Checklist for Ideas clear message, purpose, or focus (1) lots of specific ideas and details (2) well-chosen topic or main ideas (3) interests you (4) works well for your assignment (5) really care about topic (6) know your audience (7) right amount of information for assignment (8) identifies part or feeling you have about the topic (9) use details to hold the reader s interest (10) 6 Tips for Success in Ideas 1. Be an observer. Notice the world around you. Learn to see what others miss. 2. Write small. Big topics are unwieldy (hard to handle), and lead to boring generalities (things everyone knows) 3. Pick your own topics. This is what real writers do. Be original. 4. Get rid of deadwood. Separate the good details from the snoozers. 5. Don t try to tell too much. Think of writing as a kind of home movie on paper. Get to the point. Then, stop. 6. Don t generalize. Words like good, exciting, fun, special and nice say nothing. They re worse than nothing because they re annoying. They make your readers do all the work.
Checklist for Organization clear beginning, middle, and ending (1) well-organized (2) easy to follow (3) Writing a strong beginning (4) Organizing the middle part (depends on the form of writing) (5) Write a strong ending(6) link ideas together = transitions(7) internal structure (8) holds together (9) purpose and direction (10) 6 Tips for Success in Organization 1. Spend time on a good lead (beginning). It s worth it. This is how you hook your reader and you get three seconds to do it that s it. 2. Have a center. Like the hub of a wheel. That hub is like your focus. A main idea. A theme. 3. Gather information in chunks. Put things together that go together. Group things. Get rid of filler anything you don t need, anything that doesn t fit. 4. Try to see a pattern. Find a good match between the kind of writing you are doing and the pattern or structure into which you put your information. 5. Link ideas together. Every time you write a sentence every single time you need to ask yourself, What does this have to do with the main point I m making (or story I m telling)? Nothing? Then, toss it. 6. End with flair. Nothing squelches a good piece of writing like a weak ending. Good endings raise a question in the reader s mind, show some new insight, leave the reader with a startling image or a surprise, or suggest a new story to come.
Checklist for Word Choice Painting word pictures (1) Finding the right words for the audience (2) Using sensory details (taste, touch/feel, smell, hear, and see) (3) Favoring strong verbs (4) Using specific nouns (5) Choosing words and phrases to capture thoughts and feelings (6) Using every word or phrase to make meaning clear (7) Using words correctly (8) Using language in a way that brings your writing to life (9) Writing is not overdone overusing words (10) 6 Tips for Success in Word Choice 1. Keep a journal. On one page, write down favorite words words like say, rhythm, serendipity, legendary, charisma, sleuth, cosmos, echo, hugger-mugger, and kaleidoscope. And on another page, jot down words you re tired of nice, fun, funner, stuff, special, and so on. 2. Collect quotations. Collect the good and the not so good. Make a collage. 3. Think of another way to say it. Alice was angry. How else could you say that? Quick? Alice was vexed, provoked, furious, fuming, livid, hysterical, blue in the face, storming, frenzied, freaked out, beside herself, ranting, huffy, fiery, pugnacious, shortfused, cranky, bilious, bellicose, touchy, peppery, explosive and agitated. 4. Think VERBS. No adjective on earth can compete with a good verb. So, don t move forward when you could lunge. Don t simply walk down the street if you could trudge, shuffle, galumph, meander, promenade, or saunter. 5. Make a picture. Remember when you were small and (if you were like lots of kids) you wrote mostly in pictures? Add those same details only do it with WORDS! 6. Cut the fat. Words have power ONLY if they carry their own weight. So let them. Hack off the words you don t need.
