6+1 Traits of Writing
A Synopsis of the 6+1 Traits of Writing
In the mid 1980’s, researchers from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) in Portland, Oregon, took the lead in developing a performance assessment for writing that was comprehensive, reliable, and teacher- and student-friendly. They wanted to create and use assessments that required students to write with skill and complexity, and most important, they needed a set of criteria, a scoring guide by which writing samples could be evaluated with accuracy and reliability. Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, teachers ranked and described student work, expanding, refining, and clarifying scoring criteria. To date, hundreds of thousands of student papers, from grades 3-12, have been used in the development of the 6+1 TRAIT scoring criteria.
The 6+1 Trait model is a form of analytic assessment, a method of looking at the main characteristics of writing and assessing them independent from one another. The goal of the developing the model was to create a method for analyzing and responding to writing that results in a shared writer’s vocabulary.
The 6+1 Traits Short Definitions
Ideas: Ideas make up the content of the piece of writing—the heart of the message.
Organization: Organization is the internal structure of the piece, the thread of meaning, the logical pattern of the ideas.
Voice: Voice is the soul of the piece. It’s what makes the writer’s style singular, as his or her feelings and convictions come out through words.
Word Choice: Word choice is at its best when it includes the use of rich, colorful, precise language that moves and enlightens the reader.
Sentence Fluency: Sentence fluency is the flow of the language, the sound of word patterns—the way the writing plays to the ear, not just the eye.
Conventions: Conventions represent the piece’s level of correctness—the extent to which the writer uses grammar and mechanics with precision.
+1. Presentation: Presentation zeros in on the form and layout—how pleasing the piece is to the eye.
