Checklist for writers
Many writers find that creating their own personalised checklist can be of great help as they finalise their written work. For students, such a personalised checklist can be set up based on feedback you have previously received on your writing and based on any guidelines or tips you have recieved in your studies.
How to set up your own checklist
Consider including the following as you create your checklist. We provide links to other AWELU sections that may be useful if these are issues you struggle with in your writing:
Have I followed instructions?
Whether you submit an essay for examination or an article for publication, there will usually be instructions and possible a stylesheet or grading criteria, based on which your text will be assessed. If there are grading criteria, you can use them to check that your text covers what the various criteria list. Reviewing how you have scored in grading criteria for previous courses involving writing assignments can help you identify strong aspects of your writing as well as issues you may need to address in future assignments.
Reading and understanding instructions
Reviewing comments you have received on previous drafts of the text will also help you when creating your checklist:
In much academic writing, you will be expected to provide references to any sources that you use. Read about referencing here:
What language issues do I struggle with?
All writers need to double-check certain language issues; for some, spelling can be an issue, whereas other writers need to look up prepositions or punctuation, for instance. Adding links to useful resources will help make your checklist useful. Read about common problems on the following AWELU pages:
Here we bring up some common language mistakes in students' writing in English:
What can go wrong in your text?
Here you will find a few well-known grammar problems for non-native users of English:
Common problems and how to avoid them
When you write in English, you must decide what spelling version to use. The two most common varieties are British English and (US) American English. Make sure you are consistent in your spelling and that set your word-processing programme to the variety that you use: