Expository Proofreading Reminders

Before you submit your final draft, be sure you have checked the following: 
 

1.        Produce three to four pages for a final draft, using 12-point font, and standard one-inch margins.

 

2.        Put page numbers for any borrowing from the text in parentheses immediately after the quote. In just about every case, your quote should have this format: "The classroom is rich, whole, resonant" (2).  If you quote a long passage, please indent (see sample). If you have questions, please ask before you submit.

 

3.        Reference the entire author's full name and credentials in a signal phrase. If you reference the author again, just use his/her last name. If you reference the title of an article, put quotes around it like this: "The Student and the Screen" since all article titles are punctuated this way. Remember that you need two different sources for a final draft (not just two quotes from one source). Also, work on using the correct punctuation around quoted material. Here's a quick website overview.

 

4.        If you use outside source materials, please document them properly! Check this website or use a handbook. If you have borrowed from any source other than the seven primary sources we have discussed in class, please include documentation at the end of your paper (but you do not need a separate Works Cited page).  Don't forget that for non-primary outside sources, you also need to be sure to use a signal phrase with author, title, and credentials to show your readers the identity and authority of your source.

If you have any questions about non-primary sources, please ask before you submit so that you can be sure to accurately represent the source in your paper.
 

5.        Avoid over-using the pronoun "you" in this essay if you can; also, you should probably have a few "I" pronouns sprinkled throughout (it's a personal definition, after all).  If you address the reader directly with the pronoun "you," check to be sure your "you's" are very few in number--even if you imagine this definition as a speech at an assembly. (You still need to be inclusive.)

 

6.        Remember the discussion we had about substantive paragraphs. Not every paragraph you write will be a substantive paragraph, but several substantive paragraphs should have some resemblance to that idea-example-commentary construction. Do not make the opposite mistake of never breaking your ideas into paragraphs, however. Large paragraphs should still feel easy to read and follow despite their size. Provide transitions to help readers connect your ideas.

 

7.        Using readers and your own sense of your definition, check to be sure you have structure and direction. This means you can trace easily how you move from beginning through the middle to the end. This is the cohesion check. Having a defined structure will aid you in seeing what belongs and what doesn't.

 

8.        Be sure there is a clearly identifiable thesis statement in your paper.  This doesn't have to be in the opening paragraph, but by the end of the first page, readers should know clearly what kind of definition we're discussing. It may be more than one sentence in length. A thesis may even occur at the end of your paper.

 

 

9.     You need to have a draft that reaches three pages. Anything less than this indicates you have not discussed your subject deeply enough.