ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

INFORMATIONAL WRITING

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COMPOSING FEATURES (from Understanding the North Carolina Writing Assessment Scoring Model at Grades 4, 7, & 10, NCDPI Testing Section)

FOCUS

Focus is the topic/subject established by the writer in response to the writing task. The writer must clearly establish a focus as he/she fulfills the assignment of the prompt. If the writer retreats from the subject matter presented in the prompt or addresses it too broadly, the focus is weakened. The writer may effectively use an inductive organizational plan which does not actually identify the subject matter at the beginning and may not literally identify the subject matter at all. The presence, therefore, of a focus must be determined in light of the method of development chosen by the writer. If the reader is confused about the subject matter, the writer has not effectively established a focus. If the reader is engaged and not confused, the writer probably has been effective in establishing a focus.

ORGANIZATION

Organization is the progression, relatedness, and completeness of ideas. The writer establishes for the reader a well-organized composition, which exhibits a constancy of purpose through the development of elements forming an effective beginning, middle, and end. The response demonstrates a clear progression of related ideas and/or events and is unified and complete.

SUPPORT AND ELABORATION

Support and Elaboration is the extension and development of the topic/subject. The writer provides sufficient elaboration to present the ideas and/or events clearly. Two important concepts in determining whether details are supportive are the concepts of relatedness and sufficiency. To be supportive of the subject matter, details must be related to the focus of the response. Relatedness has to do with the directness of the relationship that the writer establishes between the information and the subject matter. Supporting details should be relevant and clear. The writer must present his/her ideas with enough power and clarity to cause the support to be sufficient. Effective use of concrete, specific details strengthens the power of the response. Insufficiency is often characterized by undeveloped details, redundancy, and the repetitious paraphrasing of the same point. Sufficiency has less to do with amount than with the weight or power of the information that is provided.

STYLE

Style is the control of language that is appropriate to the purpose, audience, and context of the writing task. The writer's style is evident through word choice and sentence fluency. Skillful use of precise, purposeful vocabulary enhances the effectiveness of the composition through the use of appropriate words, phrases and descriptions that engage the audience. Sentence fluency involves using a variety of sentence styles to establish effective relationships between and among ideas, causes, and/or statements appropriate to the task.

CONVENTIONS

Conventions involves correctness in sentence formation, usage, and mechanics. The writer has control of grammatical conventions that are appropriate to the writing task. Errors, if present, do not impede the reader's understanding of the ideas conveyed.

Elaboration of the types of writing assessed are based on the English Language Arts Standard Course of Study philosophy and goals and objectives. Samples have been provided by classroom teachers and curriculum specialists; they have not been field tested or reviewed according NCDPI test development procedures. For more testing information, see the NCDPI Writing Test website (http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/writing). For more content specific examples, see Informational Writing: High School Writing Across the Curriculum Matrix http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/languagearts/secondary/infomatrix/).

Inquiries or complaints should be directed to:

Office of Curriculum and School Reform Services 919.807.3761

In compliance with federal law, NC Public Schools administers all state-operated educational programs, employment activities and admissions without discrimination because of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, color, age, military service, disability, or gender, except where exemption is appropriate and allowed by law.

INFORMATIONAL WRITING involves giving information to explain realities or ideas, to teach people who want or need to know what the writer knows. Informational writing assessed in the Grade 10 Writing Assessment involves the explanation and analysis of relationships in either definition or cause and effect compositions. The prompt will include short text material(s) about a problem, issue, concern or concept that may spark ideas and/or be incorporated in the writer's response. Students may choose to develop support from that text material, their own experiences, observations, and/or readings (including movies and other media experiences). Additionally, the specific writing task will indicate the purpose and audience (and context at times) for the composition to help the writer focus his or her response effectively. Students will be assessed according to the features of writing as delineated in the rubric. Present in all types of compositions, those features are Focus, Organization, Support and Elaboration, Style, and Conventions.

DEFINITION

In a definition composition, the writer identifies a key word or concept, explains it to the reader, and answers the question "What is it?" A definition composition goes beyond the concise, formal dictionary definition to distinguish details and characteristics clearly. A definition composition often explores the nature of something, considering such aspects as where and how the word originated and evolved, what the word is not, denotations and connotations of the word, and/or complexities and cultural contexts of the word.

