P Do the ideas in your thesis match the material in your topic sentences?
P
Does the
order of ideas in your thesis reflect the order of your paragraphs?
P
Do new
ideas build on previous material? Are
related ideas next to each other?
P
Do your
topic sentences reflect the main ideas of the paragraphs?
P
Do you
have effective transitions between all of your paragraphs?
P
Do you
tie your examples into your main ideas?
P
Do you
explain how your paraphrases and quotations support your claims?
P
Are your
examples, paraphrases, and quotations all relevant to your main ideas?
P
Are your
paraphrases and quotations accurate? Are
you citing correctly?
P
Is your
sentence structure emphasizing the material you consider most important?
P
Are your
word choices as specific and accurate as you can make them?
P
Are you
using first, second, or third person consistently? (Second person is usually not
acceptable in formal papers.)
P
Do your
nouns, verbs, and pronouns match in tense (past, present, future), number
(singular or plural), and reference (which noun the verb or pronoun is
actually referring back to)?
P
Are you
punctuating correctly?
•
Semicolons need a complete sentence on each side.
•
Colons have a complete sentence before and a list or explanation after.
•
Commas cannot combine two complete sentences without a
conjunction (and, but, or, etc.)
P Have you read your paper out loud to catch mistakes that you might have missed otherwise?
