Last Draft Checklist
You have got completed your essay and you would imagine its prepared for distribution. Now have the list below, you spot possible flaws in your essay before submitting it as it should help. You may be additionally highly encouraged to truly have the essay prepared between 24 and 12 hours ahead of the submission that is final (preferably, or even previous), as a few of the “things” in this list need reading the essay once or twice.
Read your essay for sources:
1. Check always you have got referenced every basic indisputable fact that is not yours.
Your marker can look for your own personel voice that is individual initial tips along with engagement with additional sources. You should be especially careful in differentiating that which you have actually quoted or paraphrased from some other place, and what exactly is really your very own viewpoint. Moreover it needs to appear clear into the marker regardless if you are paraphrasing a source or quoting straight from it.
2. Check always your sources are accurate and proper.
Whether you determine to make use of MLA or Chicago (footnotes and bibliography), make certain you are following your referencing style closely. You should ask one of your tutors if you are in doubt.
Will be your bibliography so as?
3. Always check you’ve got referenced main sources since well.
This might appear apparent, but be sure you have actually referenced main sources too, therefore the editions you will be making use of. If you’re quoting from the play, suggest where in play that one line is from ( ag e.g. Act We, Scene II, ll. 123-38); if from a novel, the web page quantity will suffice.
It may possibly be beneficial to divide your bibliography in “primary” and that is“secondary, and have the main sources detailed first.
Read your essay for design:
4. Edit for sentence structure and spelling.
Search for errors in sentence construction, and typos.
5. Edit for punctuation and syntax.
Perform some sentences flow as you read them? Could be the connection between sentences as well as that between clauses clear? It may help read your essay out loud, or just the sentences that look questionable. Your argument will be much weaker in the event that rational links between sentences are not yet determined. If they’re not yet determined for your requirements, they’re not going to be clear to your audience either.
Is just a semi-colon actually the punctuation mark you ought to split up those two clauses?
6. Edit for vocabulary and style.
Avoid vague terms and broad, banal generalizations, i.e. ‘Sappho’s poetry is beautiful’, ‘The Odyssey is the most book that is famous the annals of Western literature’, ‘No woman had been absolve to work in Ancient Rome’. Think about whether or not the terms you’ve got bestwriter.org 20% off chosen at main moments in your argument would be the most readily useful words that are possible might use.
May be the register you’ve got utilized just like what you should scholarly see in essays? Verify that you’ve got utilized any colloquial terms or expressions, as those are generally not right for a college essay.
Browse for argument and framework.
7. Edit for framework.
Is any paragraph in your essay more than a full page? In that case, it may require cutting or re-formulating. Almost all of the times, long paragraphs read better when they’re split up into two faster people.
8. Look at the movement of the argument.
Does your argument movement obviously in one paragraph to a higher? Is the argument demonstrably laid right out of the beginning? Will you be which makes it clear when you’re disagreeing with a supply or an interpretation?
9. Re-read your introduction.
Your introduction must certanly be neither too brief nor a long time; preferably, you’d aim that it is around 300-500 words (NB: this may be determined by the length that is overall of essay). Make it appear interesting: your introduction could be the initial thing your marker will read and it surely will contour their judgement of the essay while they carry on reading it. Needless to say, a educational essay is maybe perhaps not just a catchy we we blog post, but there are lots of ways that you possibly can make initial paragraph interesting, such as for example making use of a fantastic quote from the main source or one of many additional sources you have got read, or even for example engaging earnestly with all the essay question/title. One other thing that the introduction must do is provide a feeling of what’s going to take place into the real human body of the essay: this will not be a listing of your arguments (you do not need to offer a lot of out of the start! ), however it should provide the marker a great grasp of one’s essay theme and argument.
10. Re-read your conclusion.
Usually do not think about your summary once the minute once you distribute your essay in sighs of relief (well, it could be that too! ), but alternatively since the culmination of one’s argument, as soon as the whole of the essay all fits in place. It’s not sufficient to write “In summary” to summarize. Your conclusion can also be totally different from your introduction, you mentioned there and create connections although you may want to draw on what. Likewise just like your introduction, your summary is eventually the thing that is last marker will read and you ought to want to wow them only a little. Particularly, they are wanted by you to feel you’ve got reached a summary, in place of just discovered one.
This short article is available to down load at no cost as being a PDF for usage as a learning that is personal and for use within the class as being a training resource.
Department of English and associated Literature University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, British Tel: work 01904 323366 Twitter: @UoYEnglish
