Use the checklist below as you go over your final draft. The closer you come to nailing the following key criteria, the closer you’ll be to an A+mazing paper! As I read your essay, a basic question I ask myself is, “Did they read the rubric?”
- Plagiarism Warning: Please do your own work. First-time plagiarism offenses will result in a failing grade on the assignment. Second offenses will result in a failing final grade. Plagiarism includes changing very little in terms of word choice/sentence structure when paraphrasing sources, not quoting material taken word-for-word from sources, and not acknowledging/citing sources.
- Interesting Title? If you need help brainstorming, consider working on a two-part title (one-part serious/academic, the other part cool, catchy, etc.).
- Have you remembered to include an epigraph (a quote placed between your title and intro that gets us interested in reading more about your topic? Quotes can be anything from academic/serious to fun(ny), clever, etc. (Think outside the box. For a pop culture analysis essay, are there song lyrics, movie quotes, or insightful statements from pop culture scholars?)
- How engaging is your intro? Introductions are key for drawing readers in. Beware of overused openings (examples: Throughout history, pop music has played an important role in society. In today’s society, pop music is an extremely important topic.)
- Is your essay insightful? Do you dig below the surface and make perceptive comments about American culture, the times we’re living in, consumerism, technology, gender, race, sexuality (whatever their key issue is)?
- How interesting/engaging is your essay? Do you work hard on connecting with your audience? Are there ways to connect with us on a human/emotional (pathos) level?
- How solid/strong is your ethos (how informed, credible, trustworthy, fair, etc. you are)? Do you know your stuff? Are you coming across as well-read and well-informed? If relevant, have you included a section on interesting, relevant historical context?
- What about your logos (logic/reasoning)? Does your argument make sense? Do your sub-points make sense? Do you need to address opposing views? If so, is your response to opposing views logical/well-reasoned?
- What about flow/organization/structure? Is the overall organization smooth? What about individual paragraphs – do they proceed smoothly too? How about transitions – have you woven in transitions where necessary to help us move from one topic to the next? If appropriate, would cool section titles help the flow?
- Do you end strong? Are you saying something interesting, unique, thought-provoking, etc. as you wrap up? Are you paying special attention to word choice here?
- Have you carefully proofread your essay before posting? Try reading it slowly, out loud, with someone else (perhaps share your essay via a Zoom call).
- What about citations and source acknowledgments? Have you cited all the material you incorporated? Does each of these citations correspond to an entry on your alphabetized Works Cited page? If you embedded images and audio/video, did you label and cite them?
Please use quotations when quoting sources, also please share a report that no similarities and no plagarism.