Your Email:

Your Name:

To:

Subject:

Message:
from Polson High School <a href="http://www.flatheadreservation.org/index.php/phs"> Michael L. Umphrey website</a> <h2 class="title">Proofreading checklist What you need to do for an "A" essay</h2> By Michael L Umphrey Proofreading Checklist Ideas and organization ☐ Somewhere in the first paragraph, I state my thesis in a simple, direct sentence. ☐ My thesis expresses an opinion rather than summarizes the story or states something that is simply factually true. ☐ The body of my essay consists of three or four reasons that “prove” my these or examples that support it. ☐ Every paragraph has a topic sentence which states the main idea of that paragraph. Everything in the paragraph relates to that topic sentence. ☐ The points are organized in a way that a reader can easily follow the argument. Style ☐ Every sentence is clear and graceful. ☐ Most sentences have active verbs rather than “being” verbs, such as “is,” “was,” “were,” “are,” etc. ☐ My nouns are specific rather than vague or abstract. (“tree” is vague; “willow” is specific֓trouble” is abstract; the death of her daughter is specific) Conventions and Usage ☐ Every word is spelled correctly ☐ Every sentence is complete (no fragments). ☐ I have no fused sentence or comma splices. I’ve changed run-on sentences with too many jumbled together ideas into simpler sentences. ☐ Possessive nouns have apostrophes. Conjunctions have apostrophes. ☐ Proper nouns are capitalized, and every sentence begins with a capital. <a href="http://www.flatheadreservation.org/images/phs/Proofreading_Checklist.pdf">Printable PDF version of “Proofreading Checklist”</a> <a href="http://www.flatheadreservation.org/index.php/phs/proofreading_checklist/">Proofreading checklist</a> sent from Michael L. Umphrey's website