Highlight the thesis statement

Does the thesis give you a clear picture of the situation and the argument that the paper will focus on?

TOPIC/TRANSITION SENTENCES

Highlight the topic sentence of each body paragraph sentence should be general – if

sentence includes detail note on side of paper

The second (and subsequent) body paragraphs should also include a transition (pull from prior paragraph)

WORD CHOICE

Circle the word there if it begins a sentence.

Circle the verbs “is” or “are

You may make suggestions on rewording the above

NUMBERSLook for all numbers in the paper. If any are incorrect, highlight them.Spell out a number that begins a sentence.Spell out a number that expresses order (i.e. first, second, third, etc.)Spell out a number that tells how many if it is one or two words. If it is longer than two words, write it numerically.Use numerals to express numbers in conventional situations (like percentages, dates, addresses, times, etc.)

CITATIONSHighlight all parenthetical citations in your paper. Then check for……the period. It should go only after the parentheses. Not before and after. Not just before. Just after. Like this Mrs. Stewart is the weirdest teacher ever (“Weird Teachers”).…the titles. Titles must be capitalized! No, I don’t mean IN ALL CAPS. The major words should be capitalized like such The Social Network. Notice that the title was italicized because it’s a major work. If it’s an article title, it should be in “quotation marks.”

FORMAT

Check for MLA formatting—this should be the easiest part of your research paper grade! Make any corrections with a red pen.Margins should be 1”4-line heading (Name, Teacher’s Name, English II-PreAP, Date [1 December 2011])Double spaced (with no extra lines between paragraphs)Header (in same font—Last name and page #)

POINT OF VIEW

Highlight ALL instances of first (I, me, my, we, our, us, etc.) or second (you, your, etc.) person. Eliminate these from your paper.

CONTRACTIONS

Search for any contractions in your paper and highlight them when you spot ‘em. Uncontraction these. Okay, so that’s not a word, but you know what I mean.

CONJUNCTIONS

There’s nothing wrong with conjunctions; you just don’t want to start a sentence with one. To refresh your memory, the coordinating conjuntions are: for, an, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS). If you started any sentences with one of these words, highlight and fix it. Usually it can just be taken out of the sentence. If it doesn’t make sense that way, change the period before the conjunction to a comma. **Hint: the most common sentence-starting conjuctions are “and,” “but,” and “so.”

GENERAL TYPOS

If you haven’t already, switch papers with someone else.Read carefully for general typos, spelling and punctuation errors, etc.Mark in red ink.