1. ESSAY REVIEW
Rainbow editing!

2. Thesis/Claim This is taken from the Purdue Online Writing Lab:
The thesis statement is a sentence that summarizes the main point of your essay and previews your supporting points (minor claims). The thesis statement guides your readers from the beginning of your essay by telling them the main idea and supporting points of your essay.
Generally, the thesis statement is the final sentence of your introduction and only one sentence.
Sometimes, it is a good idea to use two sentences. For example, you might identify your main point in one sentence and then identify your supporting points in a second sentence. (Some might call this second sentence a preview sentence.)
Other times, your thesis statement will only be one sentence. Either is acceptable, but remember that you need a clear thesis statement at the end of your introduction so that your reader understands your main point and knows what to expect from the rest of your essay.

3. Thesis/Claim
Find your claim/thesis. Underline it in red. It will most likely be only one sentence for a paper of this size.
It is also most likely located at the end of your first paragraph.
IF IT IS TWO SENTENCES….the 2nd one better be good. It better preview your points.
Have you outlined the supporting points that you will be discussing in your essay? (there will most likely be two of them) – number them in red
HOWEVER:
“English class is my favorite class. It’s my favorite because we read great books, we write papers, and we have the best teacher ever” is NOT the way 10th graders should be identifying their supporting points. It’s too simplistic.

4. Introductory Paragraph
Think TRIANGLE
Start broad, then narrow to this particular text, then narrow to exactly what in this text you are going to be addressing
Look at your introductory paragraph. Underline the attention getting stuff (anything that could be part of the HOOK) in orange.
What type of hook did they use?
Question?
Context?
Quotation?
Interesting fact/statistic?
Anecdote?
Setting the Scene/Vivid Description?
Now underline the bridge information in green.
(This should be a brief summary of some of the debate or connects the hook to the thesis)
HOOK (Attention Getter / Interesting Beginning)
Bridge (group of sentences
that smoothly shift focus
from hook to thesis)
Thesis

5. Attention-Getters Should be appropriate to the paper.
Be careful…MANY of your attention-getting sentences were actually thinly-veiled arguments, personally-biased statements, or questions/statements that were inappropriate to the tone of the essay.
For example:
It is wrong to date before you are 16.
It’s insane to think teenagers know what is best in terms of dating age.
Dating. Woohoo!
Dating. Bring on the women!
Dating before you are 16 can lead to immoral or even dangerous consequences.
Everyone must find a romantic partner at some point in their lives.
Look at your attention-getter. (It’s in orange.) Is it an argument all on its own? Or does it direct the reader’s attention to your topic? Is it appropriate in tone for an academic paper?

6. Topic Sentences/Minor Claims
The first sentence of each of your body paragraphs should connect back to the thesis/claim you laid out in the introductory paragraph.
It should focus the entire paragraph and tell your reader what you are proving in that essay. (WITHOUT actually saying, “I am going to prove…”)
They should also use key words to show that it is a from your thesis/claim and the prompt or that it is another idea being presented
Underline your topic sentences/minor claims in red ONLY if they do steps 1 and 2

7. Evidence (Quotes)
Your evidence in each body paragraph should connect back to the topic sentence/minor claim.
It should support your argument for that paragraph, and not just be a rephrase of your argument.
It should also be embedded correctly and in a way that is easy to read.
It should come from one of the articles from NYT’s Room for Debate source materials.
Be careful you used more than one source, and didn’t depend disproportionately on one source! If there are not two articles used in the essay, write “Needs more sources” at the top of the paper
Underline your evidence in yellow.

8. Evidence Examples
GOOD
NOT-SO-GOOD
Teenagers who start to date too early can experience developmental problems. In a chart “States of Healthy Adolescent Development” published by the Oregon Health Authority, they explain that dating early can lead to autonomy problems such as “challeng[ing] authority, loneliness, [and] wide mood swings.” These are all significant problems that could negatively impact a teenager who begins to date before they are developmentally ready…
Teens who start to date too early can experience problems. “If teenagers start to date at they could have side effects like challenging authority, loneliness, and wild mood swings.” Teens shouldn’t start dating too early.

9. Articles & Source Material
You need to correctly state the source materials you used.
Go through and circle in purple any article titles. Are they in “quotation marks”?
Go through and circle in purple any author’s or source’s names. Have you attached an author’s name to each title?
Do you have the source attached to each piece of evidence? If it is missing, write next to your source what you need to include

10. Elaboration (Reasons/Warrants)
Do you have an explanation as to why your evidence supports your argument?
This could be explaining why that quote is significant and how it connects to your topic sentence/minor claim for that paragraph as well as the main thesis/claim?
These explanations are called “reasons” or “warrants” or “elaborating”
Underline your reasons/warrants in blue.
Did they use transition phrases such as the following:
In making this comment, (the author) argues that
The essence of (the author)’s
argument is that…
This is significant because…
These facts work together to show…
This is irrefutable evidence that…
All this proves…
This shows…
This illustrates…
The fact that (rephrase your evidence) illustrates that…
This matters because…

11. Counterclaim and Rebuttal
Does your paper address what are some things people would say against the claim to disprove the argument?
Underline the counterclaim in black
Does your paper include a rebuttal that refutes, disproves, or makes their idea invalid?
Underline the rebuttal in brown
Does your paper have evidence or an example to support the rebuttal?
Underline this evidence in yellow

12. Conclusion
Please, please, please tell me it’s at the very least, three sentences.
Does it neatly sum up your paper? Including your main argument and how you proved it?

13. Works Cited/Bibliography
Is there a works cited page?
Does the works cited outline at least two articles that their evidence came from?
Does it include the following for all sources:
Author
Article Title
URL/Website that it came from
If there is not works cited/bibliography, write “Needs Works Cited” at the top of the paper

14. STYLE “Well…” – TAKE IT OUT!!! Slash through it.
Skim your paper. Is there any slang? Words that are “conversation” words but not “sophisticated, academic” words? Circle them.
This could be things like “we, us, you, I, our” etc.
Look at the last sentence of each body paragraph. Does it transition the reader to your next topic sentence/minor claim?
Sentence variety: Do you have a variety of sentence lengths? If they are all about the same number of words, that’s not very fun!
Do the sentences start in different ways? Look at the first word of your sentences. They should start differently. If they’re mostly the same, or similar, that’s bad.

15. Reflection Time! What do you feel you did well on in your paper?
Write it at the bottom of your paper
What is one thing that you feel you need to improve on for next time?
YOU ARE A CHAMPION!
Write it at the bottom of your paper 