Writing Checklist

Subject Matter

Purpose

• Is your purpose apparent to the reader?
• Is your purpose fulfilled?

Thesis

• Is your thesis stated in one sentence?
• Is it stated in the introduction?

Meaning

• Are your statements always accurate?
• Are your statements always logical?
• Are there enough concrete examples to illustrate your meaning?
• Are there enough illustrations, facts, and reasons to adequately support your thesis?

Organization

Pattern

• What scheme controls the order of your paper?
  • chronology
  • cause & effect
  • comparison & contrast
  • relative importance of examples
  • other
• Why did you choose one pattern or combination of patterns rather than another?

Coherence

• Is it always clear how you progress from one thought to another?
• Is the relationship of each paragraph to the thesis apparent?
• Is your thesis evident throughout the paper?

Paragraphs

• Does each paragraph have a topic sentence?
• Does each paragraph have a transition?
• Is each paragraph fully developed, unified, and coherent?

Conclusion

• Does your conclusion truly end the paper?
• Does the conclusion emphasize your thesis?

Style

Sentences

• Do you vary your sentence structure and sentence length effectively?
• Do you vary sentence openings effectively?
• Do you employ an occasional short sentence to emphasize an important point?

Diction

• Is your word choice consistently appropriate to the subject, to the audience, and to the tone you have adopted for the essay?
• Is there any word which could be replaced by a more precise term?
• Is your writing enlivened by any unusual word choices or any striking, but appropriate, figures?
• Can you say it more clearly?
• Can you say it more briefly?
• Have you proofread carefully?