The CEIT Paradigm for Nonfiction Writing

In non-fiction writing, there are only four basic “moves” a writer can make. An acronym to help student writers remember them is CEIT, for claim, explain, illustrate, and tie-back. Teaching students the CEIT method for writing non-fiction texts gives students the ability to construct coherent and well-supported paragraphs and essays. Once students become adept with the CEIT paradigm, they can choose which features to use and which to leave out. How much explanation is needed? How many examples are necessary? Does each illustration need to be analyzed or is the connection between the evidence and the claim obvious enough? These are questions more adept writers can answer once they become proficient and confident writers by following the CEIT “moves.” This presentation will thoroughly explain the CEIT paradigm and use student examples to show how it applies to paragraph construction and to both simpler and more complex essays.