Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 11-12, Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What WHST.11-12.5 Means in Plain English
Seniors revise by asking what the reader must get from the piece, then spending their effort there. A business plan for a loan committee that opens with a founder’s story and a logo gets rebuilt around the amount, the use and the repayment, even if that means starting over.
The wording matches WHST.9-10.5, so the change is in the writing being revised: longer, more technical grades 11 to 12 work for readers who judge it, from lab directors to lenders. This is the last band, the college and career readiness goal for revising subject writing.
WHST.11-12.5 I Can Statements
I can name what my reader most needs before I revise.
I can rebuild a draft around its purpose instead of polishing it.
I can tell when to restart a draft rather than patch it.
WHST.11-12.5 Worked Example
A business student got one blunt comment from a loan officer. One revision polished the draft; the other rebuilt it.
Prompt
Your business plan for Skillet & Co., a breakfast food trailer, goes to a credit union’s small-business loan committee, which will decide on a $22,000 loan. Your draft’s executive summary opens with three sentences about cooking with your grandmother, then describes your logo and menu; the loan amount appears in the last line, and repayment is never mentioned. A loan officer’s comment on the draft reads: “I can’t tell what you want, what it pays for, or how we get it back.” From your plan: a used trailer costs $16,500 and equipment $5,500; a three-month trial at the Saturday farmers market averaged 140 orders a week at $9 each; you project repaying the loan over four years at about $520 a month. Revise the executive summary.
Not YetEver since I was little, cooking breakfast with my grandmother has been my passion, and Skillet & Co. will bring that warmth to our town. Our eye-catching logo and delicious, locally sourced menu will make us stand out from the competition. We are respectfully requesting a loan of $22,000.The revision edits sentences and adds polish (“eye-catching,” “respectfully requesting”), but the comment named a structural problem, and nothing structural changed. The amount still comes last, its use is still missing, and the committee still cannot see the market sales or how the loan gets repaid.
Meets the StandardSkillet & Co. requests a $22,000 loan to buy a used breakfast trailer ($16,500) and its cooking equipment ($5,500). The business has already been tested: a three-month trial at the Saturday farmers market averaged 140 orders a week at $9 each, about $1,260 in sales from a single morning. The trailer adds weekday mornings to that Saturday base. We plan to repay the loan over four years at about $520 a month, a payment smaller than half of one Saturday’s sales. The menu, the cost behind each item and the full sales record follow in sections 3 through 5. I learned to cook breakfast at my grandmother’s stove, and the market trial shows that people will line up for it.The writer treated the comment as a reason to rebuild, not to polish. The amount, its two uses and the repayment plan, the things the committee decides on, come first; the market trial supplies evidence of demand; the menu moves to a later section; and the grandmother story survives as one closing sentence that now points to the sales record. The approach changed because the purpose and audience demanded it.
Moves to Use
Read the feedback for the problem it names, not the sentence it marks.List what this reader must know to decide, in the order they need it.Move or cut anything that does not serve that list, even favorite lines.Restart the section when the order, not the wording, is the problem.Edit for wording only after the structure works.
Common Mistakes with WHST.11-12.5
Polishing a structural problem
New adjectives in every sentence, with the loan amount still in the last line
Try this: Have students restate the reader’s comment as one problem, then check whether their revision changed the order or only the words.
Keeping a passage because the writer loves it
Three sentences of family story ahead of the request
Try this: Ask students to justify each paragraph by naming the reader’s question it answers, then move or cut any paragraph without one.
Editing before revising
A spell-checked draft whose argument still runs backward
Try this: Separate the passes: require a structure revision signed off against the purpose before students begin line editing for wording and mechanics.
Rubric GeneratorFree ToolMake a revision rubric for one real reader, such as a loan committee or a lab director, with a row for structure.RevisionStructureAudience
What problem did the loan officer’s comment name, and did the weak revision fix it?
That the reader could not tell what was wanted, what it paid for or how it would be repaid. The weak revision polished wording but left all three missing or last.
Which facts does the strong revision lead with, and which does it move later?
It leads with the $22,000 request and its two uses, then the market trial and repayment; the menu moves to sections 3 through 5 and the family story to one closing sentence.
Why is the strong revision closer to “trying a new approach” than to editing?
Its order, content and emphasis all changed to fit the committee’s purpose, not just the wording of the original sentences.