Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 6-8, Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What WHST.6-8.2 Means in Plain English
Students explain how something happened or works: an experiment’s steps, a historical event’s causes, a technical process. They preview the topic, group facts under headings or in a table, develop them with definitions and details, use precise terms and varied transitions, stay objective and conclude.
It builds on fifth grade informative writing (W.5.2), where students group related information and add headings. In subject classes the explanation must be exact enough for a reader to repeat the lab or follow the events. Grades 9 to 10 (WHST.9-10.2) organize ideas to make important connections and distinctions.
WHST.6-8.2 I Can Statements
I can preview my topic and group information under headings.
I can use precise terms and varied transitions to explain each step.
I can keep an objective tone and write a conclusion.
WHST.6-8.2 Worked Example
Both students ran the same chromatography lab; only one wrote it up so a classmate who missed it could repeat it.
Prompt
Write up today’s lab for a classmate who was absent: what we tested, the steps we followed and what we found. Lab notes: three black markers (A, B and C, which is permanent); a dot of each drawn 2 cm above the bottom of a coffee-filter strip; each strip hung in a cup holding 1 cm of water so the dot stayed above the waterline; 10 minutes. Marker A separated into blue and yellow bands, B into purple, pink and blue, and C stayed a black dot.
Not YetWe did a lab with markers and coffee filters. We put the markers in water and the colors went up. It was really cool because black has lots of colors in it. Marker C didn’t work.The absent classmate could not repeat this lab: there are no measurements, no clear order of steps and no terms like solvent or pigment. “Really cool” breaks the objective tone, and “didn’t work” hides the most interesting result instead of explaining it.
Meets the StandardThis lab tested whether black marker ink is a single pigment or a mixture of pigments, using paper chromatography. Procedure: we drew a dot from each of three black markers 2 cm above the bottom of a coffee-filter strip, then hung each strip in a cup holding 1 cm of water, keeping the dot above the waterline. Over 10 minutes the water, acting as the solvent, climbed the paper and carried the ink with it. Results: marker A separated into blue and yellow bands and marker B into purple, pink and blue, because each pigment clings to the paper differently and so travels at its own speed. Marker C, a permanent marker, did not move at all, since its ink does not dissolve in water. The lab showed that most black inks are mixtures, and that water can separate only the inks that dissolve in it.The first sentence previews the question and the method. Labeled sections (Procedure, Results) do the work of headings, every step carries its measurement, and terms such as solvent, pigment and mixture replace “the colors went up.” Then, because and since link causes to results, the tone stays objective, and the conclusion answers the opening question.
Moves to Use
Open with the question the lab tested and the method used to test it.Label the sections so a reader can find the steps and the results.Give every step its measurement: 2 cm, 1 cm, 10 minutes.Use the science term and let the sentence show what it means.Explain a surprising result instead of calling it a failure.
Common Mistakes with WHST.6-8.2
The diary write-up
“First we got our stuff, then we waited, then it was really cool.”
Try this: Cut every sentence about what the group felt or fetched and keep only the steps another class would need to repeat the lab.
Steps with no numbers
“We put a dot on the paper and put it in some water.”
Try this: Have a partner try to follow the written steps exactly, and add a measurement wherever the partner has to ask how much or where.
Everyday words where a term belongs
“The water made the colors go up and split apart.”
Try this: Post the lab’s key terms on the board and require the write-up to use solvent, pigment and mixture correctly at least once each.
Which sentence in the strong response previews the topic, and what does it preview?
The first. It names the question, whether black ink is one pigment or a mixture, and the method, paper chromatography.
Why does the strong response explain marker C instead of saying it didn’t work?
Its permanent ink does not dissolve in water, so the solvent could not carry it. That result is evidence too, and explaining it keeps the write-up accurate.
Name two domain-specific terms in the strong response and what each means.
Solvent, the water that climbs the paper and carries the ink, and pigment, one of the colored substances the ink is made of. Chromatography and mixture count too.