Checking your work
Having spent many hours (hopefully) reading for and planning your essay and a few more actually writing it, the chances are that by the time you finish your conclusion, you’re ready to drop and can’t face reading back through it to check it. This is understandable but you really need to force yourself to do this. If you don’t check your work, you could be wasting all of the time you have so far invested by handing in an essay which has clumsy errors which will interfere with the fluency of your argument. You will not sound sophisticated or authoritative if your grammar is weak or your structure unclear.
It’s good practice to check each paragraph as you go; you are more likely to be willing to make changes at this point rather than leaving it until you’ve finished and then having to make changes to the whole essay. You may realise as you write that your thesis needs refining – better to make that change now than when you (think) you have finished. Try not to leave the checking until the last minute as you won’t have time to do anything about it.
You can get someone else to proofread your work for you – often another pair of eyes will see things which you don’t notice yourself. If there is no one for you to ask, this is a service I offer. If you are checking it yourself, try reading it out loud to yourself as you are less likely to skim over errors and will notice if sentences are unclear or over-complicated.
Consider the following checklist when checking your work:
| The basics | Have you included the title, your name and, if needed, page numbers? |
| Your introduction | Have you got a clear line of argument? Is your thesis clear (or does it need refining?) |
| Your use of textual evidence | Is there enough of it? Does it support your points? Have you explained why it’s useful? Have you analysed the language choices/writer’s craft and how they affect the text? Is there other evidence that would make your argument stronger? Have you embedded the evidence appropriately? |
| Your use of subject terminology | Have you used the right terminology throughout your essay? Using the right vocabulary will help you sound authoritative. |
| Your essay content | Is all of the material you have used relevant to the essay title? (if not, be ruthless!) Have you used key words from the question and thesis throughout to ensure relevance and focus? Have you answered what was actually set, or what you preferred to write about? |
| The technical accuracy of your work | Don’t lose marks through carelessness – check that spelling is accurate; capital letters are in place for sentences, proper nouns and the book titles; and that punctuation helps the communication of your ideas. |
| Your paragraphs | Do they start with topic sentences that advance the discussion? Do they flow logically? |
| Your structure | Is there a good balance of material on both texts? Is your material presented in the best order for making your argument? Do you need to rearrange or cut anything? |
| The significance and influence of contexts (social, historical, literary, biographical) | Do you need to address contexts and how these might have affected the production or reception of your texts? Have you considered the writer’s message or purpose? Is this context part of your analysis and interpretation or have you just tacked it on at the end of your paragraphs? |
| Your use of critical material and interpretations | Have you presented different points of view/critical readings; evidence for and against these readings; and/or different possible interpretations of evidence? |
| Referencing and bibliography | If it’s your NEA, have you included all the necessary references and a bibliography? |
| The quality of your expression | Cut any redundant words and check that your sentences are clear and uncluttered. If you refer to a thesaurus, only use words you are confident are appropriate and not inappropriately elevated. Do you use sufficiently tentative wording (e.g. suggests that …; it is possible that …; this could/might/may be interpreted as …) Try to avoid repetitive sentence structure and clichés |
| Your conclusion | Have you evaluated your main argument? Is it clear to the reader where you stand on this issue now? Is your last sentence creating the impression you want to leave your reader with? |
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