How to Use Graphic Organizers to Write Better Essays
Reading time: about 6 min
Posted by: Lucid Content Team
If you’re a student, there’s no way around the inevitable: You’re going to have to write essays. Lots of essays. In fact, the five-paragraph essay is so fundamental to the high school curriculum that it’s still used on the ACTs, and knowing how to recognize the organizational structure of essays will help you score higher on the SATs.
Even though it seems like a chore, knowing how to organize and write an essay can have a lasting effect on your life, from getting into a better college to scoring a better job to performing better in that job long after your high school days are over.
Here’s a secret: Using graphic organizers for writing essays can help you write better essays faster. (And don’t count yourself out if you’re an educator—you can offer these tools to help your students succeed.) We’ll show you exactly how to do it.
Why use graphic organizers
When ACT graders or teachers are looking your essay, they’re looking for very specific criteria; essentially, they’re looking at how well you’ve organized your thoughts. Many students don’t take the time to outline their essay structure before writing, and that always means a lower score on a test and a lower grade on the essay in class.
Using a writing template can feel like an unnecessary step in an already complicated process. If you need extra motivation to implement these organizers into your writing routine, consider all of their benefits. Graphic organizers can help you:
- Save time by showing you where each piece of the essay “lives.”
- Have more productive brainstorming sessions, either by yourself or with a group.
- Make connections between ideas and create a more cohesive argument.
- Pinpoint holes in your arguments and either adjust the thesis or find supporting statements.
- Keep track of your research.
- Organize your thoughts and come to interesting, more compelling conclusions.
- Stay in the right direction when you feel lost in a sea of words.
- Manage anxiety by converting the fear of a blank assignment into an action plan with a clear map.
With all those benefits, it’s hard to ignore how useful and vital graphic organizers are to writing. And once you’ve become adept at organizing your thoughts for something like a school essay, you’ll find that skill carries with you throughout your life, whether you’re trying to become a more intelligent debater to negotiate prices. It goes beyond just the essay to becoming a better thinker. And it starts with a simple template.
We’ll walk you through several use cases for graphic organizers and provide templates for you to download and fill in when you’re ready to write.
Brainstorming graphic organizers
Brainstorming is important, not only to come up with ideas for topics but to determine what information you need to include in the essay once you’ve determined your topic. Though many think of brainstorming as just freeflow thinking, brainstorming is most productive when you work within specific parameters.
That’s why essay brainstorming graphic organizers are useful, whether you’re using one to brainstorm on your own or you’re working with a group.
In Lucidchart, our mind map shapes and templates double as brainstorming graphic organizers. Start with an essay prompt as your central shape and then fill in the shapes that branch off your prompt with topic ideas. Alternatively, you can add your selected topic to the center and start brainstorming the different ideas you need to cover in your paper.
When the template is filled in, you’ll have a clear starting point for your essay or research paper.
Research paper graphic organizers
Nothing paralyzes students with fear quite like a research paper. These long-form papers require—as the name implies—quite a bit of research, and their purpose is to teach students how to look for valid sources to support their arguments.
But keeping track of all those sources and tying them into your argument can be tricky. That’s where a research paper graphic organizer can be a student’s greatest ally.
This template lays out the writing process itself. After you come up with a general topic, like “the disappearance of honey bees,” fill in the “Research Paper Topic” box.
Then, start looking for reputable sources (Wikipedia doesn’t count) and use the five sources boxes to hold the most relevant quotes and statistics you find. Using those quotes and statistics, you can then fill out a thesis statement that is supported by the research.
Then, you’ll be able to focus your paragraphs on a single topic each that supports the thesis statement and your overarching argument. After you’ve filled out the template, the backbone of the research paper is complete: All that’s left to do is fill in the spaces between sources and arguments.
5-paragraph essay graphic organizer
When it comes to writing the five-paragraph essay, writing diagrams are key. By using graphic organizers for writing, you’re no longer staring at a giant blank piece of paper with no idea how or where to begin. Your graphic organizer is your map.
Although using writing diagrams may seem time-consuming, the fact is that taking the time to fill a graphic organizer in before writing actually saves time. If there’s a problem with the argument, it will show up on the diagram, or if there’s not enough evidence to support your argument, you’ll know before you’ve wasted time writing the paper. And, as we said before, even if your writing is terrible, if your argument is sound, you’ll still score a decent grade.
Try this 5-paragraph essay template to get you started.
Don’t feel pressured to come up with a compelling title right away. Instead, it’s more important that you come up with a thesis statement that can be supported by three solid arguments. Fill in that thesis statement and your arguments. Then, for each argument, figure out three supporting details to support your case.
That’s it! You’ve got the most essential parts of your 5-paragraph essay completed.
Now, come up with an introduction that sets the stage for your argument and a conclusion that wraps up and restates your thesis and supporting arguments in a compelling way. Now you have a solid plan for your paper and can approach it with confidence.
