Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
Common Core State Standards, Grade 6, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What W.6.2 Means in Plain English
Sixth graders explain a topic to a reader new to it. They choose a structure that fits, such as definition, comparison or cause and effect, add headings or a chart when it helps, define terms like erosion, link ideas with transitions, write formally and close with a conclusion.
Fifth grade (W.5.2) groups related information and links it across categories. Sixth grade names the strategies, such as classification or cause and effect, adds analysis of the content and asks for a formal style. Seventh grade (W.7.2) adds previewing what follows and building cohesion between ideas.
W.6.2 I Can Statements
I can introduce a topic and organize it with a clear strategy.
I can develop my topic with facts, definitions, quotations and examples.
I can use precise terms, transitions and a formal style to explain.
W.6.2 Worked Example
Both students worked from the same unit notes. One paragraph tells the reader the mountains mattered; the other explains, step by step, how they changed the way the Inca farmed.
Prompt
Explain how the steep Andes Mountains shaped the way the Inca farmed. Write one body paragraph of an informative essay for readers who have not studied the Inca, using at least two terms from our unit: terrace, retaining wall, erosion, drainage.
Not YetThe Inca lived in the mountains and farming was really important. They made the hills flat for farming and stuff. They had a lot of food because of it. It was very helpful.It says the mountains mattered but never explains how they shaped farming: no cause leads to an effect, none of the unit terms appear, “and stuff” slips out of a formal style, and a reader new to the Inca learns almost nothing.
Meets the StandardHigh in the Andes Mountains of South America, the Inca had very little flat land, and the way they farmed grew out of that problem. On a steep slope, heavy rain rushes downhill and carries soil away, causing erosion, the wearing away of land by water or wind. To stop it, Inca farmers built terraces, flat steps of farmland cut into a hillside, each held up by a retaining wall, a stone wall that keeps soil from sliding. Because each step was level, rainwater soaked into the soil instead of running off, and layers of stones and gravel beneath the topsoil let extra water drain away. As a result, slopes that had been too steep to plant could grow potatoes and maize season after season. In short, the steep mountains explain why the Inca built terraces, how they built them and how so much food grew on so little flat ground.It introduces the topic and its focus, then follows one cause-and-effect chain from steep slopes to erosion to terraces to drainage. Each unit term is defined in passing for a reader new to the Inca, “because,” “as a result” and “in short” mark the links, the voice is formal, and the last sentence concludes from the explanation.
Moves to Use
Introduce the topic and its focus in the opening sentence.Pick one organizing strategy, here cause and effect, and follow it.Define each domain word the first time it appears.Use transitions like as a result to show how ideas connect.Conclude with a sentence that sums up what the explanation showed.
Common Mistakes with W.6.2
A list of facts instead of a structure
Paragraphs that each begin “Another fact about the Inca is…”
Try this: Have students choose one strategy before drafting (cause and effect, comparison or classification) and label each paragraph with the job it does.
Terms used but never explained
“The terrace stopped erosion with a retaining wall,” written for a reader who has met none of the three terms
Try this: Have students write for a younger reader and add a short appositive definition, set off with commas, the first time each term appears.
A chart pasted in and never used
A chart of crops grown at each altitude under the paragraph that the text never mentions
Try this: Require a sentence in the text for every chart or image, telling readers what to notice in it and why it matters.
Writing Prompt GeneratorFree ToolA fresh informative prompt for 6th grade. Before drafting, students decide whether the topic calls for definition, comparison or cause and effect.InformativeGrade 6Printed
Which organizing strategy does the strong response use?
Cause and effect: steep slopes let rain wash soil away, so the Inca built level terraces held up by retaining walls, so rainwater soaked in and the slopes could grow crops.
How does the strong response define erosion for a reader new to the topic?
Right after the word, set off by a comma: “the wearing away of land by water or wind.”
Give two reasons the weak response falls short of W.6.2.
Any two of: it never explains how the mountains shaped farming, it uses none of the unit terms, “and stuff” breaks the formal style, and “It was very helpful” is not a conclusion drawn from an explanation.