• Set your writing aside – you have done your best.  Let it alone for 24 hours and you will be amazed at the new ideas and modifications will occur to you. 
• Carefully review what you have.  If possible, get another person to review your writing and seriously consider his or her input.
• Look at the big picture.  Look at what you have written.  If it flows smoothly, examine your thesis statement.  Make sure your thinking has not changed from the beginning.  If it has, you may need a new thesis statement.
• Look at specific chunks of information.  Make sure the information is still clear and relevant.  If you have a chunk of information that does not support the thesis statement then get rid of it.  If you think the reader will need the additional information, add it.
• Evaluate opening and closing paragraphs.  Verify they support the opening and closing of the paper.  The conclusion should refer or acknowledge the thesis statement.
  
  Go back and evaluate the paper with the audience in mind.  Is the topic detail and are the definitions appropriate to the intended readers? 

• Worn-out topic?  Revise it to a new message
• Have you been writing for a grade?  Try writing to inform someone that you really understand and know something about the topic.
• Is the voice or written tone predictable?  If it is not you, be courageous, speak with your voice, and make it sound like you.
• Are you using the five-paragraph essay format?  If so, consider using a longer or shorter style.  If you provide the introduction, middle and conclusion that is clear, concise and well written then what do you have to lose.

• Check for depth.
  As you reread a passage, you realize that the detail is lacking.  You need to understand that detail is important.  If you make a statement, you need examples, definitions and a detailed explanation that will ensure the reader has sufficient information to understand what is being written.  In literature, you can sometimes get away with light detail; in technical writing, it is rarely successful.
• Check for Overall Focus
  Your paper needs to have a focus.  The thesis statement provides this, but your thinking can change as you write the paper.  If the thesis statement needs to be changed then do so.  Review the paragraphs and check to see if they contain only one topic.  Check back to the thesis statement and make sure that each paragraph supports the thesis statement.
• Check for clarity
  Clarity is the idea of unambiguous thought.  The reader understands to which each pronoun refers.  If there is uncertainty then rewrite to eliminate the confusion.

• Check for overall plan of your writing 
  • Recheck your plan for missing information
  • Check you notes for additional details
  • Consider moving information to another place in your writing 
  • Think about deleting unnecessary details.
• Check you opening 
  • Verify that you have an opening statement
  • The thesis is present and is supported by all of the middle paragraphs.
  • The road map is present and is still valid to guide the reader through the paper.
• Check for the flow of ideas

  Make sure the descriptions, examples and other thoughts support the idea of the paragraph and then the thesis statement.  By reading aloud, you can catch more of these breaks than reading silently.

• Check you closing

  Verify that it leaves the reader with the important information.  That it answers the thesis or closes the opening statement.

questions or comments