ESSAY ONE TUTOR CHECKLIST

1. Print the following

Essay 1 guideline sheet
This tutor checklist
The rough draft of your essay
2. Read over the essay guideline sheet and your essay. Then develop AT LEAST three questions to
ask the tutor IN ADDITION to the questions that I have included below. (Remember that you want
to focus more on the ideas and less on proofreading.) Write your questions in the space below.
Questions
1. Have I develop a clear, explicitly-stated thesis
that indicates that my essay will present a
college/future career related process?

Answers

Here are two examples of thesis statements

that are appropriate for this essay:

There are five steps students should follow

to pay for college.

These steps will help any CCD students

who want to transfer to Metro with the least
amount of time, money and effort.

2. Do all my body paragraphs have an explicitly

stated topic sentence that supports my thesis
statement AND transitions that connects it to the
previous paragraph and the thesis?
Here is an example:
Thesis statement: There are five steps
students should follow to pay for college.
Topic Sentence 1: The first step to pay for
college is to apply for financial aid.
Topic Sentence 2: Once a student complete
the financial aid application, s/he needs to start
looking and applying for scholarships.
Topic Sentence 3: In addition to financial aid
and scholarships, cash-strapped students can
also begin looking for loans.

3. In addition to presenting my thesis, does the

introduction in my essay hook the reader in a
compelling manner and present any background
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necessary to provide context?

Do I EFFECTIVELY use one of the following
strategies to hook the reader?
Interesting story/anecdote
Relevant and thought-provoking
quotation
Provocative question (not just any
question)
Surprising fact/statistic
An appeal to emotion (funny joke, etc.)
An apt description.
4. How could a body paragraph be strong?

5. How to connect paragraphs?

6. how to make my essay look perfect for the

reader?

7.

3. Take your questions and printed documents to the Writing Center or Student Success Center on
the 4th floor of Confluence. Alternatively, you can use the Brainfuse online tutoring service on D2L.
4. Meet with your tutor, and ask your six questions. Be sure to write the answers down on this sheet
or attach to this checklist. If you choose the online tutoring, you must also ask them these
questions

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5. Before you leave the Writing Center, be sure to get your tutors name and signature.
Tutors Name________________________________
Tutors Signature_____________________________
Date_______________________________________
Tutor, please initial which items below that the student brought to the tutoring session:

Essay 1 guideline sheet

This tutor checklist

The rough draft of his/her essay

At least 6 questions to ask the tutor.

6. Use the feedback to improve your essay.
7. Submit the Tutor Checklist to the Essay 1: Final Draft dropbox by September 21 by 11:59 pm.

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