There are two major categories of writing, expository and creative. Expository writing includes descriptive writing (description, report, taking notes, outline, exposition, summary, letter, diary, telegram, and minutes) and argumentative writing (argumentation, essay, and comment). Creative writing includes poem, narration, tale, slogan, decalogue, proverb, epitaph, joke, funny story, gag, and dialogue. There are three major categories of skills required in writing: base skills, argumentative skills, and creative skills. Base skills include expressing oneself, sequentializing, synthesizing, explaining and defining, gathering documentary evidence, and comparing and classifying. Argumentative skills include determining cause and effect relationships, defending each thesis or statement, and selecting specific text structures. Creative skills include inventing, using indirect language, and making associations. A curriculum in teaching writing should include several writing modes, particularly the major ones since they develop the fundamental writing skills, and should introduce the modes in progressive order according to their complexity. (A graph showing the complex relationships between the writing modes and skills required for them is included.) (JL)