Read through the assignment sheet. It will include requirements a general checklist can’t anticipate, and may even ask you to do something different. Highlight specific instructions and create a task-specific checklist.

Make a reverse outline of your draft in order to get a better sense of its structure: what is each paragraph saying (content) and doing (how is it serving your purpose or argument)?

Introduction 

• Grabs the reader’s attention and creates interest 

• Briefly describes the topic and includes my thesis statement

• Provides a guide for the ideas being covered—a map of support

Thesis Statement

• Is neither too broad nor too narrow 

• Could be argued against

• Is specific to the content of the essay

• Is an original argument

• Is significant to my readers/the field/the world

Body Paragraphs

• Each focuses on a different point of my argument

• Each has a topic sentence

• Support points with examples 

• Introduce and explain new terms and ideas

• Each links to the next with a transition

• Move from general to specific, creating a logical progression 

Conclusion

• Refers back to the thesis

• Summarizes my important points

• Offers a sense of closure

• Hints at the larger implications of my argument

Create your bibliography and citations as you collect sources, not as a last step.

Quotes, Paraphrases, and Summaries of Sources 

• Are framed with context 

• Formatted correctly, including punctuation and a consistent style (Chicago, MLA, APA)

• Explained, including their significance to my argument 

Check the assignment sheet and syllabus for the professor’s guidelines first. 

If No Given Guidelines

• Consistent and readable

• Leaves space for notes and feedback

• Includes my name and the name of the course/section

Consider readers beyond your professor and classmates. Look to writing you enjoy and admire as models. 

Vocabulary

• Is clear and precise

• Uses key words consistently

• Is otherwise varied to avoid repetition

Voice

• Relates to my audience appropriately

• Represents my voice (instead of the voice of my sources)

• Creates rhythm and “flow” by varying sentence length

Always run spell check on a final draft. Read your paper out loud to gauge the flow of the paper and to catch errors. Read your paper backward, one sentence at a time, so you don’t get caught up in the ideas.

Word Choice/Form

• Chooses the correct homophones (ex. too, two, to)

• Includes vocabulary you’re familiar with—both meaning and grammatical use

• Gives singular and plural nouns the correct endings

Sentence Structure

• Is free of run-ons and fragments 

• Uses punctuation purposefully (commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, etc.)

Agreement/Consistency

• Includes subject-verb agreement 

• Keeps tense consistent and appropriate to the content 

• Puts the correct definite or indefinite articles before nouns