20 Essay

Revision
Questions
Created by Dianne Mason

Twenty Questions:
Essay Revision Guidelines
The following are some guidelines to help you when you revise your
essay. On a separate sheet of paper, answer each of the questions
as thoroughly and honestly as possible.
1. Is my paper clear, focused and filled with supporting details that
support my claim? Have I used graphics or other media if needed?
What else do I need to include?
2. Does my thesis statement pass the So what? test? In other
words, will someone read it and wonder what my point is?
3. Why is my main idea worthwhile? If its not, what can I do to
improve it? I can sum up my main point as follows:
4. Is the organization of my paper clear? Can the reader follow my
thoughts from the beginning all the way to the end? If not, what
can I do to provide a better road map?
5. Have I opened my essay in an interesting way? Will the reader
want to continue reading or will they toss my paper aside and flip
on the T.V.? Whats interesting about my opening?
6. Does the beginning of my paper hint at whats to come? Is the
topic clearly introduced? Is the audience and purpose evident to
the reader?
7. Does the order seem logical based on my thesis statement? Are
the ideas and information arranged to show interrelationships?
Briefly describe the order.
8. Does everything connect to my thesis statement and build one
element on the next to create a unified essay? If not, where do I
need to make changes?

Copyright 2012 Dianne Mason

9. Is there any place that the reader may feel lost or wonder what Im
talking about? Where are such places? What can I change to get
the reader back on track?
10. Does the ending of my paper tie everything together in an
interesting way or does it simply restate the thesis word for
word?
11. How have I shown the reader that I care about this topic?
12. Does my essay have a formal style and objective tone, but still
sound like a real person wrote it?
13. Are my sentences all the same length? Are they all short? What
can I do to correct this?
14. Have I chosen my words carefully so that each one seems exactly
right rather than randomly choosing synonyms from my
thesaurus? What words should I consider changing?
15. Have I used a lot of adverbs and adjectives or to be verbs, or do
I use active verbs and strong nouns?
16. Have I used any clichs? What are they and how do I intend to
change them?
17. Have I cut out all useless words?
18. Hows my sentence variety? Do all my sentences sound just alike,
or have I varied the structures?
19. Have I double-checked my spelling or simply relied on my
computer to do the work for me? Have I used hyphens correctly?
20. Do I have numerous errors in punctuation, such as run-on
sentences or fused sentences?

Copyright 2012 Dianne Mason

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