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Evaluating an Essay

Ask yourself these questions about someone else's paper, or about your own. This will bring out both the strong and weak points of your essay, and guide you in the right direction for rewriting.

Unity

1. Is the thesis (main point) of the letter/essay clear? Is there one sentence (thesis statement, cf. HH Ch. 5) that expresses it clearly and concisely? Does it appear early enough in the essay to make it easy for the reader to follow the train of thought throughout, or does the author seem to jump around from one idea to another without making it clear how each point relates to the thesis?

2. Is the thesis interesting? Does it make you want to know why the author has this opinion, and how she will support it? Does it limit the topic and focus on a specific aspect that can be dealt with in some detail in 500 words, or is it so general that it cannot possibly be supported except in an equally general and uninteresting way?

3. What are the supporting points? Are they separated into paragraphs? Are there too many or too few paragraphs? Is it immediately clear how each supporting point or paragraph relates to the thesis? Is each one given an appropriate amount of attention? Which points should be emphasized more, or less? Where is more explanation needed? Where would a concrete example be desirable?

4. Does the last sentence or two successfully close the essay (for example, by re-phrasing the thesis statement), or does it leave the reader in confusion or suspense (for example, by bringing up a new topic)?

Coherence

5. Are the paragraphs and supporting points arranged in an orderly way--for example, chronologically or by sub-topic--and in order of ascending importance? What improvements on the arrangement of the parts of the essay can you suggest?

6. Are the transitions between paragraphs clear? Is it clear how each paragraph relates to the preceding and following ones? How could this be improved?

7. Within the paragraphs, is it always clear how each sentence relates to the preceding and following ones? Are transition words and phrases like so, but, on the contrary, therefore, etc. used carelessly, implying logical connections that are not in fact there, or not enough, failing to make explicit connections that are there? Where could the insertion, or removal, of a transitional word or phrase improve the flow of thought from one sentence to another?

Development

8. Is each supporting point not simply stated, but developed in some way (cf. HH Ch. 7)? What further arguments, examples, explanations, analyses, definitions, anecdotes, comparisons or contrasts could be added to make a particular point more effective? Are some points developed better than others? Is it necessary to make all the points? Which could be omitted, in order to concentrate on developing the others more fully?

9. Does the author seem to be just parroting the language and ideas of the text he refers to, or even quoting extensively from it (e.g., in a letter to the editor), or does she seem to have given serious thought to the issues and to be trying to express her own ideas in her own words?