Online Guide to Writing and Research

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

The Draft Stage

When writing the first draft, you are trying to discover your thinking and to explore the ideas you have developed. In this stage, you should use your working thesis to plan your organization and develop your thoughts. In the draft stage, you should be able to answer the following questions with authority:

Checklist for the Working Thesis
____	Can I state the thesis specifically and summarize the one main idea to discuss?
____	Does my thesis statement suggest my writing strategy and what patterns I might use to develop my ideas?
____	Can I support my thesis with evidence from class readings, research notes, experience, or all of these?

Print Checklist

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