If you’d like a more linear graphic that exactly follows the structure of the 5-paragraph, use the writing template below and follow the same process.
Visuals, such as graphic organizers for writing, can help you better understand concepts, think creatively, and collaborate with your classmates—and there are plenty of other templates where these came from.
Lucidchart offers hundreds of templates to help you through your studies, including timelines, Venn diagrams, word maps, and more. Sign up for Lucidchart and upgrade to an Educational account for free.
Resources for teachers
Providing graphic resources to students is essential; after all, many of your students will be visual learners, so while you may beautifully explain how the process works, there will be some who won’t understand until they see a template of the essay itself.
Lucidchart has many resources for teachers, from lesson plans to writing templates. While you’re teaching your students how to write essays or research papers, it’s useful to print out the templates and fill them out together (even using a completed template as a separate assignment with a separate grade) so that your students can get a feel for properly filling out graphic organizers before attempting it on their own.
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Descriptive Writing Graphic Organizers and Worksheets for Elementary Students
by Studentreasures | May. 4, 2022 | Writing Skill-Building Activity
People improve their minds with facts and information and expand their hearts with context and details. Excellent writing involves both, and that’s why it’s essential to teach students how to write descriptively. By being more interesting and engaging to read, descriptive writing draws in the reader regardless of whether the purpose of the piece is to be informative, opinion-based or narrative.
Rather than merely a creative flourish, descriptive writing is a core part of what defines a writer’s style and voice. This makes it worth focusing on throughout your students’ entire academic careers to set them up for success in college and beyond.
Paint a Picture with Words (Grades K-1)
Descriptive writing is primarily used to describe a person, place or thing so that a specific, detailed image forms in the reader’s mind. This provides additional context for the reader to engage with and can make the writing more interesting by inviting the reader to interact with it in a more personal way. It all starts by choosing descriptive words.
Build These Skills
Sometimes it can be challenging to find the right words, so get ahead of the problem by teaching your students to keep lists of words to use in their future writing. It’s usually easier to start with an existing writing reference and then add to it as students discover new words they like and want to hang onto for future use.
Activities to Try
- Use this worksheet to give students examples of sensory words and vivid verbs. In addition to being used as a writing reference, encourage students to add their own!
- Lead a discussion about different words that describe the same basic concept (such as all the sensory details related to going to a pool).
- Give students a topic (like “making popcorn” or “getting a haircut”) and have them write down all the words they can think of that describe that topic—encourage students to include as many of the human senses as they can, including sight, sound, touch, smell and taste.
- Your students can use this graphic organizer to help them organize all the sensory details they came up with when describing the topic.
Bubbling Over with Ideas (Grades K-1)
Descriptive writing tends to be intuitive. Most students will focus on the visual, while some will include details about one or two other senses. The challenge is for them to learn how to automatically incorporate more descriptive information into their writing, involving all five senses whenever possible to create a more fully realized piece of writing.
Similar to the writing reference above, it makes sense to brainstorm sensory details as part of the planning phase of the writing process. In addition to using a general writing reference for sensory words, have students take some time during their brainstorming sessions to think of words, phrases and details for each of the five senses related to the given topic. This will make it easier to incorporate these details while writing.
- Write a word on the whiteboard (like “winter” or the name of your state) and have students take turns adding descriptive words (involving all of the five senses) that relate to the chosen word.
- Use this graphic organizer to help students brainstorm sensory details before writing.
- Try using limitations to increase creativity. Ask students to describe something using only one of the five senses.
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Make it great. illustrate / five star illustration (grades k-1).
Adding an illustration to a piece of writing can help students make connections that will help them understand the point of descriptive writing . This worksheet includes important elements of how to illustrate a piece of writing and serves as a handy checklist.
Effective writing forms an image in the reader’s mind, and adding an illustration can help students make sure their words are conveying the image they want. Once they’ve created their illustration, they can decide whether there are any other sensory details they want to add to their writing or illustration.
- Lead a discussion about the best way to add illustrations to a piece of writing. Use a picture book or an early reader book as an example.
- Have students write a description of a picture, then discuss the difference between words and pictures. Ask them to use words to convey what they see in the picture.
- Use this worksheet to help students double-check that their descriptive illustrations check all the boxes.
Check It Out (Grades 2-3)
It can also make sense to brainstorm topics ahead of time. Students have more autonomy over their writing topics in the second and third grades. Rather than coming up with a topic on the fly and then deciding how to make that topic come alive for readers, students can get ahead of the game by creating a list of topics that they feel knowledgeable about and can effectively develop into engaging, descriptive writing.
As they progress in their academic careers, students will benefit from taking the time to make sure they’re choosing subjects that match well with the assignment topics. To do this efficiently and avoid wasted time, it’s beneficial for students to have a general idea of what topics they’re either knowledgeable about or would like to spend time learning about.
- Use this graphic organizer to help students develop a list of people, places and things to write about. All of these topics will provide excellent opportunities for descriptive writing.
