Evaluation Checklist for Essay Writing

I. Introduction

Yes No
Did you write a clear thesis?

II. Body

A. Topic One (the first reason/example why you believe what you stated in your thesis)

Yes No
Does the first topic sentence support the thesis?
Do you explain each example and tell why it's important? (Don't just write a list)
Are there enough examples, explanations, details to provide support for the topic?
Do the examples and details follow a logical order?
Are the transition words used correctly?

B. Topic Two (the second reason/example why you believe what you stated in your thesis)

Yes No
Did you use a transition to introduce your second topic?
Do you explain each example and tell why it's important? (Don't just write a list)
Is this second topic sentence different than the first topic sentence?
Are there enough examples, explanations, and details to provide support for the second topic sentence?
Are these examples clearly different than the examples you used in your first topic?
Do the examples, details, and explanations, (support) follow a logical order?
Are the transition words used correctly?

C. Topic Three (the third topic is only necessary if you need to provide additional support for your thesis)

Yes No
Did you use a transition to introduce your third topic?
Do you explain each example and tell why it's important? (Don't just write a list)
Is your third topic sentence clearly different than your first and second topic sentences?
Are there enough examples, explanations, and details to provide support for the third topic?
Are the examples clearly different than the examples you used in your first and second topic?
Do the examples, details, explanations follow a logical order?
Are transition words used correctly?

III. Conclusion

Yes No
Did you restate the thesis?
Did you sum up your two or three topic sentences?

IV. Overall Structure

Yes No
Does the whole essay flow in a logical order?
Is each paragraph related to the paragraph before it and the paragraph after it?
Do the introduction and conclusion match? (Are they discussing the same thesis and supporting ideas?)

V. Grammar

Yes No
Do your subjects and verbs agree? (If the subject is plural, the verb doesn't add "s").
Do your verbs follow a logical verb tense? For example, you don't switch from present to past or past to present without a good reason.
Do your pronouns match the nouns they are replacing? For example, students/they; Gallaudet/it; Carol/she; Bob/he.
Do you use capital letters where necessary? For example, proper nouns like English are always capitalized.
Do you use the proper forms of related words? For example, success (n), successful (adj.), succeed (v), successfully (adv).
Is your spelling correct?