A writer's draft on the town pond reads: "Nights turned colder, and the surface chilled within hours. Less runoff flowed in, leaving the water still. The basin is shallow, so it lost its heat quickly." Which organization does the draft use?

A draft weighs two bus routes on the same three measures: travel time, cost, and number of stops. Which organization does that material call for?

A paragraph on clouds sorts them into three groups (high, middle, and low) and describes the group members in turn. Which organizing structure is that?

An article begins by stating what a watershed is, names the features that make an area one, and gives two examples. Which organizing structure is that?

A student must introduce a report on how paper is recycled. Which introduction states the topic most clearly for an informative report?

Draft: "Native mussels help keep river water clean. ___ invasive zebra mussels crowd out the native species." Which transition fits the relationship between the sentences?

Draft: "The dam blocked the spawning route. ___ the salmon count fell by half in four years." Which transition fits the relationship between the sentences?

Draft: "Some birds migrate at night to avoid predators. ___ the wood thrush flies after dark and rests by day." Which transition fits the relationship between the sentences?

Draft: "Sea otters keep urchin numbers down. ___ wolves hold the elk herds in check along the river." Which transition fits the relationship between the sentences?

"The new washing machine saves a lot of water each week." Which revision is more precise?

Draft sentence: "Rain that lands on the street goes into the pipe under the curb." Which revision uses precise, domain-specific wording?

Draft: "Kelp forests slow shoreline erosion. Their blades break incoming waves before the water reaches the beach. Their holdfasts anchor loose sand on the seafloor." Which conclusion follows from the draft?

A report on pond life is written for third graders. Which term most needs a definition for that audience?

Draft in a science report: "Honestly, tardigrades are super weird little guys, and that is just wild." Which revision keeps a formal, informative style?

A report reads: "Glaciers grind slowly across bedrock for centuries. They carve wide valleys. Wow, so cool. Meltwater from the ice feeds the rivers below." Which sentence breaks the report's formal style?

Topic sentence: "Barn owls hunt almost entirely by sound." Which sentence best develops that topic with a concrete detail?

A draft explains how city trees cool the streets around them. Which sentence develops that explanation with evidence?

A paragraph on how bees find flowers includes: "Bees see ultraviolet patterns." "Petals guide them to nectar." "My uncle keeps two hives." "Scent marks help them return." Which sentence does not belong?

A draft reads: "Heavy rain loosens the topsoil. The loose soil slides toward the road. Bare hillsides then dry out and crack." This draft is organized by comparison and contrast.

Compare two draft sentences: "Water went into the ground." and "Runoff soaked into the gravel." The first sentence is the more precise of the two.