- Lead a discussion with your students about different topics that are especially likely to have a lot of sensory details present. As the discussion goes on, your students will realize that there’s always a way to add more description to their writing.
- Remind students to include descriptive language in all of their writing. Take some time to help students incorporate sensory details into their assignments and projects, even when descriptive writing isn’t a core element of the assignment or project.
Spice Up Your Writing (Grades 2-3)
Using unique verbs and adjectives will help your students set their writing apart. This worksheet builds on the ideas above—a writing reference full of unique words to use—but this one divides the words into their parts of speech, focusing on verbs and adjectives.
Different words have different connotations. Younger students know this intuitively even if they don’t understand why or exactly how they can use that to improve their writing. A shiny car is different from a dirty car; someone who sips their water is different from someone who chugs their water.
Thinking about the differences and what those differences suggest will help young learners make their points more effectively by using the most fitting words to imply what they want their readers to infer.
- Lead a discussion with students about particularly descriptive verbs. (Example verbs include “slither,” “beamed” and “reeking.”)
- Use this worksheet as a writing reference for students to learn creative and exciting verbs and adjectives. Additionally, you can make similar graphic organizers for other parts of speech: nouns, adverbs, etc.
- As part of the editing process, have students find places in their writing where they can add more description and then include that description in the next draft. This graphic organizer can help your students develop their topics even further!
Leaping Into the Story (Grades 4-5)
When writing a story, it can be helpful to brainstorm using a graphic organizer that has a space for character, setting and plot elements. This graphic organizer includes sections for the main character, setting, problem, solution and ending.
You can add a second piece of paper to include details about secondary characters and additional settings for longer stories. Remind students to include as many sensory details as possible, especially for elements like the setting, to make the story more realistic and relatable.
External character traits are an excellent place to start when writing a story, and it’s also important to spend time making sure those details engage the senses.
The same is true for the setting. Students can benefit from taking notes on their characters and settings to more easily incorporate these details into their fiction writing during the first draft rather than making up details in the moment. This often causes progress to screech to a halt. They can avoid these roadblocks altogether by building sensory details into the rest of the planning.
- Use this graphic organizer to get students brainstorming about their stories.
- Lead a discussion with your students about how they can use character traits to describe different characters. You can use characters your students have written, pop culture characters, or characters from a story the class is reading.
- A big part of descriptive writing is about focusing on unique details. To help students understand this, have the class make a list of details about their community, such as the cold chill on January mornings or the best places to observe a sunset.
You Don’t Say! (Grades 4-5)
This graphic organizer is best when utilized alongside other graphic organizers since it focuses on a character in a narrative that’s already at least partially planned. It includes brainstorming descriptive details during all phases of the story and has additional space for possible dialogue and actions the characters might take.
Most successful fiction is character-driven, meaning the narrative results from the characters’ actions. Stories are much more satisfying for readers if the characters take an active role in solving their problems rather than the problem being solved for the character while they passively react. Students can benefit from writing characters who take an active role in their stories by learning that they can take a more active role in their own lives.
- Lead a discussion about descriptive details that your students can incorporate into a story to either establish or solve a problem.
- Use this graphic organizer to help students plan a narrative in more detail, focusing on the characters. Students can work on one graphic organizer for each major character in their narrative.
- Plan a story as a class. Create a setting and characters together, decide what the central conflict will be, and have everyone work on smaller stories that they can combine to tell a larger story. Make sure to focus on descriptive writing to make the story more engaging.
A great way to get students excited about writing is by publishing through one of our free classbook publishing kits ! Assignments based on any of the graphic organizers or activities listed here are an ideal place to start. Just collect your students’ writing and art into a themed classbook to create an entire classroom full of published authors!
Learning how to utilize descriptive writing techniques in their writing is one of the most effective ways for students to create pieces that their readers will be able to connect with. The skills and tips they learn from these graphic organizers will help them develop their style and voice and communicate in compelling and creative ways throughout the rest of their lives.
For more lesson plans , graphic organizers and other helpful creative writing resources for your classroom, check out our online Teacher’s Lounge and be sure to sign up for your free classbook publishing kit !
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WRITING - Persuasive, Narrative, Expository & Descriptive Writing Bundle
Descriptive Writing - Graphic Organizers, Examples, Rubric and More!