Checklist for Voice The writer s special way of saying things (1) Being interested in your topic (2) Sounding natural like yourself (3) The person behind the words sounds just like you (4) Engaging individual (5) Fingerprint of the author (6) Knowing your audience (7) Using the right voice for the audience (8) Using the right voice for the purpose (9) Liking the sound of the piece you are reading (10) 6 Tips for Success in Voice 1. Be yourself. Fingerprints on the page. Immediately identifiable. You the one, the only. 2. Match voice to purpose. A mystery story told round the campfire with long shadows flickering all around has one kind of voice. A business letter your firm sends out to recruit new clients has another. Know the sound you re going for. 3. Think of your audience. Who are they? Write right to them. 4. Read. When you get stuck, whip out one of your favorite books and let the voice wash over you. Now, write. Write as if you were writing to that author. Feel how naturally your own voice flows. 5. Know your topic. Do your research. There is no substitute for knowledge. 6. Think of everything as a letter. Almost nothing except perhaps poetry can match the voice of a good letter. So imagine you re writing a letter even when you re not. You ll be surprised at the difference.
Checklist for Sentence Fluency Writing flows smoothly from one sentence to the next (1) Every sentence is important (2) Readers can easily follow ideas (3) Short, choppy sentences have been combined to read smoothly (4) Transition words connect the ideas (5) Writing has rhythm and flow (6) Writing has readability when read aloud (7) Sentences vary in length (8) Sentence beginnings are varied (9) Makes sense and has style (10) 6 Tips for Success in Sentence Fluency 1. Read aloud. Make a habit of reading everything you write aloud. How else will you know how it sounds? Are some parts hard to get through? Now s the time to fix that. 2. Combine Sentences. Doing a creative piece? Narrative or personal essay? For smooth rhythm and flow, combine sentences and stretch some out a bit. 3. Keep it crisp. On the other hand, if you re doing a business letter or technical piece, the last thing you want is a long, tangly sentence in which your reader can get lost. Short sentences make complex information easy to follow. 4. Check out those first four words. When you use the same openers over and over, it has a numbing effect on your readers brains: I enjoy football. I love football. I think football s the best. 5. Don t get breathless. Some writers get carried away when they re writing and forget to separate one sentence from another. Punctuate. Periods are a good thing. 6. Read other people s writing aloud. Find the most fluent writing you can from Shakespeare, A. A. Milne s Winnie the Pooh, Gary Paulsen, Carl Sagan, Charles Kuralt, Sandra Cisneros, Alice Walker the Beatles. Read it aloud and really listen to the rhythms.
Checklist for Conventions Writing is carefully edited (1) Follow the rules for C.U.P.S. (2) Use appropriate capitalization. (3) Use standard usage and grammar. (4) Use correct punctuation. (5) Write a copy free of spelling errors. (6) Run your writing through THE WASH. (7) Use spellcheck when typing. (8) Use the right words, like to, too, or two. (9) Make sure subjects and verbs agree. (10) 6 Tips for Success in Conventions 1. Edit two ways. Many people, even professional editors, find that catch many errors in hard copy they missed completely onscreen. For this reason, edit onscreen. Fine. THEN, print out your work and look again. 2. Read from the bottom up. When you re looking for spelling errors, read from the bottom up. That way, you won t focus on meaning and you won t skip right over words that aren t spelled right. 3. Make all rough drafts double spaced. Give yourself room to read, room to work. Open up your text so you can put in new words, make arrows, move stuff around, make bold cross-outs. 4. Learn copy editor s symbols. Learn to use these symbols in editing your hard copy text, and know what they mean. They re a kind of editor s shorthand, and they tell you the many possible kinds of editorial changes you can make. 5. Start in the middle. Good editors go through copy more than once. And the second time around, start in the middle and give part two the attention it deserves. 6. Be a sleuth. Like a good detective, you have to look so to speak under the carpet, behind the curtains, in the corners, in the cracks and crevices where the clues (i.e., the mistakes) hide. Lots of errors are overlooked by hasty editors.
Checklist for Presentation Easy to read font or writing (1) Use appropriate titles and headings. (2) Spacing is easy to read, whether doublespaced or single-spaces. (3) Paragraphs are indented. (4) One space after punctuation marks (5) Watch breaks at the end of the pages (6) Use graphics that are small and fit the text (7) Use bullets for lists (8) Include graphics as needed (9) Watch spacing and margins (10) 6 Tips for Success in Presentation 1. Take your time. 2. Make a plan. 3. Do your best work. 4. Show your creativity. 5. Make your layout easy to read and understand. 6. Add art/graphics to enhance the text.