Read informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic.

What information does the informative/explanatory text include (the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes)?

Does the author use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic?

Does the author use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a style appropriate to the discipline and context as well as to the expertise of likely readers?

Does the writer include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension?

Are the topic and group related information introduced in a paragraph, some paragraphs or sections?

What facts are related to the main topic?

What facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples develop the topic/points?

Is the topic developed with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

Does the author provide some sense of closure (a concluding statement or section)?

Does the author provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically?

Does the author use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts?

What linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but, another, for example, also, because) connect ideas within and across categories of information?

Does the author use varied transitions and sentence structures to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.

What type of a concluding statement or section, which follows from and supports the information or explanation presented does the writer provide (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic)?

Narratives

Read narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

Read narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Read narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and clear, well-structured event sequences.

What narrative techniques does the author use (e.g. dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection) to develop experiences, events, and/or characters?

Describe a situation: a narrator and/or characters, an organization of an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

What temporal words and phrases signal event order providing a sense of closure?

What temporal words and phrases convey sequence and signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events?

 What transitional words and phrases and clauses manage the sequence of events?

What transitional words, phrases and clauses convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events?

What concrete words and phrases and sensory details convey experiences and events precisely?

Is there a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events?

Argumentative text

Read the argumentative text and find the claims, the supported arguments with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

What words, phrases, and clauses clarify the relationships among claim(s)          (alternate or opposing) and reasons?

What words, phrases, and clauses create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s)/ counterclaims, reasons, and evidence?

Does the writer provide a concluding statement or section that follows from the argument presented.

Are the arguments focused on discipline-specific content?