Essay Checklist

Use the following checklist to thoughtfully revise your assignment. Attention to these details must become automatic for you. Assignments that disregard these details will be considered late and returned to the student for correction.

  1. __________ I HAVE READ MY ESSAY ALOUD.
  2. __________ 12-point Times New Roman font - A serif font like TNR is gentler on readers’ eyes than other fonts.
  3. __________ Double-spaced - This adds to the readability of your essay and provides room for your teacher to comment.
  4. __________ One-inch margins - Go to File, Page Set Up, and then set each side to 1.
  5. __________ Page number - Go to Insert, Page Number, Top of Page, and then type your name in front of the page number. Change the font to TNR 12-point. With your cursor in front of your name, hit enter two times so that the page number will not be cut off when you print your assignment.
  6. __________ Heading - This should be four lines long and include your name, teacher’s name, class name, and the date in day month year format. This is double spaced. Please use the appropriate title and spelling of your teacher’s name. Do not add extra space between the header and the title.
  7. __________ Creative title, centered - Do not underline, enlarge, or bold it. If you include the title of a novel/play in your title, be sure to italicize only the name of the play. Titles of short stories go in quotation marks. Do not add extra space between the title and the first paragraph.
  8. __________ Indents at the beginning of each paragraph - ½” (hit tab once)
  9. __________ Write out any contractions you wrote. (Leave any contractions in the quotes alone.)
  10. __________ Be sure you have a transitional word or phrase between your sets of ABC.
  11. __________ Use the present tense when discussing the play: Brutus stabs Caesar not Brutus stabbed Caesar. Use ACTIVE verbs, too: Brutus stabs Caesar...not Brutus is stabbing Caesar.
  12. __________ Edit out instances of you/your that you wrote. (Leave any you/your in the quotes alone.)
  13. __________ Be sure your quotations are blended smoothly into your writing and are not hanging out on their own. (Quote integration) The best way to do this is to set the scene for the reader.
  14. __________ Cite each quote using the following format (author #) like (Golding 23). If you’re quoting Shakespeare use (Shakespeare Act, scene, line) like (Shakespeare II, iii, 23-27). The period goes after the parentheses.
  15. Double-check capitalization.
ESSAYCHECKLIST.pdf