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Areas of Revision: 

Now's the time to begin to judge your work. Review what you've just written, and ask yourself these critical questions: 

 
 

Audience: Who am I writing for? Does my essay progress logically and include enough information for the reader to follow my thoughts? Have I established the proper level of formality for this assignment? 

Diction and Tone: Is the tone suitable for the audience of this piece? How can I best eliminate or reword slang, inappropriate colloquialisms or cliches? Does my word choice reflect my intention? 

Structure: 

• Title: A title is the opening statement of any piece of work, offering a glimpse into what follows. 

• Introduction: Do I provide all relevant background information? Do I define or explain difficult terms that will appear throughout the work? Where is my thesis statement? Does the introduction lead up to the thesis or is it based on the thesis statment? Is the thesis more effective at the beginning of the paragraph or at the end? 

• Thesis: Does this thesis provide a clear picture of the the purpose of this paper without saying something on the order of, "in this work, I will prove..."? Will the position I take in my thesis statement be supported in the rest of the essay? 

• Body: Does each paragraph have a clear and concise topic sentence? Have I eliminated any material in the paragraphs not pertinent to the topic sentence? Do I have at least 3 sentences per paragraph? Can I still develop this paragraph further? Does each paragraph deal with different ideas that are still related to each other? Do I include support (reasons, examples, facts, etc....). In my paragraphs, have I chosen a pattern of delivery that will best present and exemplify my points? Have I provided sufficient and pertinent examples to support and explain my ideas? Are there smooth transitions between my sentences and paragraphs? Is there redundancy anywhere?For abstract ideas, have I provided concrete examples for further illustration? 

• Conclusion: Does this conclusion remind the reader of the purpose of my writing? Does it end the essay smoothly? I haven't presented any new ideas here, have I? 

Special Considerations: Is this piece in keeping with the special guidelines (length of work, subject matter, and deadline given for submission)? 

Citation and Research: Have I included enough sources to show that I've conducted a proper investigation of this topic? Have I given credit to ideas that aren't my own? Did I use proper punctation and citation methods for quotations? Using Quotations in Text Are my citations in proper MLA Format? 

After your second draft, you need to do only one more thing before you hadn hand in that great composition: edit your work.