SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF OR WRITING STUDIO STAFF ABOUT YOUR PAPER

ORGANIZATION
Does the thesis assert & defend an idea and offer a strong, clear statement of a manageable topic? Is the introduction interesting or attention-grabbing? Does the paper contain a definitive beginning, middle, and end? Is paragraphing logical? Does the papers conclusion rephrase the thesis and unify the entire message of the paper?

DEVELOPMENT

Does the paper meet the assignments requirements (e.g., length, mode)? Are topic sentences obvious and well supported? Do arguments stay on-topic and correspond with the details of the thesis? Is supporting evidence or details for arguments well-thought-out and/or researched? Do ideas move beyond generalizations and instead focus on particulars, such as illustrations, statistics, or supporting research (i.e., concrete writing)? If required, are the counterpoints to arguments addressed and refuted? Do paragraph conclusions conform to the paragraphs topic sentence or provide a meaningful ending? Does the paragraph conclusion avoid just trailing off?

TRANSITIONS

Does the paper contain strong use of transitions and connections between sentences and paragraphs? Does the paper makes strong use of logical phrasing to move the reader easily from one place to the next?

DICTION

Are words, phrases, and idioms correctly spelled and properly applied? Does the paper avoid wordiness?

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QUESTIONS TO ASK - 1

DICTION
(CONTD)

Do words vary in use, avoiding placement of the same words or root words closely together for no rhetorical effect? Is the paper written in the point of view (i.e., 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person) required by the assignment? Does the paper contain any contractions, informal language, jargon, or slang? Does the paper contain unbiased, gender-neutral language? Are sentences concise yet varying in length and type (i.e. simple, compound, compound-complex) to avoid choppiness?

CLARITY & CONCISENESS

Are coordination and subordination used satisfactorily throughout the paper (e.g., For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So -- FANBOYS)? Are words, phrases, and clauses parallel (e.g., walking, jumping, skipping; NOT walking, to jump, skipping)? Does the paper exclude non-essential items (e.g., there is/there are; it is/it was; it appears/seems)? Does the paper mostly use active voice (i.e., The boy ate dinner) and sparingly use passive voice (i.e., Dinner was eaten by the boy)? Do parts of speech agree (e.g., subjects and verbs, nouns and pronouns)? Does a noun appear after the pronouns this, that, these, those? Does the author use proper tense (i.e., present, past, future) throughout? Does the paper avoid fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences? Does the paper contain proper use of end and internal punctuation, capitals, italics, underlining, abbreviations, hyphens, and numbers?

GRAMMAR & MECHANICS

PRESENTATION CITATION

Do indentation, headings, spacing, page numbers, etc. look professional and meet MLA/APA standards?

Does the paper include, introduce, and document credible sources, using in-text citations and a bibliography according to MLA/APA standards?

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QUESTIONS TO ASK - 2