Also included in: WRITING - Persuasive, Narrative, Expository & Descriptive Writing Bundle
Descriptive Writing Picture Prompts & Graphic Organizers
Descriptive Writing Lesson and Worksheets - Using Sensory Words
Descriptive Writing - Graphic Organizer, Writing Prompts and Rubric
Also included in: Writing for the Year Procedural, Narrative, Letter, Recount, Descriptive
Descriptive Writing Organizer - 5 Senses
Descriptive Writing Graphic Organizer
Also included in: Writing Graphic Organizer BUNDLE
Adjectives Make Our Writing Pop! Descriptive Writing Craftivity
Sensory Details Descriptive Writing Activity - ESL Recommended
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Van Allsburg Descriptive Writing Project
Descriptive Writing: Show Don't Tell Lesson and Activities Digital & Print
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Writing Graphic Organizers
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Analyzing Memoirs - Graphic Organizer
Modelled Writing | Descriptive Paragraphs | Gr 3/4 | Ontario Curriculum
Also included in: Comprehensive Literacy - GRADE 3 BUNDLE - Ontario Language Curriculum
Using Our Senses: Graphic Organizer for Descriptive Writing
WRITING Anchor Charts and Graphic Organizers
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Writing Graphic Organizers | English Interactive Notebook | Prewriting
Bad Case of Stripes Descriptive Writing Bad Case of Stripes Bulletin Board
Paragraph Writing Graphic Organizers Winter Themes
Also included in: Paragraph Writing Graphic Organizers Seasonal Bundle
Show Not Tell Writing Exercises--Specific, Descriptive, Sensory/Figurative Lang.
Also included in: Descriptive Writing Bundle Narrative Techniques, Sensory Language, Paragraph
Characterization Graphic Organizer
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Free Editable Essay Graphic Organizer Examples
Essays are complex and large write-ups that are not easy to intercept. That’s why it is better to use an essay graphic organizer to visualize your complex structured outline in a simple manner. In fact, there is nothing better than some free graphic organizer examples that save both your time and effort. So, let’s have an overview of this essay organizers and free example templates.
1. What is Essay Graphic Organizer
An essay graphic organizer enhances your research with visual elements. It helps the writer to correlate facts, observations, and notions. On top of that, it outlines the essay and provides an organized strategy for the writer.
A graphic organizer for writing helps the writers to tackle hard and long essay formats. A writer can use its visual aid to complete the write-up step by step. A graphic organizer for essays has different types based on primary functions.
- An Outline Based Essay Organizer
These types of essay organizers have at least 3 thesis. The whole story revolves around these. Moreover, the organizer includes specific supporting details and subtopic names that make the way crystal clear for writers. However, these organizers do not need much essay explanation. Most indications are worldly phrases that direct the attention toward thoughts and observations.
- A Contrasting Essay Organizer :
As the name indicates, it helps the writer to organize varying thoughts about topics and compare them. Moreover, it helps the writer to collect, conceive and portray the information ahead of time. The writer can use it for two collective primary topics or a single point from both topics. In both cases, the essay organizer will help them take visual notes and use them to their advantage while writing.
- Organizer For A Persuasive Essay :
The persuasive essay organizer helps the writer to persuade an audience toward a single topic. It includes three or more supporting details for the topic. Furthermore, the organizer includes written evidence for those details that help prove the point.
2. The Essay Graphic Organizer Examples
Using an essay graphic organizer for writing brings credibility and flexibility to your essays with extensive research. Essay writing is a tough job, especially if it has more than one subtopic.
Essays require tons of details. All that quality is up to no good if it is not organized and well structured. An essay organizer for writing helps you understand how the minor details contribute to overall concepts. With thorough research and long formats, essay writing may become dull. However, an organizer helps you to perfectly structure your thoughts with appealing visuals that make them engaging and far less challenging.
Basic 5-Paragraph Essay Graphic Organzier
5-Paragraph Essay
Expository Essay Graphic Organizer
Persuasive Essay Graphic Organizer
Essay Graphic Organzier
Narrative Essay Graphic Organizer
Example 1: 5 Paragraph Essay Graphic Organzier
The most common type of essay writing format is a 5-paragraph essay. Essay graphic organizer for writing helps organize all those 5 paragraphs and insert valuable information inside them. It includes the first paragraph section in which the writer inserts the topic sentence and at least three thesis statements. The upcoming three paragraphs briefly summarize those statements and provide at least three pieces of evidence for each thesis. Finally, the last paragraph repeats the main statement and includes an overall concluding statement. Moreover, every thesis detail includes a conclusion statement that conceives the entire concept.
Example 2: Printable 5 Paragraph Essay Graphic Organizer
It is also the type of essay organizer writers use to organize the outline of a 5-paragraph essay format. Its first paragraph is of introduction which includes with a thesis statement instead of a topic sentence. The statement inside the paragraph includes three supporting examples with itself. Moreover, the second paragraph has a topic sentence that the previous thesis supports. Plus, it has individual evidence details that prove the topic sentence true. The third paragraph includes a thesis statement that correlates with the previous and upcoming topic sentence. Finally, the last paragraph has the essay's main idea and a concluding statement that proves the point.
Example 3: Argumentative Essay Graphic Organizer
This template solemnly deals with the expository template of the essay. It focuses on the essay's three most basic parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion. Moreover, the writer evaluates the selected topic in it with examples and evidence and closes the argument clearly and concisely. The exemplary diagram includes 2 separate boxes in the introduction sections. One of them is for the hook that engages the audience, whereas the other depicts the essay's main idea. Inside the body section, the writer briefly lists three examples, each with individual supporting details. Finally, the conclusion includes two sections; one for reviewing and rewriting the central concept and the other to input the closing details of the essay.
