The Six Traits of Writing are rooted in more than 50 years of research. This research reveals that all “good” writing has six key ingredients—ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.

Ideas are the content of the writing piece. They are the “heart and soul” of good writing. It is important for students to remain focused on the writing by selecting the idea or topic, remaining focused on the idea, elaborating on the idea, and using details and information to further develop the piece of writing.

One instructional approach common in the K–12 classroom is the 6 Traits. The 6 Traits are often seen as a structure to support writing instruction, serving more as a framework than a writing program.

6 Traits Writing Rubric This rubric is child friendly . It breaks down writing into 6 traits : ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Grading writing is now easier! Instead of grading the writing piece as a whole, grading using the 6 traits makes the process more manageable.