Revision at the Essay-Level
Revising at the essay-level involves reading the THESIS, TOPIC-SENTENCES, and CLOSING SENTENCE of the CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH to determine whether all areas are focused on one overarching point. The whole essay must flow in a way that there is no extraneous information, personal anecdotes, or wayward background and details. When you revise at the essay-level, you need to make sure that the whole essay is focused on one point and that one point is clearly and logically asserted throughout the writing.
To make sure your writing is properly revised at the essay-level, you will need to take time to work through a checklist of items that are often overlooked during the writing process. The checklist below is broken into numerous sections so that you give yourself plenty of time to revise your work. Revision—proper revision—takes time. You want to finish your rough draft of an assignment with at least 3 or 4 days left to revise the work before it is due for submission. If you do not set aside time for revision, you may get lucky and receive a B on your assignment; however, typically, a professor who fully examines writing that is not properly revised (and edited) will not award higher than a C for the submission.
Revising Check-List for Essay-level Revision
Use a checklist to organize the revision of your work, particularly when revising or evaluating long, complex documents. It will help you to cover all pertinent facets of the writing process and to meet your deadlines. The checklist below may serve as a guide; adapt it to fit your specific requirements.
When you find problems warranting additional revision or research, indicate the relevant page numbers in the appropriate column for easy reference for revision prior to final submission.
Checklist
Content
Start date/time:
Target date/time:
Date/time completed:
Content Revision
|
||
|
Review item
|
Page(s) requiring further attention
|
Comments
|
|
Factual accuracy
|
--
|
--
|
|
Logical flow of ideas
|
--
|
--
|
Style and vocabulary
Start date/time:
Target date/time:
Date/time completed:
Style and vocabulary
|
||
|
Review item
|
Page(s) requiring further attention
|
Comments
|
|
Sentence structure
|
--
|
--
|
|
Neologisms/jargon
|
--
|
--
|
|
Multiple-noun phrases
|
--
|
--
|
|
Redundancy/repetition
|
--
|
--
|
|
Clarity (ambiguity)
|
--
|
--
|
|
Usage/Gallicisms
|
--
|
--
|
|
Level of language
|
--
|
--
|
|
Metaphors
|
--
|
--
|
|
Euphony
|
--
|
--
|
|
Uniform vocabulary
|
--
|
--
|
|
Stereotyping
|
--
|
--
|
|
Personal names
|
--
|
--
|
|
Official titles
|
--
|
--
|
|
Place names/addresses
|
--
|
--
|
|
Other
|
--
|
--
|
Reference notes
Start date/time:
Target date/time:
Date/time completed:
Reference Notes and Citations
|
||
|
Review item
|
Page(s) requiring further attention
|
Comments
|
|
In-text Citation Punctuation
|
--
|
--
|
|
Integrated Source Content
|
--
|
--
|
|
Source Sandwich Development
|
--
|
--
|
|
References List or Works Cited Page Formatting
|
--
|
--
|
|
Limiting Quotations
|
--
|
--
|
|
Word Count Met WITHOUT Outside Source Usage
|
--
|
--
|
|
Other
|
--
|
--
|
Format
Start date/time:
Target date/time:
Date/time completed:
Format Revision
|
||
|
Review item
|
Page(s) requiring further attention
|
Comments
|
|
Title Page
|
--
|
--
|
|
ABSTRACT Layout
|
--
|
--
|
|
Indentation of paragraphs
|
--
|
--
|
|
Quotation Punctuation and Integration
|
--
|
--
|
|
Paragraph Structure and Length
|
--
|
--
|
|
Header Content and Format
|
|
|
|
Proper Headings
|
--
|
--
|
|
Typeface, font, size
|
--
|
--
|
|
Columns/tables
|
--
|
--
|
|
Source Page
|
--
|
--
|
|
Instructor/Class Specific Formatting
|
--
|
--
|
|
Other
|
--
|
--
|
Final Check
Start date/time:
Target date/time:
Date/time completed:
Final Check: Writing Issues from Last Assignment
|
||
|
Review item
|
Page(s) requiring further attention
|
Comments
|
|
|
--
|
--
|
|
|
--
|
--
|
|
|
--
|
--
|
|
|
--
|
--
|
|
Other
|
--
|
--
|
Grammar and mechanics (Technically, this is EDITING, not Revision)
Start date/time:
Target date/time:
Date/time completed:
Grammar and mechanics
|
||
|
Review item
|
Page(s) requiring further attention
|
Comments
|
|
3rd Person Voice
|
--
|
--
|
|
Spelling
|
--
|
--
|
|
Punctuation
|
--
|
--
|
|
Capitalization
|
--
|
--
|
|
Pronoun Usage
|
--
|
--
|
|
Abbreviations
|
--
|
--
|
|
Number Usage
|
--
|
--
|
|
Grammar and syntax
|
--
|
--
|
|
Contractions
|
--
|
--
|
|
Questions
|
--
|
--
|
|
New Items Reviewed
|
--
|
--
|
|
Other
|
--
|
--
|
Content above adapted for ENGL101
by J. Dick February 20, 2019
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
No comments:
Post a Comment