Example 4: Persuasive Essay Graphic Organizer
This example diagram of the essay graphic organizer for writing helps to persuade a general or specific audience toward your point of view. The primary purpose is to enlist your opinion and evaluate it with the help of numerous supporting details. As for the organizer, it is for a 5 paragraph format. The first one has an engaging beginning, a summary of the issue, and your opinion. Furthermore, the next 3 provide different reasons that support your opinion. Moreover, the section also includes evidence in the form of examples and textual details that support every reason individually. The last paragraph is a conclusive one that restates the opinion, summarizes all three reasons again, and gives a CTA (call to action) at the end. However, you can ditch the CTA and add a simple closing statement that supports your opinion.
Example 5: Informational Essay Graphic Organizer
This type of organizer is for essays having more than one main idea. The organizer's interface has several colors that make it engaging and appealing. Due to the color, it is referred to as a Rainbow essay organizer. A big individual box includes the whole organized outline of the essay. The writer has to briefly write all three ideas in it and support their point of view. Moreover, the organizer includes an introduction and conclusion description. At last, there is a final draft section that concludes the whole essay and supports either all three or one suitable main idea.
Example 6: Narrative Essay Graphic Organizer
The expository essay is a genre that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea clearly and concisely. The below expository essay web diagram is created using EdrawMax Online and shows blank spaces for Thesis Statement, Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Details about all the examples, and argumentative points. Expository writing gives facts and information about a topic, and as the web diagram suggests, a good expository essay introduces the main idea and develops it with facts and supporting details.
3. How to Make an Essay Graphic Organizer
Graphic organizers are the modern way of learning. With passing time, people are using them in every type of write-up. Therefore, it is better to understand its production process so that you can make one specifically for your essay. The online production software uses four simple steps to generate a graphic organizer for essays.
Step 1 - Head on to EdrawMax Online or download EdrawMax . Make an account and log in to it.
Step 2 - Once inside, you can start creating the graphic organizer on a blank edit sheet or readymade essay organizers, such as mindmaps and spider maps. However, this process is time-consuming. If you want an easy solution, head to the main menu on the left, look for Templates Community , and click on it.
Step 3 - Clicking on the Template Community option will take you to a social network of designers and a general audience like you that post templates daily for public use. You can search for your very own template and duplicate it onto your sheet using the button Duplicate.
Step 4 - Finally, start customizing it as you like. You can change the font, color, and components. Moreover, you can add new ones if you like. Once you are done and satisfied, export and share your template with others using the Button Publish present on the top right corner.
4. Online Graphic Organizer Maker
Traditional ways are gone when you had to work extensively for a simple diagram in lining software. Online graphic organizers like EdrawMax made graphic organizer designing much easier and less time-consuming. All thanks to its easy-to-use interface and basic yet helpful tool kits, designing a diagram is possible for every individual with basic knowledge.
Moreover, EdrawMax saves a lot of effort and time with the help of readymade templates. This online graphic organizer maker is suitable for any type of consumer to generate any variation of the graphic organizer. Its biggest pro is the Templates Community , with thousands of readymade templates for users. In this social biome, you can not only pick the one that suits you well but share your ideas with the community as well.
5. Key Takeaways
The visual aid of essay graphic organizers helps the writers to organize their researched facts and general thoughts according to references. Moreover, it gives a direction to the audience and the writer for the essay. As for its usage, the writers are helping themselves with it in their professional careers. Moreover, it proves exponentially efficient in the academic field for students. When it comes to essay writing, it helps in both of these by establishing a relevant and valid connection. Plus, communicating our thoughts with visual sketches and doodles is less boring and more engaging.
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This Reading Mama
Descriptive Writing Graphic Organizer {FREE}
By thisreadingmama 1 Comment
As a private reading tutor, one of the things I noticed was that while many of my upper grade students could comprehend fiction texts well, nonfiction was more difficult. Some of this had to do with the lack of exposure to nonfiction, but the majority of the problem came from the way that nonficiton text is organized .
I created a little graphic organizer called Cookie Comprehension to do some basic introductions in the organization of nonfiction paragraphs. These past couple of weeks, ALuv {3rd grade} has been using it to learn about the typical format associated with descriptive writing.
*This post contains affiliate links.
Descriptive Writing Graphic Organizer
This past August, I was pleased when WriteShop asked if I’d use their curriculum with my 3rd grader. We have LOVED it. It is SO flexible and allows me to teach writing as a craft, which is priceless to me.
