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Richard.Jewell.net |
CollegeWriting.info
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CollegeWriting.info |
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General Revision Checklist (Same List for All Chapters) |
You may use
this section as a checklist to help you revise your papers for grading (or for
professional use). To use it, simply go through the lists below, and check
off each number as you have completed it. You may complete the numbers and
sections in any order you want. However, you may want to complete larger,
more general revisions first so that if you change parts, you don't need to
re-edit them afterward.
Also remember that specific requirements may change from instructor to instructor, from discipline to discipline, and from professional job to professional job. Be sure you understand the instructor's or employer's wishes and requirements.
In addition, it may be helpful to remember that for most people, the best
results come from breaking revision and editing into a series of small steps, as
below, and doing each step fully before moving on to the next. Then your
mind is fully on the smaller task at hand, and you do not have to try to
remember dozens of revising needs each time you look at a new sentence.
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A. Contents of Your Paper |
1. Introduction: Does your introduction state your subject; your main argument or purpose; and your own idea, method, or theory for analyzing it? If your subject is a reading, have you included sources (author, article title, and source of article)? If you must write a well developed introduction, does it have some of your best detail in it--a quotation, fact, or story, possibly your best in the whole paper?
2. Summary: If a summary section is required, do you have the correct length? If required, is it part of the same paragraph as (or a separate paragraph in) your introduction? Does your summary briefly, fairly, and accurately summarize all of the important points of the subject as if the summary were a smaller mirror image of the subject? If your summary is supposed to be of a main reading to which you are responding, have you described the author's points in a completely fair, balanced, objective manner? If your summary is supposed to be of your own paper, have you summarized your main point and all the main parts of your paper simply and efficiently?
3. Body Sections: Do you have the required number of body sections? If your instructor doesn't specify the number, do you have at least three sections? If he or she wants you to make a series of points, do you have at least five to seven sections? Does each section have a thorough development of its ideas and supports? Are your ideas clear to the kinds of readers you would expect to have, beyond your instructor? If you are responding to a reading, do you frequently state the author's name and offer his or her idea, so the reader knows what the author is saying, before you then present your own idea?
4. Supports/Proofs: Do you have adequate supports for—proof of—your main ideas? Do ideas and supporting details connect clearly and logically? If you are writing arguments, do you have a clear argumentative structure (the most simple of which is to offer an idea or opinion and then several reasons why it is true)? If you are responding to a reading, do you frequently offer direct quotations from the author? Do you then offer a strong number of supporting details (see "5" below)?
5. Supporting Details: Do your body sections have sufficient details of the kinds your instructor expects? If your introduction and conclusion are supposed to be well developed, do they also have good details--usually your most interesting or applicable in the whole paper? If your details should be descriptive, are you sufficiently specific? Do you use such detail-enhancing devices as the five W's of journalism, the five senses, and dialogue or interviews? If your details should be researched sources, do you use enough quotations and/or paraphrases to support your ideas well? Do you "sandwich" your quotations: do you adequately introduce and conclude them by explaining what they mean in relation to your paper and how they connect to your other ideas in that paragraph or section?
6. Conclusion: Does your conclusion briefly refer again to your subject, your main argument or purpose, and your own method of analyzing? Does it offer your own final opinion or evaluation of the subject? If you must write a well developed conclusion, does it have some of your best detail in it--a quotation, fact, or story, possibly your second best in the whole paper?
7. Style and Tone: Are your choice of words and phrases, their rhythm, and the emotional feeling they establish appropriate for a typical audience for this kind of paper?
8. Reading Out Loud: Have you read your final draft out loud to a listener (or to yourself) to see if your ideas are sensible and clear without the need to read something twice or further explain? When you read out loud, do the tone and style sound appropriate?
9. Asking Someone Else to Read: Have you asked someone else to read your final draft silently? Do your ideas, meanings, and organization work as well for your silent reader as they do for you or as they did when you read the paper out loud? What are this silent reader’s constructive suggestions?
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B. Organization |
1. Title: Do you have an original title that is a word or brief phrase?
2. Introduction: Do you have a short (one-paragraph) introduction? Does it need an underlined subtitle?
3. Summary: If required, do you have a summary contained in one paragraph of more than 100 words? Does it need a subtitle?
4. Body Sections: Do you have the required number of body sections? Does each have more than one paragraph? Do your body sections need subtitles?
5. Topic Sentences: Do you have a topic sentence at the beginning of each body section? Is it a sentence that summarizes or describes the purpose of the entire body section, not just that of the first paragraph?
6. Conclusion: Do you have a short (one-paragraph) conclusion? Does it need a subtitle?
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C. Paragraphs and Sentences |
1. Paragraph Size and Number: Are there sufficient paragraphs (more than one per body section) to make your ideas easy to read? Is each paragraph neither too short (generally, you need at least two sentences) nor too long (you should have no more than 150-200 words in most short papers)? Do you vary the lengths of your paragraphs to create greater reader attention? Do you avoid having too many short paragraphs?
2. Paragraph Development: Does each longer paragraph have a mini-introduction—a sentence or two clarifying or announcing what the paragraph is about? Does the logic flow from general idea and explanation at the paragraph's beginning, to particular detail and/or example in the latter part of the paragraph? Do most longer paragraphs each have a sentence or two in the end offering a summary, result, or conclusion? Do you occasionally connect longer paragraphs with short ones to increase reader attention?
3. Sentence Structure: Is each sentence structured correctly without comma splices (comma faults), fuses, or fragments? Do you use long, introductory phrases sparingly and avoid over- complex sentence constructions that might leave many readers confused?
4. Sentence Length: Do you use a reasonable number of long sentences and mix them with those average and short in length? Do you avoid a large number of short sentences-- thus creating a choppy reading experience--by combining some shorter ones with those before or after them?
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D. Editing (Small Stuff) |
1. Editing Backward: Have you edited your paper backward, sentence by sentence, to help you lose awareness of content and better focus on grammar, spelling, and punctuation?
2. Spelling: Have you used spell check? Have you read your paper backward out loud, sentence by sentence, to discover misplaced words, incorrect tenses, and other common spelling and word-choice problems? Have you checked your paper backward for incorrect words that spell check will not highlight: for example, misspellings like "to" instead of "too" and editing problems like "I am going to town" instead of "I goes to town"?
3. Punctuation: Have you checked your paper backward using a punctuation guide to help you correct common punctuation errors?
4. Quotations: Have you punctuated each quotation correctly? Have you introduced most quotations with last names of authors, or with titles, as recommended in both MLA and APA styles (or as appropriate in the style you are using)? Have you placed the author’s last name before or after each quotation, and the page number after in parentheses?
5. Paraphrases: Have you given credit for every idea belonging to a specific author? Do your paraphrases use your own words almost exclusively without quotation marks? Have you provided each author’s last name before or after, and each page number after, much as you would if quoting? (Note: MLA paraphrases usually are introduced with a name or title, as are quotations. However, APA paraphrases usually have no name or title before them and place the author’s name after.)
6. Bibliography: Have you used a handbook (not just a sample paper) to correctly space, indent, and order the entries and their contents on a separate bibliography page called "Works Cited" (MLA) or "References" (APA) (or according to whatever system you have chosen to use)?
7. Typing: Have you double-spaced with page numbers and the required margins (if your instructor does not specify size, use 1")? Are you using 12-point type that is dark and easily read? Do you have a title (or title page, if required)? Is your bibliography on a separate page?
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