Name: _________________________
Formal Essay Checklist
As you write your final draft, check for the requirements I’ll be grading. Ask if you have any questions.
MLA Formatting:
 Upper-left of the first page has your name, my name, class name and date the paper is due (5 February 2014).
 Your last name and page number are in the header (right side).
 The header has the same font and size as the rest of the paper.
 The entire paper is double-spaced
 There is “zero point after the line” – instead of “10 point after the line”
 There are no extra spaces in the paper (nothing extra before or after the title, for example).
 There are no extra spaces between paragraphs
 You used Times New Roman (or another readable font) and it is 11 or 12 point.
 All of your paragraphs are indented.
 The last page of your document is the Works Cited.
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Works Cited is at the top of the page – centered – not a larger font, bolded, etc…
The whole page is double-spaced, with no extra spaces after the title or between citations
Each citation has a hanging indent
URLs are included for websites
There is a period at the end of each citation
Is each citation used in your paper? If you didn’t use a source, delete it from your Works Cited. It’s just
the sources you cite.
All journal titles, website titles, book titles, and database titles are italicized
Title:
 Make sure the formatting of the title is the same as the rest of the paper. You don’t have it in a larger font, bolded
or anything like that.
Introduction:
 Do you have an attention-getter? If it is from your research (either a paraphrase or direct quote), do you have a
parenthetical citation?
 Is your thesis statement one sentence, and does it preview the main focus of your paper?
 Is your preview statement one - two sentences? Does it preview the main ideas of your three body paragraphs in
order?
Flip the page for more…
Body Paragraphs:
 If you just look at each topic sentence, is it a claim? Can it stand alone and tell me what will be covered in that
paragraph?
 Is all of your evidence cited (has a parenthetical citation)?
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For direct quotes?
 Does each direct quote have quotation marks?
 Does each direct quote have a parenthetical citation?
 Is the period after the parenthetical citation – and not at the end of the sentence?
 Does the parenthetical citation contain the first word(s) of the citation in your Works Cited?
 If your parenthetical citation is a webpage or journal title that has quotation marks, does your
parenthetical citation have those quotation marks?
 Do you introduce your evidence?
For paraphrases?
 Does each idea you paraphrased have a parenthetical citation? It’s okay if the idea is longer than
one sentence to have the citation at the end of the idea, instead of each sentence.
 Does the parenthetical citation contain the first word(s) of the citation in your Works Cited?
 If your parenthetical citation is a webpage or journal title that has quotation marks, does your
parenthetical citation have those quotation marks?
 After each piece of evidence, do you explain the evidence and how it ties to your claim (the reasoning)? Do not
just stack one piece of evidence on top of another. If you see sentence upon sentence with citations, you need to
work in your explanation of the evidence. Make sure you are proving your claim/topic sentence. Everything
should be coming back to that idea. I should see a lot of your ideas.
 Do you have a summary closing for the paragraph?
 Do you transition into the next paragraph?
 Repeat the above for each body paragraph
Conclusion:
 Does your conclusion summarize the paper by reviewing the main ideas of your body paragraphs and restating
your thesis in new words?
 Does your conclusion have a strong, memorable closing?
Spelling, Mechanics & Word Choice:
 Check spelling is correct
 Comma usage is correct
 Semicolon usage is correct
 Apostrophe usage is correct
 Colon usage is correct
 Everything should be in third person – no I, me, my, we, etc..
 Word choice is formal – no got, thing or you
What does n.d., n.p. or n.pag. mean in my citation? When certain publishing information is missing from your citation MLA
style requires the correct abbreviation to explain its absence. However, you should try to find this information if possible.
n.p. ("no publisher") means that the publisher's name is missing
n.p. ("no place") means the city of publication is missing
n.d. ("no date) means that the publication date is missing
n. pag ("no pagination") means that the book's pages are unnumbered