Introduction:

1. Does your argument start with the debate between good and evil?
2. Do you have a thesis that supports your three topic sentences within the
body paragraphs?
3. Is your thesis to the point: in one sentence at the bottom of your first
paragraph?
4. Is your introduction concise: do you avoid words such as: you, they, me, I,
and that?

MAJOR ORGANIZATIONAL SENTENCES

5. Reread your thesis statement: is it clear?
a. Does it utilize parallel structure?
b. Look at your Topic Sentences. Do they each clearly state your
reason without giving examples or details?
c. Now look at each of your topic sentences: are they aligned with
your thesis?

What goes in the body paragraph:

After your topic sentence do you follow this model:
introduce the philosophical belief of author # 1 (this will lead into your evidence)
+ evidence supporting authors phil. belief (as it relates to your topic sentence--this
could be a phrase quote and or paraphrase with parenthetical citation + summary of
ideas (means) + analysis to what extent this shows good or evil (matters) +
connection to scientific data (bystander, mob mentality, Hobbes versus Locke, etc.) +
an understanding of the how the scientific data relates to your topic sentence
and to what extent humans are good or evil (please make sure this information is
written in your own words--means) + how does the scientific data support your
belief in good or evil + transition into your second authors philosophical belief
(this could include a historical, anecdotal, and or real world piece of evidence with
parenthetical citation) + summary of ideas (means) + analysis to what extent this
shows good or evil (matters) + a tie into how it relates to the data + your
concluding sentence which will resolve the issue of good versus evil.

WRITING STYLE
6. REMOVE all crutches and see how much true analysis is left behind!
Maybe youll realize that you need to add in more analysis...
7. Push yourself to go deeper in your analysis and show the best writing youre
capable of. :-)

EDITING
1. Proper formatting: Make sure you filled
out the heading, header, and title. Then
highlight all the text and double check that it is
double spaced, and uses 12 point, scholarly
font, that isnt bold or underlined
ANYWHERE (even your title).
2. Delete any irrelevant citations on the
Works Cited page (if you havent already done so)
3. Highlight all the text in your essay and click on Tools, then click Spelling.
Make any changes that are correct by looking carefully at each suggestion.
4. ctrl + f= I, you, your, youre, we, our, us, change it to one, ones,
humans people
5. no contractions (dont do not) (ctrl+f apostrophe)
6. Make sure all titles are correctly punctuated (short stories get quotation
marks and novels are italicized)
7. Check that each sentence starts with a capital letter, all pronoun Is are
capitalized and all proper nouns and beginnings of quotations are capitalized.
8. Verb tenses need to all be in present tense. Ex: Mrs. Jones expresses,
____
9. Did you give credit to the correct person who is saying a quote? Is it really
the author saying it, or is it the narrator or a character?
10.
Speaking of says, did you use a variety of verbs instead of says all
the time? Click here for some suggestions (just change to present tense)
11.
Check that you have commas when you have any complex sentences
or lists of things. Commas do NOT separate sentences! That causes a Comma
Splice!
12.
Read your essay out loud from
beginning to end to hear any mistakes youve missed.
Especially be on the look out for Comma Splices,
Sentence Fragments, and Run-On Sentences
(CS, SF, ROS) which were your biggest areas of
mistakes in your last paper!

13.
Improve word choice with the Thesaurus Add-on tool. Do this in a
way that helps you say things in a more specific way. Do not just pick
complicated words to sound more sophisticated. Pick more specific words.