ENG4U Essay Writing

Essay Editing Checklist

Grammar
 I read my essay aloud to see where stop or pause for periods, question marks, exclamation
marks, and commas are needed
 Quotation marks are included where needed
 I checked for capitals at the beginning of sentences
 Proper nouns all begin with capital letters
 My sentences are complete thoughts
 I don’t have any run-on sentences
 I checked spelling and fixed the words that didn’t look right

Tone
 I have no personal pronouns in my essay
 I did not use any contractions in my sentences
 My sentences do not use any slang

Essay Structure
 My introduction paragraph ends with my thesis statement
 I begin my paragraph with a general statement to introduce the topic
 I do not start proving my points in the introduction

 My body paragraphs all have topic sentences that introduces the argument in that
paragraph
 At least two proofs for my arguments are included per body paragraph
 My body paragraphs all have concluding sentences that wrap up the argument and
connect back to the thesis statement
 All of my major points are connected to one another, and related to the thesis

 My conclusion paragraph restates the thesis statement

 The arguments from the essay are restated
 No new information is included in the paragraph
 I have included a ‘so what’ or something for the reader to take away from the essay

Page Setup
  I have double spaced by essay
 I have used 12-point font in Times New Roman or Calibri
 I have set the top of my page up according to MLA format and given my essay a title

MLA Citation
 I have cited all the secondary sources that I used in the essay with intext citations
 All the sources that I have used are credible – not Wikipedia
 All titles of novels, movies etc. are in italics
 I have included all secondary sources in a Works Citied page at the end of my essay
 My Works Citied page is listed in alphabetical order