Senior Project Self –Eval
Materials Needed: 4 different colored highlighters
1 copy of your paper
Thesis and Topic Sentences
Research
Evidence of my thinking
So What?
Highlight the thesis—does it have a slant? Express a
perspective or opinion? Make a recommendation?
Evaluate? Rank? Present a solution to a problem?
Call for action?
 Vampire Literature is an excellent way to study
the customs and beliefs of their contemporary
culture.
Highlight everything that came off of a notecard, that
you read in a book, that you read online, or that
someone told you. Make sure everything
highlighted has a citation. Also check that two
sources are not blocked together.
 According to McNally and Florescu, one risked
his/her life by being in Dracula’s presence. The
only chance a person had was by flattery or a
willingness to take total responsibility for
anything that might displease him (39).
 In the book In Search of Dracula, McNally and
Florescu write that Elizabeth Bathory, “who killed
her young female servants in order to bathe in
their blood,” (126) made her a perfect candidate
for vampirism.
About ½ of the paper should be highlighted. This
will indicate whether you have enough research or
not.
Look at your works cited page. If any of those
sources are not named in what you’ve highlighted
you need to make one of two fixes:
 You need to cite it in the paper as well
OR
 Create a Works Consulted page and list it there
Using the color that you used for your thesis,
highlight all topic sentences that are not already
highlighted. These should all support the thesis is
some way: they are the main arguments that back it
up. These are the reasons why your thesis is true.
All paragraphs should have these. If your topic
sentence is research, then you should indicate that
you don’t have a topic sentence and that one needs
to be inserted.
 A vampire’s appearance dictates how a reader
responds to him/her.
 In addition to repellent features, the men are
also animalistic.
 In addition to their repulsive appearance, the
18th and 19th Century vampire’s behavior
emphasizes what that culture considered
inappropriate or undesirable.
Read the parts of your paper that are NOT
highlighted. Anything that either clarifies your
research, points out the significant of the research,
and/or connects it to your thesis highlight in a 3rd
color. If you find that you aren’t highlighting
anything, you have a report and this is what you
need to add to make is a solid research paper.
About 1/3 of your paper should be highlighted. Your
research should intertwine with this 3rd color in
spots. This third color is evidence of your own
thinking.
 Regardless of whether physically attractive or
not, Dracula, his wives, and The Bride of Corinth
are meant to repulse the reader, to make the
vampire an undesirable figure. Dracula is
physically unattractive; his wives are physically
attractive, but their appeal stems from being
extremely sexual, which Dracula’s
contemporaries obviously consider inappropriate
since Jonathan Harker, one of the heroes of the
novel, feels both “[ . . . ] some longing and at the
same time some deadly fear” (Stoker 46).
With what is left not highlighted, see if it qualifies as
the So what? which will explain why should the
reader care about this information? How does it
affect the world of the reader or just the world in
general? Highlight this information in a 4th color.
 Vampires are not just gratuitous entertainment.
They merit serious study and should not be
ignored or disregarded as a representation of
cultural beliefs.
The So What? should take up at least ½ page and
should bleed into the conclusion.
Whatever isn’t highlighted (disregarding the
Introduction and Conclusion), and it is not a
transition should probably be cut.