Evaluate your writing.

• Did you follow the explicit and implicit instructions for your document ?

Most people submiting cupons for refunds, participation in a contest have their materials discarded because they did not follow the "rules" ( submit on a 3 by 4 card, with the prooduct UPC from the package attached, with the original bill). Most students loose valuable points beause they did not follow the "rules" (outline or paragraph form, typed or hand written, name on the top right or a title page).

Read and listen carefully and perform the written assignment appropriate to the rules set by the instructor.  If in doubt write at a more formal level (eg. do they want references? Include references when in doubt. Few if any instructors will count off for having a little more then they asked for.
 

• Editing Checklist

Content
Does the writer have something to say?
Is it said with relative completeness--that is, with a sufficient number of specific details, examples,  "reasons, illustrations, and so on?
Does the writer project authority, that is, a grasp of the material? the subject interesting?
Is the presentation convincing?
Is the chosen subject worth writing about--that is, is it a suitable choice and does thetreatment have some substance?

Organization
Does the piece have a good and appropriate opening?
Does the piece have a fitting conclusion that gives a sense of closure, of completeness?
Are the materials arranged in logical and readable order?
Is the organizing principle clear and well focused?
/If not, how could the organization be improved?
Are there sufficient transitions so that the piece flows smoothly, without jarring gaps or unexpected
turns of thought?
Is the point of view or tone appropriate to the subject, projected audience, and purpose of the  writer?
Has the tone been consistently maintained throughout the piece?

Paragraphs:
Are they unified, coherent, and sufficiently developed?
Do they contain clearly stated topic sentences?
Do succeeding sentences develop the topic sentence in an ongoing progression, varying the level of generality to produce a rich texture that provides adequate exposition of the subject?
Are concluding sentences appropriate and emphatic?

Sentences:
Are they clear and graceful?
Has the writer skillfully used such rhetorical devices as economy, parallelism, coordination, and subordination, order of climax, sentence variation, alliteration, balanced antitheses?
Has the writer avoided violation of sentence integrity such as the following?
       Careless or indefensible sentence fragments`
       Comma splices
       Fused or run-on sentences
Has the writer avoided basic grammatical and rhetorical violations such as the following?
      Unnecessary splits
      Dangling or otherwise misplaced modifiers
      Failure in subject-verb agreement
      Faulty parallelism
      Unnecessary shifts in subject
      Faulty or ambiguous pronoun references
      Mixed constructions

Words:
Are they aptly and accurately chosen, with a sensitivity to connotation?
Has the writer used synonyms to avoid unnecessary repetition?
Has the writer avoided jargon and clichés?

Mechanics
Has the writer observed the established conventions of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and so  forth?
 

• • • • • from Jacqueline Berke,
          Twenty Questions for the Writer
            (NY: HBJ, 1976)