One of the genres that we have explored is descriptive writing. I was going through my old tutoring files and came across Cookie Comprehension and was so excited to see how well it fit in with our descriptive writing unit. So, I tweaked it a bit, added a few extra pages, and created a Descriptive Writing Graphic Organizer Pack {free download at the end.}
The first thing I did was introduce descriptive writing using the Cookie Comprehension & Composition graphic organizer. I highlighted the important parts so he could clearly see the format of a descriptive paragraph. {Side note: I was careful to say that not all descriptive writing is organized this nicely in a package. But as with teaching any new concept, it’s good to start at a concrete level with simple examples.}
Descriptive Writing Together
Then, following WriteShop’s advice, we picked an object that he could see, touch, feel, etc. and wrote about the object together. Having something that kids can actually touch and see makes it easier for kids to describe.
He picked our gingerbread house. We reviewed the cookie format while writing (opening sentence,supporting details, and closing sentence). While I did all the writing, he helped give me ideas for our descriptive writing.
Independent Writing Time
The next day, he did his own descriptive writing. I let him draw a picture of the object first, as he’s my little artist {he makes all the clip art for our K-2nd Poetry Packs.} Then, he used the template seen below to write his paragraph.
Do you have to use the template with your child? Absolutely not. Feel free to use any kind of paper your child needs to do his/her writing.
Are we finished with descriptive writing? Nope! There is more practice to be had and extensions to learning about descriptive writing. I have a fun idea up my sleeve for him using our Photo Stacking Blocks and am excited to share it soon.
Download our Descriptive Writing Graphic Organizer Pack HERE .
More writing activities for elementary kids.
- Adding Adjectives to Your Writing
- Simple Writing Lessons {12 weeks of writing lesson ideas for K-2nd grades}
- Writing Simple Sentences & Writing Silly Sentences
- Writing Longer Sentences
- How to Write a Friendly Letter
Enjoy! ~Becky
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December 15, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Non-fiction is hard for many kids, and that is mainly what they are tested on. Thanks for the great resource
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8 Graphic Organizers For Writing [Printable PDF Included]
Graphic organizers are ideal for writing ideas, drafting notes, and journaling. These organizers provide tools for writing down various stories, creating plans, and designing activities for children as well as organizations. These tools are well-planned and organized with the help of which you can motivate people to write stories, experience, and their learnings. We can discuss various topics and write significant ideas in the organizer. With written thoughts, it becomes easier to give a shape and form a storyline.
The best thing about the graphic organizer is that it can make people understand the concept and implement it in real life. For example, when it comes to telling a story, you can ask them what the story will be about, what they are doing, where they are, who they are, and many more things. This enhances critical thinking and they learn to convert thoughts into words, and this way, it will improve their writing skills and also enhance their vocabulary. This graphic organizer is ideal to boost writing skills for kids, employees, students, and adults.
Therefore, in this post, you will find different graphic organizers that can be used for different writing purposes forming the outline and giving shape to your thoughts!
Graphic organizer: Purpose & uses
A graphic organizer is the magic wand that can be used to engage yourself in different writing activities. It has several purposes, from the introduction of new concepts to revision of things, and also helps in keeping oneself occupied.
- The graphic organizer help in enhancing the vocabulary, learning new words, and crafting ideas post-reading.
- Teachers can use graphic organizers to create content on the topic they plan to teach in the class.
- The well-organized structure makes it easier to teach and makes your employees understand various parts of a task compiled into one organizer.
- A graphic organizer is useful for parents to engage their children in the writing process. For example, you can ask the child to write about a painting process on a hierarchy chart.
- Adults can also use this graphic organizer for drafting thoughts, journaling their day, forming schedules, and applying other mind mapping techniques.
Graphic organizers for writing
This PDF is a one-stop solution for adults, parents, and teachers looking for innovative ways to boost their writing skills. The organizer offers different charts and formats to systematically write stories, and events, and understand the way of writing.
1. Story Sequence Chart
Children and adults are more likely to remember a story than any other writing form. This graphic organizer is ideal to draft the entire story into structured writing. The graphic organizer provides containers wherein one can systematically make a note of any type of story.
- The chart provides containers in a process-like format to note the beginning of the story and what happens after that.
- One can keep writing the entire story and cover the important parts as per their understanding; since enough containers are given.
- Children can also note the minute details of the story.
- Adults involved in literature or literary arts can benefit through structured format to give shape to their content.
Writing important points of the story at first and forming it into a complete story, a story sequence chart can be a great option to opt for. Such a chart can be used for storytelling purposes also as after reading, one can recall and note important elements of it.
2. Story Elements Chart
A story contains various elements right from the beginning to the end. While individuals remember the information heard, they can recall and write important points to retain them. Also, while writing a new imaginative story, this graphic organizer can be used to make a note of the important points. The story elements chart is exceptionally designed with different containers for writing purposes.
- The containers – “setting” and “characters” allow children to understand the story’s central theme and characters, respectively.
- The container – “Topic and author” encourages them to write the author’s name along with the story’s title.
- Individuals can describe the plot in a detailed manner through another container provided for a plot.
- The chart also offers containers – “Problem” and “Solution” to make children recall the issue and draft the solution along with the moral if any.
