWritings is one of the best sites that allow learners to spend less money on a high-quality custom paper. The website consistently receives high marks in reviews. It has received over 4.7 out of 5 stars on both Trustpilot and Sitejabber, indicating that most customers are satisfied with its services. Most clients who evaluated it were pleased with the guarantees offered, customer service, and work quality. The platform provides assignment assistance, written research papers, affordable essay writing, and various other high-quality, non-plagiarized, and custom-formatted academic services.

Use examples

Without examples, it is difficult to teach. Just provide samples of exceptional essays to help your pupils grasp what constitutes a good piece of writing. It may be an essay written by a former pupil. After seeing an example, the learner will have a concept of what an excellent piece should look like.

Use examples to instruct students on each aspect their essays must have. They will completely understand what constitutes a decent introduction, an instructive body, and a fitting conclusion. In addition, your pupils will be able to examine how sentences are constructed and what grammatical structures are employed.

Insist on having a purpose

Without a purpose, it is hard to compose informative, well-written essays. An essay cannot simply be a piece of writing regarding common knowledge and concepts that everyone fully grasps. Therefore, remind your pupils that they should not rush to write their essays after selecting a subject. Make them choose the essay’s objective. When a student fully comprehends the purpose of their essay, it will be much simpler for them to create an outline and begin writing.

Use clear topic sentences

One of the most important tips to teach writing skills is employing topic sentences. The first sentence of a paragraph establishes its tone. The gist of your content should be communicated in the opening sentence of each paragraph. Ideally, explain your paragraph first, and then expand upon it by providing examples and explanations that support your essential ideas and demonstrate your expertise.