Our class has been working on using self-editing strategies in order to make our writing more powerful, formal, and clear! Ms. Lee helped us learn about the difference between formal and informal writing. We might use formal writing when submitting an essay, sending an e-mail to an employer, or writing a letter to a government official. Informal writing is what we use when we text a friend, when we write in a journal, or if we are writing a quick write.

Based on these conversations, we created a checklist that will help us with our editing! Find our checklist below:

Self-Editing Checklist: 

Using the checklist below, read through your paper fully. You can make any corrections using a pen. Check off the list as you go. 

Formatting: 

•  Is there a title? Is it bolded? Centered?
• Is your name underneath (By: Your Name)? 
• Is your paragraph indented using the TAB? 
• Is the font easy to read (ex: Arial, Times New Roman)? 
• Did you use size 12-14 font? 
• Is your work double-spaced? 

Content:

•  Did you use a catchy or interesting opening sentence?
• Did you clearly introduce your topic/thesis? 
• Did you use at least 3 reasons or pieces of evidence? 
• Did you use a conclusion sentence and have a strong ending? 
• Were you persuasive? 

Grammar and Formality:

•  Is the beginning of each sentence capitalized? 
• Are names of people and places capitalized (ex: Wirt, Pottsfield)? 
• Is there a period, question mark, or exclamation mark at the end of each sentence? 
• Did you check for slang (ex: cool, yeah) and remove it? 
• Did you remove contractions (ex: don’t, won’t)? 
• Did you remove short forms (ex, ur, irl)? 
• Did you rephrase your sentences to remove “I” and “we”?