Writing Center Tutorial - Preparing a Portfolio

Checklist for Revising your Essay

Content questions:

• Do you have a specific thesis?
• Does your thesis match your paper?
• Do you have topic sentences for each paragraph that relate to the thesis?
• Are you providing examples and analyzing them in each paragraph?
• Does your paper flow from paragraph to paragraph or do you need transition sentences?
• Are there any points in your paper where you have been vague?
• Have you wandered off your point?
• Do you use an appropriate tone (i.e. avoid slang, jargon, euphemisms, and clichés)?
• Do you have an introduction?
• Do you have a conclusion?

Editing Questions:

• Do your subjects and verbs agree?
• Are you using verb tense in a consistent way? Do you talk about articles in the present tense?
• Have you used active voice?
• Have you punctuated correctly? Appropriate comma usage? No fragments?
• Do you use the possessive when necessary? Keep an eye out for words that sound the same but are spelled differently - your computer's spell check will not catch them - words such as: theyre/there/their, affect/effect, through/thru, hear/here, etc.
• Do you have any ambiguous or unclear antecedents?
• Have you cited sources in proper form for any quotations you used or paraprhasing you did?
• Do you have an appropriately formatted Works Cited page?

Proofing questions:

• Read your paper aloud. It should help you catch awkward sentences.
• Spell check.
• Do you have any typos?
• Do you have a title?