Have you noticed your students writing is a bit umm, cumbersome? Dis-organized? Hard to read? Here are a few ways to improve the organization in your children’s writing.
Start with a lead.
An expository, informative essay should always have a lead to hook or draw in the reader. Asking a question is an elementary method, but for upper elementary and middle school writers, it’s time to work on more advanced techniques. Try starting with a vignette or a story that illustrates the main idea of the essay. If your child is writing about the best place to take a vacation, they may start with an anecdote about a family trip.
Another method is beginning with an interesting or intriguing fact. Perhaps, an essay describing the best place to vacation may start with a statistic about tourism in that area or some little-known attraction.
Finally, your child may choose to start their essay with a quotation. This may be a song lyric, a quote from an expert or famous person, or an excerpt from a book. For example, when writing an essay about a vacation spot, they may choose to start with a song lyric about that place or a quote from a famous resident of their hometown.
The opening paragraph should end with a thesis that gives the reader a map for the essay. It should contain the topic, the claim, and the reasons. For example, in an essay about a reader’s favorite place to vacation, the topic is the destination, the claim is that it’s the best place to go on a trip, and the reasons are the things that support that claim. Those reasons will be addressed in greater detail in the body paragraphs.
Build the body.
Three is a magic number. Although five paragraph essays aren’t mandatory, encourage your child to have three main points in an expository essay to help with organization. It helps to think of the three points in terms of reasons. For example, if your child is writing about the best place to vacation, they may come up with three reasons (first introduced in their thesis) to support their claim. Ideas may include tourist attractions, price, and climate, for example.
One of the six traits of writing is organization, and it can be one of the most challenging for young writers when it comes to informational writing. Making sure that writing flows and has a pattern can be extremely difficult. Knowing ways to improve organization in writing can help student writers improve their skills.
Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that will contain the topic, claim, reason, and a transition. By switching the order of these parts with each paragraph, not only will organization improve but also sentence fluency. For example, the first body paragraph’s topic sentence may read, “First, Florida is the best place to vacation because of the warm climate.” The next paragraph may begin with “The entertaining tourist attractions also make Florida the greatest vacation destination.” Both topic sentences contain all necessary elements, but switching up the order helps with the flow of the essay.
Body paragraphs will each contain at least four sentences of supporting details to support the topic sentence. Finally, the paragraph will end with a closing sentence that summarizes the main points of the paragraph while transitioning to the next.
Close it up.
A conclusion paragraph should not just be a restatement of the introduction. Refer back to the intro in a subtle way. Did your child start with a story? Revisit it in the conclusion with another related quip from the original story. Did they use song lyrics about their favorite vacation spot? Advise using another related song or poem related to that destination to round out the essay. Rather than summarizing the whole essay, bringing it back together by referring to the initial idea can help with the organization.
When writing an expository essay that contains a claim, remind your child to end the final paragraph by first restating the thesis and then inviting the readers to support their proposition by engaging in some action. For example, when writing about the best place to go on vacation, your child may encourage the reader to book a plane ticket or pack their bags to go on the trip.
Organization can be tricky when it comes to informational writing for students. By helping your child with these ways to improve organization throughout the beginning, middle, and end of an essay, you’re sure to see improvement and success in their writing skills!
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