U1.4 WRITE: Checkpoint Essay 1
Purpose
What is a checkpoint essay? It is a smaller, but still formal, writing that prompts you to think about your writing processes as well as reflect on readings and practice writing techniques. Checkpoint essays help you reflect on and improve your writing through practice and feedback.
For this checkpoint essay, you will reflect on writing situations you’ve found yourself in in the past (high school or other) and compare them to what you know about academic writing and what you might need to do differently to advance your academic writing for this and other college courses.
Remember, writing is a process. You should begin working on your essay several days before the due date to ensure that you have time to select a topic, plan your essay, draft the essay, and proofread and revise your essay before submitting.
Lesson Outcomes
1. Reflect on your writing process and growth as a writer
2. Analyze previous writing situations in light of academic writing expectations
3. Explain potential changes in your writing process based on what you envision will be needed to meet
academic writing expectations
Steps to Complete the Task
Step 1: Review L. Lennie Irvin’s Article, “What is Academic Writing?”
You read “What is Academic Writing?” in Assignment 1.3. Review the reading focusing on what Irvin’s key points about academic writing are.
Step 2: Select Your Essay Topic
At the end of the article, Irvin poses some questions for student discussion. For this essay, consider two of those questions and select one as the topic of your essay.
1. How did what you wrote in high school compare to what you have/will do in your academic writing in college?
2. Think of two different writing situations you have found yourself in. What did you need to do the same in those two situations to place your writing appropriately? What did you need to do differently?
Step 3: Plan Your Essay
1. What will be the main point of your essay? What should readers gain from reading your essay? The answer to these questions becomes your thesis statement.
2. How will you explain this (your main point) to your readers? Based on the topic you’ve chosen, what points will you need to include and explain?
3. What will your explanations look like?
a. For example, for the first question, you might think about specific assignments from high school
and think about how those are similar to and different from what you are expected to do here in
college.
b. For the second question, you might identify two times you had to write something important and
think about how those situations are similar to and different from the academic writing you are expected to do in college.
Step 4: Write Your Essay
Your essay will be a 3–5-page response to one of the questions you selected in Step 2.
1. Make sure your thesis is clear.
2. Include specific examples as evidence to support your main point.
3. Don’t be afraid to quote Irvin if you think it would be a worthy inclusion to your paper. (Hint: Some of the
better essays will probably do this.)
4. This is a reflective essay about you. Please write in first person where appropriate.
Develop your thoughts carefully and remember to ask for help if you need it.
Essay Formatting
Your essay should use MLA-style formatting. In general, this includes:
• 1-inch margins on all sides
• Double-spaced text
• Use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman), size 12 font
• Indent the first line of each paragraph using the TAB key on the keyboard
• Include a heading on the first page of the document
o Name,Date,Class,Instructor
• Include a title after the heading on the first page. Remember, all important words of a title are capitalized
Additional guidelines and an example of what a formatted page should look like can be found on the Purdue OWL site. Click here to view the guidelines and example of MLA essay format.
Step 5: Proof-Read & Revise Your Essay
After drafting your essay, put it down for a day or two before proofing it and examining it for possible revisions. Yes, this means you should be working on your essay several days before the due date!
Think of proofreading as a process of looking for any inconsistencies and grammatical errors as well as style and spelling issues. If you need a review of the proofreading process, here are some great tutorials from the Purdue OWL site:
• Beginning Proofreading
• Proofreading for Errors
• Proofreading Suggestions
Revision literally means to “see again,” to look at something from a fresh, critical perspective. It is an ongoing process of rethinking the paper: reconsidering your arguments, reviewing your evidence, refining your purpose, reorganizing your presentation, reviving stale prose.1 If you need a review of the revision process, here are some great tutorials from the Purdue OWL site:
• Revision for Cohesion
• Steps for Revising
Step 6: Submit Your Essay
Your essay should be saved as a Word document (.docx). If you are using another word processor, that is fine. Most apps like Pages or Google Docs allow you to “Save As” or “Export As” a Word document (.docx).
In Blackboard, go to the Unit 1 > 4. WRITE: Checkpoint Essay 1 area and click the bright blue link with the name of the assignment to submit your essay.
1 “Revising Drafts.” The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and- tools/revising-drafts/
Please note that a plagiarism check will be run on your essay, and a Safe Assign Originality Report will be available for you to view. If you are interested in how your essay is checked for plagiarism, please review this informational article on the SafeAssign Originality Report from Blackboard.
Criteria for Success
Your essay should…
1. Clearly state the purpose throughout the essay and include a well-developed thesis explaining to the
audience the main point in your essay.
2. Fully develop each idea using specific examples and details from the Irvin article, your previous writing
situations, and your expectations for academic writing to support your argument.
3. Be well-organized and easy to follow with smooth transitions between ideas with a fluid pace.
4. Use an academic, college-level writing style with appropriate vocabulary and polish.
5. Be free of mechanics errors in grammar and punctuation and demonstrates that proofreading was part of
the writing process.
6. Follow MLA formatting and citation rules.
7. Fall within the 3-5-page count range.
The specific grading rubric with points and levels of achievement is found within the Bb course site. You can go to the gradebook and click the “View Rubric” link under the name of the assignment.
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