Rev. 2015
Introduction
1. Needs a title
2. Title is trite/ banal
3. Don’t underline your own title, put it in quotation marks, or italicize it
4. Needs to be double spaced / incorrect spacing
5. Needs to be in 12 point Times New Roman
6. Margins should be 1 inch
7. Staple placement impedes the reader
8. Staple papers in descending order (most recent addition on top)
9. Work on funnel introduction –
10. Basically this is just a long thesis
11. No clear thesis
12. Thesis does not address the prompt
13. Examples/ DQ go in the body paragraphs
Body paragraphs:
14. No topic sentence/ paragraph begins with a fact
15. How does the topic sentence relate to the thesis?
16. Be specific in the topic sentence. Do not use vague pronouns.
17. How does the direct quotation/ evidence demonstrate the theme/ topic sentence?
18. The evidence provided does not demonstrate this.
19. Too much evidence/ Not enough inference
20. Summary is weak evidence and weak evidence leads to a weak argument.
21. Show don’t tell.
22. Inferences should explain how the DQ / evidence proves the TS
23. How does the DQ prove this statement?
24. Not enough evidence / too much inference
25. Needs citations
26. Citation format incorrect
27. DQ is floating – it is not tied to the essay with your own words
28. How is this relevant to proving the topic sentence/ thesis?
29. How does this paragraph prove the thesis?
30. Use single quotation marks to show material in quotation marks in the book.
31. Never end a paragraph with a direct quotation/ evidence
General comments:
32. Don’t use contractions in essays
33. Don’t use 1st / 2nd person in formal essays (unless it is part of the evidence)
34. Don’t use questions in essays
35. Needs a works cited page
36. Needs page numbers
37. Don’t switch verb tenses.
38. New evidence does not go in the conclusion.
39. Need to be submitted to turnitin.com for credit
40. turnitin.com percentage is too high
41. Essay does not fit the prompt
42. paragraphs should be at least four sentences long
43. paragraphs need to be proportional
44. Don’t just summarize, synthesize
45. Breaks the do/ don’t of essay writing rules
46. Work on transitions
Rev. 2015