GUIDELINES TO IMPROVE YOUR COMPOSITION

 

Things you should revise

 

GENERAL

 

1.Is the topic interesting?

2.Is it clear what this paper is about?

2. Are the supporting details interesting?

3. Does  every sentence say something logical?

4. Is the whole text coherent? 

5. Does the whole text make sense?

6. Does the paragraph have a clear  purpose : to inform, to persuade, to argue, to demonstrate, to explain, to describe?

7. Is your paper too vague or confusing?

8. Do you have sufficient information and analysis to adequately develop your ideas? (Before you begin to write?

 

 

GRAMMAR

 

Check the following:

1.      Plurals

2.      Subject-verb agreement

3.      Articles

4.      Past tense of verbs

5.      Subject-Verb-Complements order

6.      Overuse of simple sentences.

7.      Little premodification and post modification

 

VOCABULARY

1.      Scarce vocabulary

2.      Overuse of worn-out(desgastadas) words (big, good, bad, interesting, beautiful)

3.      Too many adjectives?

4.      Order of adjectives, is it appropriate?

5.      Good use of nouns and adjectives that impact the reader.

6.      Use of sentence variety?

 

REGISTER/STYLE

1.      Are the sentences too formal, to informal, too colloquial, slang?(Depending on communicative situation)

2.      Are the words used too formal, too informal, too colloquial, slang?(Depending on communicative situation)

3.      Is the register constant, or do you change it from paragraph too paragraph   from one sentence to the next?

4.      Is your language (register) appropriate for the intended audience?

 

ORGANIZATION

1.      Is there a topic sentence?

2.      Are there supporting details?

3.      Are the details arranged from most important to least important? From most general to most specific? Do they follow a logical order?

4.      Is there an appropriate number of linking words?

5.      Is it a long piece of text without any divisions or is it divided into paragraphs (A series of paragraphs is recommended).

6.      Does one paragraph lead to the next?

7.      Is enough information included so the topic is clear to the reader?

8.      Does each paragraph have a clear and specific topic that refers to the topic sentence of the paper?

9.      Does each paragraph sticks to its specific topic?

10.  Is the focus of the essay narrow enough to avoid a superficial treatment?

11. Is your paper too wordy or needlessly complex? Could you write any of your sentences more concisely without losing any meaning?

 

 

 

 

MECHANICS

1.      Punctuation

2.      Capitalization

3.      Spelling

4.      Have you performed a computer and manual spell check on your paper?

 

 

FORM

 

  1. It has a front page identifying your paper clearly?
  2. Paper size and quality
  3. Are the pages numbered? Do not number the first one.
  4. Margins
  5. Handwriting (Clear? messy? illegible?)
  6. Print quality?

 

CONCLUSION

 

1.      Does your paper have a conclusion?

2.      Does the conclusion refer to the topic sentence as the main point of your paper?

 

GUSTAVO ZAPATA