• As a finalist for a civic group scholarship contest, write the speech you would give the local civic group defining prejudice.
• Advertisements, commercials and magazines give a worldly definition of beauty to consumers. As the editor of a new magazine that will focus on inner beauty as opposed to outer beauty, write a letter to send to prospective buyers that defines what beauty really means to you.
• In response to conversations heard between classes and at lunch about shows such as "The Bachelor" and "Joe Millionaire," write a letter to the editor of your school newspaper explaining the meaning of true love.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

A cause-and-effect composition examines the relationship between an event or circumstance and its causes and/or its effects. The writer explains a situation, condition, or event (effects) and explains why it occurred or reasons it exists (causes). Compositions may focus on causes, effects, or both, as appropriate to the specific task.

• As a finalist for a civic group scholarship contest, write the speech you would give the local civic group on the causes of prejudice.
• As a finalist for a civic group scholarship contest, write the speech you would give the local civic group on the effects of prejudice.
• From the perspective of the Student Government Association, write a letter to your principal explaining the effect that a dress code would have on the morale of the student body.
• Much attention has been given to school violence and peer pressure since the tragedy at Columbine, and your school board is concerned about violence in local schools. From the viewpoint of a student, write a speech you could present to the board regarding the causes of school violence.

A society which is clamoring for choice, which is filled with many articulate groups, each urging its own brand of salvation, its own variety of economic philosophy, will give each new generation no peace until all have chosen or gone under, unable to bear the conditions of choice. The stress is in our civilization.

- Margaret Mead (1901-1978), U.S. anthropologist. Coming of Age in Samoa, ch. 14 (1928).

The better work men do is always done under stress and at great personal cost.

- William Carlos Williams

These days, when a kid's schedule is as packed as a CEO's, the Girl Scouts are rewarding girls for taking it easy. Scouts earn the Stress Less merit badge, introduced last year, by performing tasks like keeping a "feelings diary," making a "personal stress kit" and practicing deep breathing. The badge is already a favorite: 60,000 go-getters have added it to their sashes. No word, though, on how many stressed out in the process.

- "Only in America," Reader's Digest, February 2003

To be free of destructive stress don't sweat the small stuff and realize that all stuff is small.

- Author Unknown

The process of living is the process of reacting to stress.

- Dr. Stanley J. Sarnoff, physiologist, National Institute of Health, quoted in Time, 29 November, 1963

Man should not try to avoid stress any more than he would shun food, love or exercise.

- Dr. Hans Sel

Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.

- Dr. Hans Sel

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.

- Jane Wagner (and Lily Tomlin)

Cosmetics company Clinique offers these facts:

• Seventy to eighty percent of all visits to the doctor are for stressrelated and stress-induced illnesses.
• People who live in a high state of anxiety are 4.5 times more likely to die of a heart attack or stroke.
• Stress contributes to fifty percent of all illnesses in the United States.
• Stress-related injuries on the job climbed from five percent of all occupational disease claims in 1980 to more than fifteen percent in 1990.
• The cost of job stress in the United States is estimated at $200 billion annually, including costs of absenteeism, lost productivity and insurance claims.
• Seven of ten respondents to a national poll in 1995 said they felt stress in a typical workday, while forty-three percent of those interviewed said they suffer noticeable physical and emotional symptoms of burnout.
• According to a Johns Hopkins University study of 12,000 workers, the highest stress job categories include: lawyers, secretaries, data entry and computer operators, special education teachers and school counselors, typists, health aides, waiters and waitresses, food preparation workers and sales personnel. All do demanding work for which others set the rules.

- Stress Points from Clinique.com (http://www.clinique.com/points.html ?ngglobal=95a8cb02059%208144)

From the information provided above, your own experiences, observations, and/or readings, write…*

• a speech you would give to define the stresses of high school as part of orientation for new high school students. (DEFINITION)
• an article for your school newspaper about the causes of stress in teens' lives. (CAUSE/EFFECT)
• an article for a health magazine about the effects of stress. (CAUSE/EFFECT)
• an essay for college admission about the positive effects stress has had on your life. (CAUSE/EFFECT -- more difficult)

Note: *The actual Grade 10 Writing Assessment will not provide multiple tasks for student choice.