Self Editing With Mrs. Burhenn

READ THE ENTIRE ESSAY OUT LOUD. This may help you hear if any sentences are awkward or confusing.

Overall Content Highlight your thesis. Keep in mind that the thesis SHOULD BE IN THE INTRO paragraph. Are you missing anything? Is it confusing? Topic: Accepting different people Opinion: How the author’s convey their ideas

Overall Content Is the tone and language of your assignment appropriate for the intended audience? Do body paragraphs have topic sentences that summarize the main point and content of the paragraph and correspond to the thesis statement? Do you use effective transitions to move between paragraphs and ideas? Readers shouldn’t have to make their own jumps in logic; use transitions and topic sentences to guide them through the paper. Label your transitions.

Overall Content Do you use concrete details and examples to support your claim AND explain how that evidence supports your claim? Color code your sandwiches: Top slice-Yellow; Quote-Blue; Bottom Slice-Pink Do you have enough evidence to support their explanation? How long are your quotes? Write down the number of words above the quote.

Overall Content Try to make connections between your sources. Find relationships: things they say that are the same or the opposite. This will help create analysis rather than mere summary.

Sentence Structure Have you varied sentence structure and length? Have you reviewed each sentence to eliminate run-ons, fragments, and comma splices? Have you tried to eliminate wordiness by removing unnecessary words such as a lot, or really? Count the number of simple sentences you use and write that number down on your paper.

Grammar and Usage Do all verbs agree with their subjects? Double check long, complex sentences. Do pronouns have clear and correct referents? Have you eliminated any unintentional or incorrect shifts in tense? Stay in present tense unless you have a specific reason to change. Is your paper properly punctuated? Review usage rules, especially for semi colons, if you’re at all unclear. Are all quotes and paraphrases properly introduced and explained? Are they correctly cited both within the text and in a Works Cited or References page? Put a box around your citations (or where they should be) Is all spelling correct? Be especially careful of homonyms like your/you’re, to/too/two and there/their/they’re.

Style In general, you should strive for direct, concise, and precise writing. Have you replaced “to be” verbs (be, been, is, are, were, was) with stronger, active verbs? Have you eliminated jargon, slang, clichés, and euphemisms in favor of more precise language? Have you eliminated repetition and redundancies? Read each sentence and ask yourself if it introduces a new information, ideas, or analysis. If it is simply restating old information, rewrite it or delete it Count the number of words you have in your paper and write this number down as well. (You can average if you need to) The final essay needs to be between 500 and 700 words.

Dress Ups: -ly adverb (describe a verb) Who-which clause Strong verb Quality adjective because www.asia (when, while, where, as since, if, although) Ex: The angry fox bolted after the sneaky rabbit, who had stolen his carrots because he was famished.

Rewrite Write a second draft of your essay taking all of your edits and notes into consideration. USE YOUR HARRY POTTER PSEUDONYM INSTEAD OF YOUR REAL NAME. This is due when you walk in tomorrow.