This is an excellent way to write the entire story in a structured format. People can also develop innovative writing ideas and vocabulary. Such a chart encourages them to listen carefully and draft stories accordingly.
3. Biography Chart
A biography is a lengthy piece of information that requires careful reading skills. Adults and children involved in creating biographies can benefit from this excellent chart designed to provide an improved writing format. There is a huge difference between writing a story and writing the life of any famous personality. This chart is essential to understand major life events, achievements, and life span, etc.
- Several containers give basic writing practice for drafting points from a biography.
- A container is provided to note down the central name of the person to whom the biography belongs.
- Two separate tabs are given for the same person’s birth and death details.
- There are 3 spacious containers where students have to note different achievements of the person.
This sheet is excellent as kids can connect through different emotions of the personal biography directed at. A biography will give them a complete brief about writing skills, maintaining tone through writing, and communicating a story through well-designed containers.
4. KWL Chart
Individuals do not learn the information given to them in just one go! Just as humans cannot learn or understand the entire event with minute details, it is important to brainstorm ideas, structure them, and draft them into a systematic process. KWL Chart is a classic approach wherein one can note their understanding of a certain topic.
- The chart contains 3 containers – What I Know, What I want to Know, and What I Learned.
- Here, individuals can use this particular chart after reading comprehension, listening to a movie, watching an animated series, hearing live book readings, or learning with friends.
- Firstly, the individuals can write what they already know about the subject matter in the What I Know column. They may write about their pre-acquired understanding of the title
- In the What I want to know column, one can write about the other new techniques of the subject they wish to learn to ease the process of writing.
- The next step is to note down what individuals have learned from the task in the What I have Learned column. They can write about what they learned formulating letters, stories, comprehensions, books, novels, or any other form of writing.
Such a chart is excellent for improving writing skills along with thought processes. The more individuals think, the more likely they are to respond to different situations in a composed manner. When they know about the areas that need improvement, they can continue to put effort and achieve results.
When individuals are exposed to reading different stories, novels, and basic articles, they are more likely to grasp information about the world. The T-Chart is perfect for listing the pros and cons of a certain topic or comparing two different topics.
- The chart provides two different containers for listing the advantages and disadvantages of anything and making comparisons between two different topics.
- Adults can compare two different technologies, teaching methods, products, or even brand reviews in this chart.
In this activity, individuals can easily compare two different aspects by understanding the pros and cons. Adults can use the T-chart to list the advantages and disadvantages of purchased products or shopping experiences.
6. Hierarchy Chart
There are various stories and happenings in life that happen in different processes. Let’s say that individuals want to write about the experience of going on a trip or planning a birthday party. In such a case, everything cannot be noted simply into one container. The hierarchy chart is perfect for noting events according to their correct sequence.
- The very first container allows them to draft the central idea of the process. Let’s say that they are writing about how a cake is baked. In this container, they can write about the very first process of collecting necessary ingredients for baking a cake.
- In the second and third containers, they can segregate the ingredients. For example, they can write about merging the flour with eggs and cocoa powder in the second container. In the third container, they can write about melting chocolate in the microwave.
- The second container is connected to two more containers wherein children can write about what happens after the flour is mixed with eggs.
- They can describe the whisking process or the addition of whipped cream before the batter is put into the microwave.
- Similarly, the third container is linked to two more containers wherein they can describe the process of real baking of a cake. They can write about setting the microwave’s temperature or time limit.
Such an interesting hierarchy chart helps them understand the sequence of daily recurring events. They can also plan trips, examination approaches, timetables, and the entire day through a hierarchy chart. It also helps them prioritize tasks to be completed in the day’s time.
7. Star Diagram
No wonder individuals are exposed to various information in different genres. Today, they may be reading about a fable, and tomorrow they may be interested in findings of the universe. A star diagram is perfect for deciding on a central area and then discussing it from various points.
- This diagram provides a star shape at the center wherein individuals have to note the central theme or topic of their readings.
- Let’s say the central topic is – “Stars in space.”
- There are five containers attached to each edge of the star. These containers are essential for people to write their understanding of the topic.
- Let’s say they may write about how stars are formed, their colors, how humans can view them, the types of equipment used to view the stars, and the science behind them.
- It improves their imagination and knowledge and boosts critical thinking capabilities.
- Adults can also assess their understanding of their work, home decor, parenting, and lifestyle.
- The diagram is beneficial for organizations to evaluate employees, products, services, and clients across the workspace.
This star diagram is crucial when individuals are exposed to different subject matters. It allows them to explore their full capabilities and note down points that they remember and also understand in detail. Parents, employers, and teachers can also analyze if a certain point is missed or if the individual has not understood it in its complete sense.
8. Timeline Graphic Organizer
The timeline organizer can be used to mention the history of a company, understand the past marketing activities or draft a timeline of a new venture. The organizer can also be used to track employee performance or progress reports for students.
- The chart offers a zig-zag format attached with different 5 containers.
- Accordingly, individuals can create timelines and mention events with their years, descriptions, and additional comments.
- This timeline organizer can help describe each activity or event in detail with the given containers.
- Whether it is connecting with different clients or checking the growth of a particular task, the organizer is ideal to put different activities into slots.
Such an organizer helps understand the progress or history of any subject. Containers are spacious enough to mention timings, and additional comments, or even reuse them by erasing completed tasks.
How these can benefit?
When it comes to explaining the importance of writing, you need the correct resources and ways to do so. If you are looking for some fun ways to make your child engage in academics and enjoy the concept, then here are some ways in which you can use the graphic organizer.
1. Homeschoolers
Want to keep your kids connected to the different writing concepts? You need to have this organizer to develop multiple activities for them. It helps you keep in sync with what you will teach them and how. Also, with its help, you can develop creative ideas and teach them new styles that will improve their writing.
The graphic organizer is ideal for parents looking for different ways to teach writing. If you are looking for ways to make your child comprehend new things and enjoy the concepts, this PDF can help you gather ideas and shape them into innovative write-ups. You can also ask children to observe the entire day and write the happenings into a story format. Make it a test for them and reward them after completion.
3. Teachers
As a teacher, you might always be on your toes to make your kids understand the concepts you are trying to teach them. Before jumping into detailed writing, teachers can use the various charts to warm up students with writing exercises. This PDF can help you form a storyline and then tell them the things so that they can comprehend the same and apply it in real life. This is helpful to make kids write their trip experiences or journal about their day-to-day life.
4. Special Kids
This PDF can be the right option if you have a child with special needs. Due to a short attention span, keeping the kids with special needs connected to one thing is difficult. Graphic organizers tend to grab the attention and help them focus on what they’re writing. This will improve their writing and make them understand the process of converting thoughts into writing.
5. Organizations
Is something special coming into your organization? Take the help of this graphic organizer to involve employees in the brainstorming process. The graphic organizer is perfect to note the pros and cons of a certain event, discussing product launches, forming a marketing story for advertisement, or warming up new employees with brain break activities. You can involve the entire office in fun activities while encouraging ideas and suggestions openly.
When individuals can relate to and understand the tasks that they are doing, it will boost their confidence and also give a push to improve writing skills. Individuals who can convert their ideas into writing can also start journaling their thoughts. The graphic organizer also supports adults and parents willing to offer extra activities to children during their playtime learning.
Since visual learning is one of the key elements of education and skill-building, this graphic organizer forms an easy link to attract adults toward writing. It would make it easy for them to comprehend the important bits and encourage the thinking process.
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Descriptive Writing Lesson | Student Practice Worksheet Plan your writing Fill out the following graphic organizer designed to help you plan your descriptive essay. Step 1: Pick a Place What space is important to you? Think about what spaces you care about. Choose a space that is meaningful to you.
Descriptive Essay Graphic Organizer School Cafeteria PDF version by TEACH CHEAP 3.0 (1) FREE PDF Can be used daily to practice generation of writing ideas, writing process, main idea and details, reading comprehension, summarizing, and critical thinking. Subjects: English Language Arts Grades: 4th - 12th, Higher Education, Adult Education Types:
Graphic organizers can help you: Save time by showing you where each piece of the essay “lives.” Have more productive brainstorming sessions, either by yourself or with a group. Make connections between ideas and create a more cohesive argument. Pinpoint holes in your arguments and either adjust the thesis or find supporting statements.
Use this graphic organizer to help students develop a list of people, places and things to write about. All of these topics will provide excellent opportunities for descriptive writing. Lead a discussion with your students about different topics that are especially likely to have a lot of sensory details present.
This graphic organizer is a great tool to get students organizing their ideas before asking them to formulate a paragraph. The descriptive writing organizer has students use their senses to come up with 'juicy adjectives' to help describe the item they are writing about.
The online production software uses four simple steps to generate a graphic organizer for essays. Step 1 - Head on to EdrawMax Online or download EdrawMax. Make an account and log in to it. Step 2 - Once inside, you can start creating the graphic organizer on a blank edit sheet or readymade essay organizers, such as mindmaps and spider maps.
There is more practice to be had and extensions to learning about descriptive writing. I have a fun idea up my sleeve for him using our Photo Stacking Blocks and am excited to share it soon. Download our Descriptive Writing Graphic Organizer Pack HERE. More Writing Activities for Elementary Kids Adding Adjectives to Your Writing
Graphic organizers for writing. This PDF is a one-stop solution for adults, parents, and teachers looking for innovative ways to boost their writing skills. The organizer offers different charts and formats to systematically write stories, and events, and understand the way of writing. 1. Story Sequence Chart.
Descriptive Essay Graphic Organizer. Write Main Topic Here . What exactly will your paper describe? Imagery - Select 4. Complete all five below. Your essay must have . four out of the five. in the final draft. Sight Imagery Example: 1b. List all adjectives 1c. Replace two adjectives with a more interesting word. Sound Imagery Example: 2b. List ...