To: WRIT 340 Students
From: Eric H. Roth
Date: April 12, 2004

RE: Editing of Portfolio Papers

Please utilize the list of actions/questions below to prepare your ethics and Illumin papers for the portfolio. Although you don't have the Illumin paper yet, you can still begin to revise it, and, of course, there's no reason not to begin (have already begun) revising the ethics paper.

1. "To Say": replace all occurrences of the "says," "said," etc., with synonyms.

2. "To be": replace every occurrence of the verb to be with another verb.

3. "Of the": revise any sentence that uses the phrase "of the."

4. Pronouns: to whom or to what does each pronoun refer? Is it clear for all readers?

5. Thesis: What is it? (Underline it in your paper.)

a. Why is it interesting?
b. Why is it important?
c. What is your position in relation to it? (And is this a paper that needs to reveal such information?)
d. What do you want your readers to know about your thesis?
e. What do you want your readers to do about your thesis?
f. What do you want your readers to "take away" from your paper?

6. Topic Sentences: Underline the topic sentence of each paragraph.

7. Paragraphs: In the margin, state the following as economically as possible, but using a complete sentence:

a. What is the purpose and goal of the paragraph?

i. Is this clear from the topic sentence?
ii. Do the supporting sentences develop this purpose and goal?

b. How does it relate to/develop the thesis?
c. How does it relate to/develop the paragraph above?
d. How does it relate to/develop the paragraph below?
e. How does it relate to/develop other ideas in the paper?

8. Sources:

a. Why is each one used? What is its role or goal within your paper?
b. Are any used more than three (3) times? Why? Explain.
c. Are any not used at all? Why? Explain.

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