After you have finished writing your paper, let it rest for a period of time. Then go back to it and check out the following:

□ The draft carries out the assignment.

□ The draft meets every requirement of the assignment. (Consider both content and style.)

Audience

□ The draft is clearly geared toward my audience; anyone reading this could tell for whom it was written.

□  The arguments are appropriate for the audience.

□ The draft captures the interest of my audience and will appeal to my intended readers.

□  The language, tone, and argument are appropriate to the audience and the type of paper.

Title & Introduction

□  The title accurately tells the reader what the paper is about. 

□  The title and introduction catch the reader’s attention.

□  The introduction has a thesis which makes the main argument or topic clear.

□  The thesis is unified, arguable, and specific. I could fill in the following blank, "In this paper, I will . . .”

□  The draft fulfills the contract made in the introduction and supports the thesis. 

□  The draft sticks to the argument throughout the paper.

□  There are reasons to support every component of the thesis.

□  Every reason is supported by facts, testimony, logic, examples, or other material.

□  The main points are all relevant to the thesis.

□ The main points come in clear order, such as least to most important, chronological, or logical.

Paragraphs

□  Every paragraph is fully developed; the reader will not be left with questions.

□  No paragraph is so long that it will tire the reader. Breaks are made in logical places.

□ Paragraphs are logically related to one another.

□  Transitions tie paragraphs into a coherent whole.

□  Sentences are varied in length, structure, and type.

□  The sentence structure makes an effectively transition between ideas.

□  Topic sentences clearly introduce the subject(s) addressed in each paragraph? (It may be helpful to limit yourself to one point per paragraph, or identify groups of paragraphs that create a unit which develops one point.)

□  I have indentfied, and then revised or cut, weak sentences—they may be confusing, awkward, or uninspired.

□  All words that may be technical or unfamiliar to the audience are clearly defined.

□  Verbs are active and vivid.

□  The language is clear and simple, not pompous or pretentious.

□  No words are potentially offensive, either to my intended audience or anyone else.

□ I have avoided padding with unnecessary wordy or phrases. The required word count is not what determines the length.

□ The draft meet the assignment’s format guidelines, as outlined by my instructor. (I re-checked the assignment sheet to be sure.)

□  The draft has page numbers, as required.

□  The instructor's name is spelled correctly, and the course and section number are correct.

□  I am using the required documentation style.

Conclusion

□  The conclusion is more than just a restatement of the introduction.

□  The draft concludes in a memorable way that emphasizes your thesis, rather than just abruptly stoping or trailing off.

Once the draft is revised, you still have one more task: look for typing or printing errors. Spelling and grammar checkers miss many errors, so read aloud, very slowly, from a print out.  

Capossela, Toni. Lee. The Harcourt Brace Guide to Peer Tutoring. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. 12.

Connors, Robert and Cheryl Glenn. The New St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 1999. 51-2.