Research Essay (History)

Essay Check List

1. Does the introductory paragraph clearly state your thesis/argument? _____

2. Have you provided clear evidence to support your thesis? _____

3. Have you divided your essay into paragraphs? _____

4. Does each paragraph have a topic sentence and address one main point that supports your thesis? _____

5. Are the transitions between paragraphs smooth? _____

6. Are your sentences in logical order? Have you followed through on one point before moving on to the next? _____

7. Are you writing in the proper tense? (the historian does, Franklin Roosevelt did) _____

8. Have you used commas and apostrophes properly? (Its is the possessive; it’s is the contraction for “it is”) _____

9. Is your language formal (no slang or contractions) and gender-neutral? _____

10. Have you used words that are clear and precise? _____

11. Have you taken out extraneous sentences and words? _____

12. Have you avoided repetition? _____

13. Does the conclusion restate your thesis and explain its significance? _____

14. Have you chosen only important quotations, used them sparingly, and copied them down correctly? _____

15. Have you used quotations to illustrate your point, and not make it for you? _____

16. Have you used footnotes or endnotes, not brackets within your paper, to cite sources? _____

17. Have you provided the full citation for the source, and written the page numbers down correctly? _____

18. Is your essay in proper format, in 12-point font, double-spaced and with page numbers? _____

19. Have you included a cover page with a title, name, course code, my name and the date? _____

20. Did you submit your filed as a Word document (not PDF) to the appropriate folder on D2L? _____