Taking a close look at your first draft before moving on > > > Improving your essay

Fast check: before you can truly “improve” your essay, you must first check to see if your writing qualifies AS an essay (meaning, looking for the basic content and organizational structure).

Step 1: STATEMENT that directly addresses the GENERAL topic Examples (in a personal narrative essay about favorite candies) “There are many candies in the world today.” (in an expository essay comparing crocodiles to alligators) “There are many people in the world today who think alligators and crocodiles are the same.” (In a proposition \ support essay about responsibility towards nature) “Of the many responsibilities that we have in this world, none is as important as preserving our environment.” (in an expository essay about an specific invention) “There are many inventions in our world today that assist us daily.”

Step 2: Other INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH information T: A: Types and examples of those general topic types. Anecdote (for narrative essays), Argument of the opposition (for persuasive or position papers), and Attention grabber (for all essay forms)

Step 3: Other INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH information R: T: Reduce the intro paragraph down from the “A” to the “T” (thesis) with the help of a transitional word, phrase, or sentence. Thesis: This is ONE SENTENCE that offers the reader information on the direction a paper will take. It should contain two to four points that will be made in the following supporting paragraphs.

Step 4: Parallelism (type 1) Make sure the key words of the “points” listed in your thesis MATCH the (topic sentences of the) “supporting paragraphs” – in the SAME ORDER as they appear in the thesis.

Step 5: Parallelism (type 2) Make sure the key words found in the topic sentence of the first supporting paragraph MATCH the key words \ wording \ style in each of the topic sentences of the other supporting paragraphs

Step 6: Flow Does the essay “flow”? (meaning, does it make a concrete point and have salient supporting points that progress in a logical manner?)

Step 7: Parallelism (type 3) - A Full Circle Conclusion Did you remember to start your conclusion with a summary of the thesis points and end with a revisiting of the general topic? (The last becomes the first and the first becomes the last)