Understanding the different types of text can make you a better writer as well as a better reader. After all, to choose the best words and the best way of organizing your ideas, you need to know why you’re writing and what you hope to accomplish. If your purpose is simply to entertain readers, then you will most likely write a narrative. On the other hand, if you need to inform readers about a topic, then you’ll want to think about the features of expository writing.
Of course, there are many other decisions involved in writing well—the details you choose to include, for instance. And once you know where you’re going with a story or essay, the task becomes more about organizing your ideas in a way that helps readers follow them. Otherwise, they’ll be confused and miss your point altogether.
For Example
Maggie’s teacher asked her class to write a fictional story about something that happens during just one time of year. Read this paragraph from Maggie’s draft.
Cadence had been waiting for the perfect day to fly a kite. She listened to the wind with excitement as she grabbed her shoes and started to tie a spool of string to the bottom of her butterfly kite. Then the doorbell rang. Cadence couldn’t believe how fast her neighbor’s dog walked as he tugged at the leash. Finally, she sat on a bench at the park and wondered how many more day times she would have to walk Spot before she’d earned enough money to buy the scooter she wanted. Cadence sighed. So much for her perfect day . . .
Question
You probably found Maggie’s paragraph rather confusing. What made it that way?
The paragraph from Maggie’s draft is an example of writing that lacks coherence—its ideas don’t fit or flow together smoothly. Coherence is just one of the features of good writing. Another is clarity, which happens when a writer’s message is very clear to readers. Clear writing is precise, specific, and gets to the point right away—it uses exactly the right word in the right place.
