Leadership for the 21st Century – Winter 2011
Essay 3 – Checklist for final review
Ask one or members of your group to review your essay and check. ALSO go over it yourself
and think through each element. Multiple drafts and multiple rounds of editing are highly
recommended!
Title: snappy, interesting, connected to your main idea?
Introduction: Grabs the reader?
Gives a sense of the issues, ideas, concepts the paper will focus on?
Introduces texts if necessary (they could also be introduced in the body of essay)
Has a clear thesis?
Thesis: About your own leadership or learning as a leader.
It is a clear sentence, easy to understand?
Is it bold, interesting, surprising, or heartfelt – does it reflect your authentic voice?
Is it concise, no more wordy than necessary?
Is it mechanically/grammatically correct?
Does the essay address at least some of the following issues, in some way?
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My aspirations as a leader
What changed for me, the “gold” that I learned
Assumptions and or issues about leadership that came up in group, and / or for me
personally
Important skills and key concepts from texts
How others in my group viewed me as a leader – (cite peer reviews)
Conflicts that arose in my group, how I engaged with them
Authority dynamics in my group
How I helped to create a “holding environment” for my group’s larger purpose
What I would do differently next time and why
Body paragraphs, check each one:
Does it open with a Point (a topic, main idea for the paragraph?) Is this point clearly related to
the thesis?
Does it show Evidence/illustration for this idea? (could be a personal experience, a moment in
group work, a quotation from a text, a scene from a film, a quote from your peer reviews,
something that happened in class). Evidence/illustration should be specific: not “I learned a lot
about listening,” but “One day while we were discussing our bibliography I realized I was really
listening to…”
Does it have ample Explanation (discussion, argument, exploration) of this particular evidence
and how it supports or connects to the thesis? Does the explanation stay on the point that began
the essay?
Does the paragraph end with a transition or set-up for the idea in the next paragraph?
Do all the paragraphs show a logical order and development of your main idea?
References to texts (books, films, lectures, etc)
Is the text introduced, mentioning title and author, the first time it is referenced?
Are subsequent references to the text properly cited with author’s last name?
Are page numbers cited for written texts?
Is each text mentioned listed in the Works Cited?
(Anything that should be cited but isn’t?)
Conclusion
A thoughtful conclusion that wraps up your argument. Perhaps a connection between this
learning process and your own goals and aspirations, a life concern, a social concern, a global
concern.
Does it answers the question “so what” or “why does this matter”?
Works Cited
MLA style listings for each text referenced?
In alphabetical order?
And Finally…
Is the whole essay well written?
Are verbs varied, specific, well chosen?
Are there sentences that are funky, confusing, over long, partial, or in error?
Are there phrases/terms that need to be defined or that might not be used correctly?
Is the spelling correct and consistent?
Is punctuation used correctly? Check for:
- comma splices
- misused apostrophes
- whatever types of error you are most likely to make.