Position Paper: General Checklist
  1. Does the opening adequately orient the reader?

    2. a) create interest in the issue or thesis

    b) state the main focus

    c) create expectations about what the document will cover

    d) incite a useful attitude

  2. Is the body of the document well designed?

a) complete

b) concise

no extraneous material or redundancy

everything included is functional

no wordiness, confusion--clear, concise, correct

c) coherent

  1. Does the conclusion compel the reader to act or think as the writer desires? Are the information and reasoning required for action clearly visible?
  2. Is the document in the correct format? Does it look attractive and readable? Is the citation information correctly included?
  3. Is the whole document functional, readable, clear, and correct? Have revisions been fully integrated? Has the final copy of the document been proofread?

 

Position Paper: Specific Checklist

Structure

overall organization

appropriate for reader and purpose

comprehensive

expressed

orientation (context, forecasting, signposting...)

emphasis strategies (heads, visuals, topic sentences...)

coherence strategies (transitions, parallelism...)

 

paragraphs

clear topic sentences

adequate support

discussion explaining the link between support and paragraph

topic

transitions within and between paragraphs

sentences

correct

varied

appropriate emphasis

 

Content and Style

development

each idea adequately developed

opposition views adequately addressed, explicitly or implicitly

reasoning

claim-support relations

appropriate for reader and purpose

convincing

analogy

real similarity

authority

expertise in the particular area discussed

bias accounted for

deduction

premises true?

terms clear and consistent?

form valid?

induction

samples known--acceptable source?

sufficient--large enough?

representative--of all elements?

semantics

used for motivation

thesis statement

precisely worded

expresses the main point of the paper

appropriately placed

fully supported

paragraphs

unified

developed

coherent

concise--no extraneous material

sentences

ideas communicated directly and efficiently

readable

appropriate for audience in tone, vocabulary, etc.

word choices

precise, expressive

format

functional

text looks readable

paragraph length varied

heads used appropriately

visual aids functional and incorporated

correct

follows all guidelines including format and citation

(documentation in text, on literature cited page)

technically accurate

acceptable grammar and usage