REVISING THE ANALYTICAL ESSAY

9. REVISE: Paragraph Structure

Revise paragraphs as whole units.

• Are they coherent?
• Do they all RELATE TO YOUR THESIS?
• Are they in the ORDER suggested by your thesis?
• Are they in a LOGICAL order?
• Are there effective and logical TRANSITIONS linking them?

10. REVISE: Within Each Paragraph

Check your 6 STEPS TO QUOTING. You need the following elements in each paragraph:

1. A TOPIC SENTENCE for your paragraph?
2. A CONTEXT for the quote, which explains where in the story it occurs, in what situation? Do you
3. An INTRODUCTION of the quote, that tells us who says it--the author? a narrator? a character?
4. The QUOTE ITSELF, followed by a page number in parentheses?
5. An EXPLANATION of the quote in your own words? you
6. ANALYSIS of the quote, that tells us WHY IT IS IMPORTANT and HOW IT RELATES TO YOUR THESIS? This is the most important element of the paragraph.

Cut whatever doesn't relate to your thesis.

11. REVISE: Check sentences

• Every sentence should LOGICALLY FOLLOW the one before it.
• Don't jump around.
• Do you have SENTENCE VARIETY? Short, simple sentences next to long, complex ones? Watch out for beginning each sentence the same way.
• Watch out for long sentences that get tangled.
• Don't be wordy. Always be as concise as possible.
• Write strong, clear, and specific sentences, rather than weak and general sentences.
• Check the parallel structure of the sentences.
• Make sure the subject and the verb agree.
• Make sure nouns and pronouns agree in both number and gender.
• Watch out for fragments,
• Watch out for run-ons, and comma-splices.
• Avoid the passive voice. Forms of the verb to be, prepositions like of and in, as well as noun-phrases, can alert you to passive sentences.
  Take this interactive active voice quiz.

12. Revise: Words

• Use words appropriate to the topic.
• Don't use words you are not sure of.
• Look up any words you have questions about.
  Websters Dictionary On-Line
  
  

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  Roget's Thesaurus
  
  
• Avoid general words.
• Avoid vague pronoun reference. If you say "he," make sure there are not three possible he's. If you say "this," make sure we know what "this" is. Same with "that" or "it." BE SPECIFIC.
• Watch out for commonly misused words and expressions.

Visit the Purdue OWL for additional Proofreading Strategies

TRANSITIONS are necessary--from paragraph to paragraph and sentence to sentence. Think of how each paragraph and sentence logically follows the previous paragraph or sentence.