A STUDENT GUIDE TO WRITTEN COMPOSITION

YOUR RESPONSE TO THE ESSAY QUESTION

1. HOW WELL DO YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR TOPIC?
2. DO YOU HAVE A CLEARLY DEFINED THESIS STATEMENT?
3. ARE YOU KEEPING IN MIND THAT YOUR AUDIENCE WILL BE COLLEGE ENGLISH INSTRUCTORS?
4. IS YOUR ESSAY TOO FORMAL?
5. TOO INFORMAL?
6. ARE YOU CHATTING TO A FRIEND RATHER THAN WRITING FOR AN ENGLISH INSTRUCTOR?
7. IS YOUR ESSAY TOO PERSONAL?


PROPER DEVELOPMENT

1. ARE YOU PROPERLY SUPPORTING YOUR THESIS WITH RELEVANT AND SPECIFIC INFORMATION?
2. IS YOUR SUPPORTING EVIDENCE TOO GENERAL?
3. TOO VAGUE?
4. DOES ALL YOUR INFORMATION DIRECTLY SUPPORT YOUR THESIS?
5. ARE YOU PROPERLY BALANCING BETWEEN RELEVANT SUPPORTIVE INFORMATION AND YOUR OWN PERSONAL ANALYSIS?
6. ARE YOU AVOIDING REPETITOUS WORDS AND PHRASES?


PROPER ORGANIZATION

1. WHERE IS YOUR THESIS STATEMENT?
2. IS IT STATED OR IMPLIED?
3. DO YOUR SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS DIRECTLY RELATE TO YOUR THESIS?
4. IS YOUR ARGUMENT LOGICAL?
5. ARE YOUR PARAGRAPHS ADEQUATELY DEVELOPED?
6. IS THE TOPIC OF EACH PARAGRAPH EASILY IDENTIFIABLE?
7. DID YOU RELATE EACH PARAGRAPH TO YOUR THESIS?


STYLE

1. DOES YOUR ESSAY CONTAIN A HEALTHY MIX OF SIMPLE, COMPOUND, AND COMPLEX SENTENCES?
2. ARE THE BEGINNINGS OF ALL YOUR SENTENCES WORDED UNIQUELY?
3. DO YOU HAVE SMOOTH TRANSITIONS BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL IDEAS AND PARAGRAPHS?
4. DID YOU AVOID REPEATING YOUR TRANSISTIONS?
5. DOES EVERYTHING FLOW TOGETHER?
6. IS YOUR VOCABULARY SUITABLE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE?
7. IS YOUR VOCABULARY SUITABLE FOR YOUR PURPOSE?
8. DID YOU KEEP IN MIND THAT YOUR EVALUATORS WILL EXPECT YOUR ESSAY TO BE WRITTEN IN STANDARD ENGLISH?
9. DID YOU AVOID SLANG AND CLICHES (UNLESS FOR STYLE OR MEANING)?
10. IS YOUR WORDING TOO VAGUE?
11. ARE YOU ELIMINATING UNNECESSARY WORDS?
12. DO YOU LIKE TO READ STUFFY PROSE ESSAYS?


ANY LAST CORRECTIONS

1. IS EVERYTHING SPELLED CORRECTLY?
2. TOO, TO, OR TWO?
3. THERE, THEIR, OR THEY'RE?
4. AFFECT OR EFFECT?
5. LED OR LEAD?
6. LESS OR FEWER?
7. CORRECTER OR MORE CORRECT?
8. DO YOU REMEBER YOUR RULES OF PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR (NOUNS, VERBS, APOSTROPHES, COMMAS, SEMI-COLONS, QUOTATION MARKS, PERIODS, ETC.)?
9. HAVE YOU AVOIDED SENTENCE FRAGMENTS AND RUN-ONS?
10. HAVE YOU CONFUSED ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS?
11. HAVE YOU AVOIDED ALL PRONOUN SHIFTS (FIRST TO THIRD PERSON, SINGULAR TO PLURAL)?
12. ARE YOUR SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENTS CONSISTENT (SHIFTS IN TENSE)?
13. WERE YOU CAREFUL NOT TO OVERUSE PRONOUNS?
14. WHO OR WHOM (IF YOU DON'T KNOW ALWAYS GO WITH WHO - CHANCES ARE THEY WON'T KNOW EITHER)?

THIS INFORMATION IS FROM A STUDY DONE BY:

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY - BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE - KERN HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

FOR ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS:

bgraham78@emich.edu - BARRY GRAHAM - EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY