The DNA template strand is read 3 ' â ' 5 ' direction by RNA polymerase and the new RNA strand is synthesized in the 5 ' â ' 3 ' direction . Although RNA polymerase traverses the template strand from 3 ' â ' 5 ' , the coding ( non-template ) strand and newly-formed RNA can also be used as reference points , so transcription can be described as occurring 5 ' â ' 3 ' .