Student Tips for Making

Top Scores in Writing Tests

1) Use transitions such as those below to relate ideas, sentences, or paragraphs.

     in addition          nevertheless          finally          however

     then                   instead                 therefore      as a result

     for example        in particular           first             such as

2) Write a good beginning. Make readers want to continue.

• I shouldn't have opened the green box.
• Imagine being locked in a crate at the bottom of the sea.
• When I was four, I saw a purple dog.
• Have you ever heard of a talking tree?

3) Focus on the topic.

     If a word or detail is off-topic, get rid of it! If a sentence is unrelated or loosely related to the topic, drop it or connect it more closely.

4) Organize your ideas.

     Have a plan in mind before you start writing. Your plan can be a list, bulleted items, or a graphic organizer. Five minutes spent planning your work will make the actual writing go much faster and smoother.

5) Support your ideas.

• Develop your ideas with fully elaborated examples and details.
• Make ideas clear to readers by choosing vivid words that create pictures.
• Avoid dull (get, go, say), vague (thing, stuff, lots of), or overused (really, very) words.
• Use a voice that is appropriate for your audience. 

6) Make writing conventions as error-free as possible.

     Proofread your work line by line, sentence by sentence. Read for correct punctuation, then again for correct capitalization, and finally for correct spelling.

7) Write a conclusion that wraps things up but is more than a repeating of the ideas or "The end."

• After all, he was my brother, weird or not.
• The internet has changed our lives for better and for worse.
• It's not the largest planet but the one I'd choose to live on.
• Now tell me you don't believe in a sixth sense

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*taken from Scott Foresman Reading Street Grade 5 2008