Genre (Narrative Writing) Organization and Focus Sentence Structure Conventions

What it means: tell a story. nClearly addresses all parts of nIncludes a variety of nContains few, if any, errors

Narrative Writing: the writing task. sentence types. in the conventions of the

nProvides a thoroughly nDemonstrates a clear understanding English language

developed sequence of of purpose. (grammar, punctuation,

significant events to relate nMaintains a consistent point of view, capitalization, spelling).

ideas, observations, and/or focus, and organizational structure, These errors do not

memories. including paragraphing when interfere with the reader’s

appropriate. understanding of the

nIncludes a clearly presented central writing.

idea with relevant facts, details,

and/or explanations.

Genre (Summary Writing) Organization and Focus Sentence Structure Conventions

What it means: discuss n Clearly addresses all parts of n Includes a variety of n Contains few, if any,

main points and ideas only the writing task. sentence types. errors in the conventions

(should have about 1/3 the n Demonstrates a clear understanding of the English language

number of words as the of purpose. (grammar, punctuation,

source document). n Maintains a consistent point of view, capitalization, spelling).

Summary Writing: focus, and organizational structure, These errors do not

n Is characterized by including paragraphing when interfere with the reader’s

paraphrasing of the main appropriate. understanding of the

idea(s) and significant n Includes a clearly presented writing.

details. central idea with relevant facts,

details, and/or explanations.

Genre (Response to Literature) Organization and Focus Sentence Structure Conventions

What it means: discuss a nClearly addresses all parts of nIncludes a variety of nContains few, if any, errors

character and events in the story the writing task. sentence types. in the conventions of

provided in the test booklet. nDemonstrates a clear understanding English language (grammar,

Response to Literature Writing: of the literary work. punctuation, capitalization,

nDemonstrates a clear nMaintains a consistent point of spelling). These errors do not

understanding of the literary view, focus, and organizational interfere with the reader’s

work. structure, including paragraphing understanding of the writing.

nProvides effective support for when appropriate.

judgments through specific nIncludes a clearly presented

references to text and prior central idea with relevant facts,

knowledge. details, and/or explanation.

How to gain clear

understanding: underline the words in the directions that tell what you should be writing about; underline the important words in the

source document (the story they give you); use the extra space they give you to write down some ideas, then number

those ideas in the order you will present them; draw the appropriate graphic organizer.

What is consistent

point of view? If you begin a story which tells about something that happened to you (an imaginary story or narrative), talk about “I”;

include your friend or member of your family as “he” or “she.” Always say “who” for people and “that” or “which” for

animals and things. Say: “to him” or “for them” or “with her” or “by whom” or “from me” or “to us” (Come

with me. It’s a present for her.) Never use “you” in your narrative or in your summary or in your response to literature.

Only use first person in a narrative (I was there. It happened to me.) and third person (as appropriate to your story): he,

she, it, they, who, him, her, them, whom. Do not talk about “you” in any of the STAR writings unless you are writing as if

are trying to persuade fellow-students. (Prompt: “You wish to involve students in a campus campaign to remove and keep

the areas clean of trash.” Sample response: “Fellow students, are you disgusted by what you see when you look out the

windows at trash blowing across the yard? We can do something about this if we work together.”) If you tell about a person

or animal in a response to literature or summary, do not use “I” or “you.” Talk about “he” or “she” or “they” or “that” or

“which” or “who,” and so on, but never say anything about yourself or about the reader (you) in these writings.

Also, do not use “and so on” (even though I used it in the line above) or “etc.” or “etcetera.” When you are finished writing

all you need to include, just stop. Don’t let the reader expect more which you have decided not to mention (that is what the

term “etc.” implies).

Play it safe with verb tenses in a story—write in the past tense. “I rode to school on the city bus as I usually do. As I

walked around the corner of the eighth-grade wing, I realized something unusual was going on—there was no one in the yard at 15 minutes before the bell was supposed to ring. Glancing up, I saw a large silver disk hovering a foot above the ground in the field where my class usually plays soccer.”

Andrew Pudewa’s Institute for Excellence in Writing program presents a list of ideas for developing sentence-variety.

If you have been practicing these “rules”--begin sentence with –ing word (Glancing up, I saw…), begin sentence

with prepositional phrase (On the lawn hovered a silver disk.), begin sentence with “when” or “while” or “since” or

“therefore,” use a “who or which” clause (The principal, who usually visited each room throughout the school day, failed to

make an appearance.), write one very short sentence in each paragraph--, then you will easily and naturally fulfill the

“includes a variety of sentence types” or “includes sentence variety” requirement.

How can I check

for errors? If you can, leave enough time to read your finished writing twice: once from beginning to end to test if everything makes

sense and is in order with no off-the-subject ideas (if so, draw a line through them to delete); next read the last sentence at the end, then the next to the last sentence, then the third from the last sentence, and so on all the way up to the first sentence. While you read from the bottom up, look for: missing words, misspelled words, errors in punctuation, errors in verb tense, sentences that aren’t written the way you intended them, incomplete sentences. Could you change a verb or add a quality describing word (adverb or adjective) to help your reader gain a better understanding of your experience through the five senses? Try reading from the bottom up with some of your writings at home. You see from a new perspective when you read from the last sentence to the first.

It goes without saying, but I am going to say it anyway: be neat; write legibly; erase thoroughly or draw a line through what you want to delete (no scribbling or digging into the paper).

One final note: It is possible that your prompt (what they are asking you to write about) includes being in a school setting. That can’t apply to me, you might say, because I am in a homeschool, not a classroom school. The people who write the tests and grade or evaluate the tests are only thinking of the classroom school, so you must think and imagine what a classroom school setting would be, and you must pretend to be in that type of school. Once you imagine that, write from your imagination.

I wish you well. If I have not answered a question you have on this topic, you are welcome to email me at MrsCSilva@gmail.com. In order to avoid having your message end up in SPAM, please write: STAR test question in the SUBJECT line.

Mrs. Cher Silva,

Tutor and HQT English Instructor

Instructor for “Fast Track Institute for Excellence in Writing” classes