CHECKLIST FOR PROOFREADING YOUR ESSAYS
1. Assignment Criteria
Does your essay meet the constraints of the assignment?
Does your essay meet the criteria in the grading rubric for the grade you expect to achieve?
2. Essay Structure
Rewrite your thesis sentence here. (Provide a clear thesis. If you can’t find it, I probably won’t either.)
Identify the topic sentence for each of your paragraphs.
(Develop one clear assertion in each paragraph.)
Does each topic sentence support your thesis?
In each main body paragraph, does every sentence support the topic sentence?
Does each main body paragraph follow the 3 Ied Monster structure (Identification, Illustration, Interpretation)?
Did you look at every comma and ask yourself whether it is used correctly?
Do you have any run-on sentences?
Do you have any sentence fragments?
Have you checked your spelling (not just hit spell check on your computer)?
Do all your subjects agree with the verbs they are used with?
Do all your pronouns agree with their antecedents?
Have you used the present tense, as you should do in a literary essay?
Have you used active voice rather than passive voice?
Is your title engaging?
Are generalizations supported by concrete details, especially by brief quotations from the text?
If there is any summary, is it as brief as possible, given its purpose?
Have you cited all your sources to avoid plagiarism?
Did you read the essay aloud to yourself?
Did you make an appointment to show it to a tutor in the Writing Center?
Date:_______________ Time:_____________
TUTOR NAME: ________________________________
Did you ask your professor to answer all your questions about this essay?
How: E-mail Office Hours Visit By Appointment
In class After class By Phone
Do you feel you gave this assignment the amount of time necessary to earn the grade you expect?
Total amount of time spent on this assignment:
___________________