Portfolio Revision Guidelines
A revised draft of your chosen essay. You should revise your original final draft of your chosen essay. From this revision you should create a new, polished version of your chosen essay, with revisions evident and explained using the Review feature in Word and marginal comments. This revised essay should be your best work of the semester, a showcase of your writing skills and of your learning in this class.
Check for a clear, strong thesis in the overall essay. Make sure each paragraph has a clear topic sentence.
Control your paragraphs. Break up long paragraphs. Combine, expand, or omit short paragraphs. Develop the content of each paragraph fully; avoid going off topic in your body paragraphs. Finally, look for strong transitions between paragraphs.
Introduction and Conclusion: Make sure you have an introduction and a conclusion, and that they are clear and interesting.
Think about the type of essay that you are writing. Are you meeting the requirements for that type of essay? Are you using lots of detailed, sensory description as part of your observation to place the reader in the moment? Do you compare and contrast in a balanced way with a clear, logical structure to lend to your Profile essay?
Length: Check that your paper fits within the parameters originally specified on the paper prompt. Add or cut sections or paragraphs as necessary. Use MLA style to format your paper.
Craft a clear, catchy, and relevant title for your paper. IMPORTANT.
Correct grammar throughout your paper, paying particular attention to avoiding second person, consistency errors with past and present tense, sentence fragments, and run-ons, and also paying attention to properly using commas and semicolons.
Document sources properly using MLA citation style, both in-text and in your end-of-text References page. If you use source material, it must be properly documented.
Check that individual sentences are clear and well-worded. Check that your writing is conveying an academic tone. Strengthen and clarify word choices.
Spell-check your paper. Proofread your paper. Read your paper through once or twice after you have completed your revisions to check for any additional problems. Consider revision strategies like reading your paper out loud or reading the sentences out of order to help you catch errors.
Take a second look at peer comments and any comments from visit to the writing center. Perhaps you did not fully consider comments by peers. If you make a revision based on peer review, for example, you state so in the marginal comments and state why. Use the Peer’s name as well.
Most importantly, adjust the paper as you think necessary to improve and strengthen it. What do you think would just make it better at this point?
