Writing Center Tutorial - Writing a Paper

Revision Assessment

Below are some questions to help you find out where you need to focus your revision efforts. These questions also display all the areas a writer should address when engaging in the revision process.

Content

It's good to start with content first, in order to make sure you're getting your point across clearly and completely enough.

• Does your thesis (and essay on the whole) meet the assignment's guidelines?
• Is there a difference between your topic and your thesis? (i.e. topic: Sense of Place, thesis: Understanding the cultural value of a community's natural surroundings is essential in the process of creating a sense of place.)
• Would someone who knows nothing of your topic understand your point?
• Is your tone appropriate?
• Are you providing examples?
• Do your examples apply to your thesis?
• Are there unnecessary words? Sometimes meaning is lost when there are too many words used. See if you can drop excess words from each sentence. When an instructor makes the comment "awkward next to a sentence, it is usually because the sentence is "muddied" with verbose language.
• Are there any points in your paper where you have been vague?
• Have you wandered from your point?
• Are there gaps of logic between sentences and/or paragraphs? Have you failed to include essential information or transitions between major points?

Organization & Structure

• Does your paper resemble an hourglass -- beginning with a broad perspective, narrowing into your thesis, narrowing further for your body paragraphs, and then broadening back out to the big picture in your conclusion?
• Does your paper flow naturally from paragraph to paragraph? Does your paper unfold in a logical fashion or do your major points seem out of order?
• If you have listed major points in your introduction, do you follow that same pattern in your body paragraphs?
• Do each of your body paragraphs direct the reader back to your thesis?
• Does each body paragraph pertain to a singular topic or point, or are there multiple points in one paragraph?
• Are your paragraphs too long or too short? The average paragraph is roughly between 4-8 sentences. If your paragraph is a page long or more, you can probably break it down into two separate paragraphs.
• Does your conclusion relate to your introduction without regurgitating the same information?

Grammar & Mechanics

This area of revision is often less time consuming than content and reorganization because concrete rules apply to most grammatical/mechanical errors. Use your handbook, The College Writer's Reference for College Writing, or come to the Writing Lab; we have many excellent handouts regarding the principles of grammar.

• Do your subjects and verbs agree? (Hint: Ignore everything between the subject and verb. Does it make sense?)
• Are you using verb tense in a consistent way?
• Have you punctuated correctly?
• Do you have any comma splices (two complete sentences fused together with only a comma)?
• Do you have any fragments (incomplete sentences)? Hint: If a sentence needs the previous or following sentence to make sense, it is often fragment that should be attached to the previous or following sentence with a comma.)

Proofreading & Fine Tuning

This step should NOT be neglected. When instructors become distracted by lack of proofreading in an essay, they will usually mark points off. Proofreading errors like typos and misspelled words will distract the reader's attention away from what the author is trying to say. Are all your words spelled correctly? (Hint: Remember your spell check will not catch words that sound the same yet have different spellings and meanings i.e. they're/their/there, affect/effect, hear/ here.)

• Have you cited sources in proper form for any quotations you used?
• Have you read your paper aloud? Reading out loud will slow you down making it easier to catch subtle errors like verb tense, fused sentences, or missing commas.
• Do you have any typos?