Chapter 1 Characteristics of Good Writing

Grade 7 Common Core Writing Companion © Perfection Learning® • Reproduction permitted for classroom use only.

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•Is well-developed•Has a cohesive organization•Contains evidence from sources to support main points•Uses precise language and a formal style•Follows the rules of standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Chapter 1 Characteristics of Good Writing

Grade 7 Common Core Writing Companion © Perfection Learning® • Reproduction permitted for classroom use only.

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Development:•Well-developed writing focuses on the main idea. •The writer will expresses one central idea and expands and supports it with interesting details, relevant facts, or carefully chosen evidence.

Chapter 1 Characteristics of Good Writing

Grade 7 Common Core Writing Companion © Perfection Learning® • Reproduction permitted for classroom use only.

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Activity 1A Finding the Main Idea (p. 6)The following excerpt is from the Gettysburg Address, the speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of a military cemetery in 1863. Read the passage and answer the questions on the following screens.

We have come to dedicate a portion of it [a battlefield of the Civil War], as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate [make special], we can not hallow [make holy] this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Chapter 1 Characteristics of Good Writing

Grade 7 Common Core Writing Companion © Perfection Learning® • Reproduction permitted for classroom use only.

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Activity 1A Finding the Main Idea (p. 6)

1. Summarize the central idea of this excerpt.

2. Summarize the sentences that support the central idea.

Chapter 1 Characteristics of Good Writing

Grade 7 Common Core Writing Companion © Perfection Learning® • Reproduction permitted for classroom use only.

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Activity 1A Finding the Main Idea (p. 6)

1. Summarize the central idea of this excerpt.

Sample answer: We have gathered to dedicate a cemetery.

2. Summarize the sentences that support the central idea.

Chapter 1 Characteristics of Good Writing

Grade 7 Common Core Writing Companion © Perfection Learning® • Reproduction permitted for classroom use only.

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Activity 1A Finding the Main Idea (p. 6)

1. Summarize the central idea of this excerpt.

Sample answer: We have gathered to dedicate a cemetery.

2. Summarize the sentences that support the central idea.

Sample answer: The men who died here made this land hallowed. The world will not forget the soldiers who died here. We should carry on their work.