Ideas are the heart of the message, the content of the piece, the main theme, together with the details that enrich and develop that theme. Organization is the internal structure, the thread of central meaning, the logical and sometimes intriguing pattern of ideas within a piece of writing.

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.

The Six Traits of writing are Voice, Ideas, Presentation, Conventions, Organization, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency. It creates a common vocabulary and guidelines for teachers to use with students so that they become familiar with the terms used in writing. It develops consistency from grade level to grade level.

You can think of voice in your writing just like how you think of your speaking voice. It's determined not only by what you say, but also how you say it. Example: It was very unfortunate that Tina missed her bus because she had already been late once this week.