1. Is my paper 23 lines, double spaced, and written in 12 point font/Times New Roman?
2. Is my paper's header properly formatted? ( Include date (upper left), 4 digit # (center), and period (upper right)
3. Do I have an original and creative title? Does the title grab my reader's attention?
4. Is my paper broken into paragraphs? Is each paragraph properly indented? (Note: Avoid extra spaces between paragraphs.)
5. Is my thesis clear and arguable?
6.. Do I offer appropriate evidence and examples to support my thesis? (This could be textual evidence.)
7. Do I offer commentary after my evidence and/or example? The commentary should make a connection back to the thesis. How does this evidence or example support what I am saying?
8. Do I have a concluding paragraph? Does my concluding paragraph restate my thesis and wrap up my main points?
9. Avoid (or limit) usage of personal pronouns. (Ex. I, me, my, you, your, we, us, etc.)
10. Forbidden words - good, bad, great, super, nice, things, stuff, basically, even, just, well, person, people, a lot, ain't, alright, anyways, could of, should of, would of, get, do, make, gonna, wanna, kinda, kind of, like, okay, pretty, real, really, sorta, sort of, use to, this, that, these. (Note: you may use this, that, or these only when used as a adjective. Example: This book...) Also minimize the number of linking verbs in your paper. Make them action verbs.
11. Contractions (Spell out all contractions)
12. Check for pronoun agreement errors and subject verb agreement errors.
13. Never end a sentence with a preposition.
14. Do not start a sentence with the same word more than two times in a paragraph.
15. Do not start a sentence with the word there.
16. Do not use abbreviations or slang. Spell out all abbreviations.
17. Write out numbers less than 100. (Exception = Dates).
18. Be sure your paper is free of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors.
Self-Editing Checklist
1. Is my paper 23 lines, double spaced, and written in 12 point font/Times New Roman?
2. Is my paper's header properly formatted? ( Include date (upper left), 4 digit # (center), and period (upper right)
3. Do I have an original and creative title? Does the title grab my reader's attention?
4. Is my paper broken into paragraphs? Is each paragraph properly indented? (Note: Avoid extra spaces between paragraphs.)
5. Is my thesis clear and arguable?
6.. Do I offer appropriate evidence and examples to support my thesis? (This could be textual evidence.)
7. Do I offer commentary after my evidence and/or example? The commentary should make a connection back to the thesis. How does this evidence or example support what I am saying?
8. Do I have a concluding paragraph? Does my concluding paragraph restate my thesis and wrap up my main points?
9. Avoid (or limit) usage of personal pronouns. (Ex. I, me, my, you, your, we, us, etc.)
10. Forbidden words - good, bad, great, super, nice, things, stuff, basically, even, just, well, person, people, a lot, ain't, alright, anyways, could of, should of, would of, get, do, make, gonna, wanna, kinda, kind of, like, okay, pretty, real, really, sorta, sort of, use to, this, that, these. (Note: you may use this, that, or these only when used as a adjective. Example: This book...) Also minimize the number of linking verbs in your paper. Make them action verbs.
11. Contractions (Spell out all contractions)
12. Check for pronoun agreement errors and subject verb agreement errors.
13. Never end a sentence with a preposition.
14. Do not start a sentence with the same word more than two times in a paragraph.
15. Do not start a sentence with the word there.
16. Do not use abbreviations or slang. Spell out all abbreviations.
17. Write out numbers less than 100. (Exception = Dates).
18. Be sure your paper is free of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors.
19. Do not use exclamation marks in your paper.
20. Be sure your paper is focused and organized.