Argumentative Paper Checklist
Do you begin with a comprehensive summary of the article, mentioning in the first sentence the full name of the author and the title of the article in quotes because it is a minor title? Do you avoid wordiness such as in Mary Ray Worley’s article “Fat and Happy” she argues that . . .Do you mention the author’s last name or a pronoun replacement throughout the summary so that it is clear that all the ideas in the summary are his?
Do you do the required objective summary of the article with no evaluation on your part?
Is your summary accurate and precise, saying what s/he said but paraphrased in your own words and your own sentence constructions, using no quotations from the article?
Does your summary give your readers a sense of closure, so they are clear that the material that follows the summary is the introduction to your argument?
In your introductory paragraph and throughout your essay, do you avoid the use of I, and we, and you, writing only in third person.
Does your introduction (and your essay as a whole) state your points of disagreement with the author, signaling in each point your disagreement by a key word or phrase: “Worley has a number of problematic claims, assumptions and logic problems” or “Worley is wrong when she argues that” or “Critser is misguided in his belief that” or “What Worley fails to consider is” etc.
In your introduction do you use transitions such as first, second, third, finally when you move from one point of disagreement to the next?
Do you list your points of disagreement in the order you discuss them in your paper?
Do you merely state your points of disagreement/agreement in the introduction, refraining from arguing them because it will confuse your reader into thinking you have already started the body of your paper? Do you signal your disagreement by key words?
Does every body paragraph in your paper begin with the author’s last name or a pronoun substitute followed by a summary or explanation of one of the problems/agreements with the article?
Is that problem/agreement clearly explained, so your readers can easily tell what claim, assumption, logic problem, evidence problem/agreement you are referring to without looking back at the article?
Do you avoid beginning paragraphs with quotations?
In each body paragraph do you provide sufficient argumentation and evidence that the author’s claim or assumption is invalid, or that he does indeed have the logic or evidence problem you say s/he does? Each of your paragraphs should be close to 2/3 of a page long (double spaced) if it is properly developed. Do you use my sources (mostly in the form of paraphrase) to back up your arguments?
Is your writing clear?
Do you organize your essay according to specific problems rather than taking the article paragraph by paragraph and commenting on each problem you find?
Do you organize your essay so that a discussion of one problem leads into a discussion of the next problem you discuss, providing transition words and phrases or transition sentences to bridge the gaps between paragraphs? Does your argument hang together as a whole, giving your reader the sense that it is unified and coherent?
Have you attacked or supported most or all of the major problems with the article, performing an effective, convincing critique and/or refutation of the article?
Do you argue against claims, assumptions, logic and evidence problems that truly are in the article or are you attributing claims he never makes or problems his essay doesn’t have because you are not doing a careful and critical reading of his article or because you are engaging in strawman argumentation?
Have you proofread your paper for typos, spelling, usage, and grammar errors, awkward sentences, inaccurate or vague words choices, etc.?
Do you include brief, sentence quotations from the article when they are necessary to illustrate or prove the author said what you claim he did? Have you identified each quote as separated or integrated and have properly punctuated them?
Do you back up each of your claims with paraphrased (and occasionally quoted) evidence from the scholarly journal articles or substantive magazine articles or the videos I have supplied? Do you use the sources fully enough to be clear and convincing?
Is the information from the scholarly articles and the videos properly documented, beginning with a citation stating the names of the authors (and the title of the journal or article the first time the source is used), and does the paraphrase or quote end with parenthetical documentation listing the PDF page number of the original print version reformatted? If the source is a video. Did you supply the time in parentheses? If the source has no page number, did you do the appropriate replacement information in the parentheses?
If your source has no author, do you include the title in the text or a shortened version of the title in the parenthetical documentation (just the first one or two important words of the title)?
If any of your quotes are over four lines of type, do you properly block quote them? Do you avoid excessive quoting? Please try not to do block quotes in this paper.
Does your conclusion give your reader a sense of closure and reinforce your argumentative points?
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