Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Common Core State Standards, Grades 9-10, Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What WHST.9-10.4 Means in Plain English
Ninth and tenth graders fit each history, science or technical piece to its job and reader. A lab report for the teacher leads with results, an op-ed for the school paper leads with a stake, and a business memo to the principal puts the recommendation and its cost first.
WHST.6-8.4 and WHST.11-12.4 use the same words, so the growth is in the tasks: grades 9 to 10 write fairer arguments and fuller explanations than grades 6 to 8, and grades 11 to 12 write longer, more specialized pieces for expert readers.
WHST.9-10.4 I Can Statements
I can name my task, purpose and reader before I draft.
I can order a memo so the decision-maker reads the recommendation first.
I can match my style to what my field’s readers expect.
WHST.9-10.4 Worked Example
The weak text is a student’s first draft; the strong one is the memo he sent after his teacher asked, “Who decides, and what does she need to know?”
Prompt
Business class. Your class runs a print shop that makes custom T-shirts for school clubs and teams. Write a short memo to Principal Okafor, who must approve any purchase, recommending whether to buy a second heat press. From the shop’s records: one press handles about 12 shirts an hour; orders rose from 140 shirts in September to 410 in October; the backlog is now 9 school days, and the volleyball team cancelled a 60-shirt order because it would not arrive before a tournament; a second press costs $480; the shop earns about $4 on each shirt after materials.
Not YetSo the print shop has been super busy lately and honestly we can’t keep up!! Everyone loves our shirts, which is awesome. We really, really need another heat press, it would be a total game changer for us. Please say yes!The writer knows the shop is busy, but the development, organization and style fit a group chat, not a memo to the person who controls the budget. The request comes last, with no cost, no numbers and no payback, and the exclamation points and slang ask the principal to share the writer’s excitement instead of giving her grounds to approve.
Meets the StandardTo: Principal Okafor. Subject: Request to buy a second heat press ($480). I recommend that the print shop buy a second heat press, because our one press can no longer keep up with orders. Orders rose from 140 shirts in September to 410 in October, and at about 12 shirts an hour our backlog has reached 9 school days. That delay has already cost us business: the volleyball team cancelled a 60-shirt order, about $240 in earnings, because the shirts would not arrive before its tournament. At $4 earned per shirt, a second press would pay for itself after 120 shirts, the size of two orders like the one we just lost. If you approve the purchase this week, we can clear the backlog before winter sports orders begin.Same shop, new job. The memo heading tells the principal what is being asked and what it costs before she reads the body, the recommendation comes first, and every sentence after it is evidence ordered by what a budget holder needs: demand, the cost of waiting, payback, then the action and its deadline. The style is plain and businesslike, with numbers where the first draft had exclamation points.
Moves to Use
Name the reader and what they must decide before writing a word.Put the recommendation and its cost in the subject line and first sentence.Order the evidence by what the reader needs: demand, cost of waiting, payback.Trade enthusiasm for numbers; the field’s style is plain and exact.End with the specific action and when it is needed.
Common Mistakes with WHST.9-10.4
Burying the ask
Three sentences about how busy the shop is before the word “press” appears
Try this: Have students underline the sentence the reader must act on, then move it to the top of the draft.
Writing to a friend, sending to a boss
“Please say yes!!” in a request for $480
Try this: Before drafting, have students write one line naming the reader’s role and what that reader worries about most.
One form for every field
A business memo that opens with a hook question and runs as a five-paragraph essay
Try this: Show one real model of each genre the class writes and list three moves it makes that an essay never would.
Rubric GeneratorFree ToolBuild a memo rubric whose rows name what a decision-maker needs: the ask up front, evidence in order, plain style and a deadline.Business memoAudienceGrades 9-10