Tips for PROOFREADING and catching major errors:

• Review the major error handout to make sure you understand the most significant problems you're looking for.  Also, take a look at the editing section  in Bedford. 

• Read the essay out loud with a pencil in your hand and mark awkward sections.

• Read the draft backwards at both the word level (to catch spelling errors) and the sentence level (to catch grammatical errors).

• Read the draft through several times with at least an hour in between readings.

• If you’re using a word processor, make sure to proofread with a hard copy—you won’t be hypnotized by the flashing pixels this way.

• If you’re using a word processor, use the spell-checker, but remember that it won’t catch misspellings like from/form, two/too/to, then/than, of/have.

• Lightly mark sentences that you’re unsure of, and ask me about them in class next time.

Students who don't pass this essay generally haven’t spent enough time proofreading  

See Portfolio/Format Guidelines (click link) on the main assignments page for guidance on what to include in your portfolio and how to format your essay.  Several of you are continuing to lose points because you do not include writing goals, self-evaluation, and/or unit evaluation. 

COMMON BIG PICTURE PROBLEMS:  Most people will have wonderful thesis statements for this essay and good evidence to back up thesis statements.  The most significant problem tends to be with formulating and explaining an ethical principle and then connecting clear reasons to that ethical principle.   Also, people sometimes neglect to include clear topic sentences that articulate their reasons and then keep the reason paragraphs focused on the specific reason.  Another problem people sometimes have is with counterarguments.  Remember, you should use quotations from the Villahermosa and Wheeler essays to acknowledge compelling reasons on the other side of the issue, develop them with evidence and explanation, and then REFUTE OR ACCOMODATE them.  It isn't enough just to mention them.  Another problem is with the overuse of unanswered rhetorical questions.  Using such a strategy often makes the writer appear hostile.    Finally, sometimes writers forget to include a works cited page.