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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Writing exemplars (high school)

Samples of varying levels of performance on different types of writing assignments by high school students, with comments based on the five Features of Effective Writing: focus, organization, support and elaboration, style, and conventions.

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  • Focus: Focus, the first Feature of Effective Writing, is the "so what?" in a piece of writing. This article will help you teach students to stay on topic.
  • Organization: Organization, the second Feature of Effective Writing, should be addressed after a writer has established a focus and will help strengthen that focus.
  • Support and elaboration: Support and Elaboration, the third Feature of Effective Writing, is how a writer fleshes out a piece of writing with specific, relevant details.

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These student essays provide examples of varying levels of performance on different types of writing assignments by students in grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 (English I, II, III, and IV). Each essay has been marked with comments based on the five Features of Effective Writing: focus, organization, support and elaboration, style, and conventions. General comments are also provided for each essay, as well as “Next Steps” that offer suggestions for helping the writer improve.

The first group of grade-specific tasks provides exemplars of high, middle, and low performance for one to two tasks designed specificially for each of the grades 9–12. These exemplars are intended for a close examination of various levels of writing and different writing environments (argumentative writing, critical writing, etc.) within a particular grade level. The second group of multi-grade prompts consists of responses by students in each of the grades 9–12 to each of two writing prompts. These latter exemplars are not ranked by level of performance, but are intended for a comparison of the range of performances and appropriate expectations throughout the high school grades.