BENG 052 Research Paper Checklist

Organization

• Does your essay have a formal outline attached?
• Does your introduction have an attention getter, transition sentences, and a thesis statement?
• Does your thesis statement clearly identify your topic, your opinion (if writing a persuasive essay), and the main points that the essay will explain? Is your topic single, significant, and supportable?
• Does each paragraph have one main idea, and are these ideas significant, relevant, and distinct?
• Does your essay contain clear and effective transitions to signal the relationships between sentences and paragraphs?
• Does your conclusion contain a summary or reinforcement of your main points rephrased to avoid word for word repetition of your thesis? Does your conclusion leave your reader with something to think about?

Content and Style

• Is your information consistent with your outline?
• Have you included enough main ideas to explain your subject?
• If your essay is about a controversial topic, have you considered the opposition’s arguments and convincingly responded to them?
• Is all your material relevant?
• Are your in-text (parenthetical) citations correctly documented according to the MLA style? Is your Works Cited page done correctly according to the MLA style?
• Have you documented all summaries, paraphrases and quotations correctly?
• Are short quotations blended smoothly with your own words, and is their significance clear? Are long quotations correctly introduced and formatted?
• Have you avoided sweeping generalizations, as well as the obvious and extreme? ( “most people have a TV,” “since the beginning of time,” “men and women are different.”)
• Other than the occasional quotation, is the language essentially your own, even for summaries?
• Is your tone courteous and formal, without being pretentious?
• Is your essay the required length?
• Have your revised, edited and proofread your essay?