Statements to Consider Before Turning in an Essay*
DePauw University Writing Center

  1. My paper is about:
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________

  2. In it I argue that:
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________

  3. This point/argument needs to be made because
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________

  1. While some people who read _______________(name of your text) might think ___________________________, I want to draw their attention to _______________________________________________________.

  2. This argument needed to be made because some people might not know that
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________

  1. The most important point in my paper is that
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________

  1. The best thing about my paper is
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________

  1. Before I turn this paper in, I want to work on
    ______________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________


*Adapted from Dr. Anne Fernald’s English 130 Lecture, Fall 2000.