This activity works best with a partner who is familiar with the assignment but who is not particularly familiar with your paper. You can ask someone who doesn’t know the assignment to help with this, but be sure to give them the assignment, too.

Step 1: Create the Outline (done by you)

1. Copy your thesis statement from your introduction into a new document.
2. Skipping lines between sentences, copy the topic sentence from each body paragraph into the same document. If you cannot find a topic sentence in a paragraph, create one or at least some kind of statement about the focus of that paragraph. Every body paragraph in your paper should have a sentence in this outline.
3. Copy your restated thesis from your conclusion to the bottom of that same document.

Step 2: Review the Outline (done by your partner)

Ideally, swap with a partner to do the following steps. The instructions are written for that partner, but you can do this for yourself.

1. Read the thesis statement, and check the assignment. Does the thesis statement meet the purpose of the assignment?
   • Place the answer to this question on the line after the thesis statement in a different color font.
   • If you think changes need to be made to the thesis statement so that it meets the assignment, suggest those changes here, too.
2. For each topic sentence, create a color-coded match to the thesis statement to identify the part of the thesis statement that each topic sentence is addressing:
   • Each in a different color, highlight the parts of the thesis statement that you expect to see explained in more detail in the paper.
   • Highlight each topic sentence in the color that corresponds to that part of the thesis statement. Note: You might have more than one topic sentence that needs to be the same color. It is also possible to have topic sentences that refer to multiple parts of the thesis. Both of these situations are not necessarily problems.
   • If there are any topic sentences that do not have a counterpart in the thesis statement, do not color them, but give the author at least one suggestion about how to revise. Remember that one possible option is to delete the paragraph attached to that topic sentence.
3. Compare the first and last versions of the thesis statement. Are there any substantial differences between them? If so, make a note of those differences after the restated thesis at the bottom.
4. Look over the outline, including both versions of the thesis statement, and try rewriting the thesis statement in your own words at the bottom of the page. Do this in a different font/color so that the author knows this one is yours.

Step 3: Evaluate the Results (done by you)

Read through the responses you have received, paying particular attention to the following:

• Does your current thesis statement match the assignment? If not, make notes about how to revise it.
• Does your current thesis statement match the order of the paragraphs in your paper? If not, make notes about rearranging either the points in the thesis statement or the paragraphs in the paper.
• Do you have any paragraphs with topic sentences that aren’t clearly connected to your thesis statement? If so, check to see whether these should be deleted or whether the topic sentence should be revised so that the connection is clearer.
• Look at any comments about your restated thesis from your conclusions. Make notes about any changes you want to make based on the feedback on that sentence.
• Does the thesis statement written by your partner match your main idea in the paper?
  • If so, consider whether any of the ideas in that revised thesis statement could be incorporated into your existing thesis statement.
  • If not, make notes about what isn’t accurate and whether there are ways you could adjust your thesis to make your point clearer for your reader.

And then, of course, work on making these changes!

As with the previous strategy, this activity works best when you work with a partner. Unlike the last one, though, knowing the assignment is not crucial, so readers who aren’t familiar with the assignment can be helpful here.

For this strategy, I encourage students to use a physical copy of their paper. Print it out, and use scissors and tape. Even for writers who work well on screen, this strategy can help you see your paper as building blocks that don’t necessarily go in the order you originally thought.

Step 1A: Prepare Your Draft (print version; scissors and tape needed; done by you)

1. Print out a clean (no annotations or comments), single-sided copy of your paper.
2. Cut your paper apart into paragraphs.

• • Cut off your heading and title from the beginning and your Works Cited or References list from the end of your paper.
  • Cut off any headers and page numbers.
  • If a paragraph runs across a page break, tape the parts of the paragraph together.

3. Mix up your paragraphs and stack them up so that you have a pile of paragraphs in a random order.

Step 1B: Prepare Your Draft (electronic version; done by you)

1. Save a copy of your paper under another name so that you have the original version intact.
2. Delete your header, your title, and your Works Cited or References list.
3. Rearrange the order of the paragraphs, including the introduction and conclusion. The point is to mix them up so the entire essay is a jumble of paragraphs.

Step 2: Organize the Pile O’Paragraphs (done by your partner)

1. Put the paragraphs in an order that makes sense to you.
   • Don’t worry about being “right.” Instead, think about the logic of the paper as a whole. As a reader, what do you expect to read first, second, etc.?
   • Check paragraphs that are a full page long or more. If you see a paragraph that seems too long, see if you can find a place to split that paragraph. If you do, either cut the paragraph apart (print) or and add a paragraph break (electronic). In a comment or note right at that paragraph break, make any suggestions you have for transitions that would help a reader understand how these parts are related.
   • Make connections among short paragraphs that seem to belong together. If you see paragraphs that are too short and that belong together (or that belong with another longer paragraph), tape those pieces together (print) or put them together in a paragraph (electronic) in the order you think the ideas should appear. In a comment or note where you joined the paragraphs, make any suggestions for helping the blended paragraph hold together well, including any additions or deletions you think are needed.
   • Make suggestions for short paragraphs that don’t connect. If you see a short paragraph that doesn’t belong with another paragraph but that you think is important enough to keep, make suggestions for developing the paragraph more fully. You should still place that paragraph where you think it belongs logically.
   • Point out junk. If you see a paragraph that you think doesn’t belong, make a note of that and why you think it shouldn’t be in the paper. Put this paragraph at the bottom of the pile (print) or leave that paragraph at the very end with some spaces between it and the rest of the paper (electronic).
   • Feel free to leave your partner other notes, but keep the focus on the organization.
2. Once you have an order that you think works, number the paragraphs (print) or save the file (electronic), and return the version with your organization to your partner.

Part 3: Review the Organization (done by you)

1. Compare the order in which you received the paper from your partner with the order it was in before you jumbled it. Make note of any differences and whether or not you like the changes.
2. Ask your partner about any of their decisions that you want to understand better.
3. Write up notes on what, if anything, you are going to change based on this feedback.

Unlike some of the activities, I’ve suggested, this one tends to work better if you do it yourself. This is because you know best which sentences (or parts of sentences) are your ideas and which are coming from sources.

Part 1: Highlighting

Using the highlighting feature in your word processor or actual highlighters on print versions, do the following:

1. Highlight or otherwise mark all the supporting evidence in the body of your paper in one color. For the purposes of this analysis, ignore your introduction and conclusion.
   • From textual sources, this would include quotations and paraphrases, facts, examples, and background information. Include the attributive tags and citations in these highlights.
   • You can also do this with evidence from personal experience and observations or data that you have personally collected. These would be considered evidence in projects that don’t rely heavily on published sources.
2. Using a different color, highlight or otherwise mark differently all of the explanations of that evidence that you have provided. This material should all be coming from your own ideas. Note: You may have sentences that are part evidence and part explanation. That is perfectly fine.
3. Be sure that you have highlighted every sentence in the body of your paper.

Part 2: Analyzing Your Balance

1. Determine the rough percentage.

• • You can eyeball this by scrolling out the view on your screen so that you can see all of the pages in your project.
  • If you are working on a print version, you can lay out all of the pages side-by-side.
  • If you’d like to be more precise, you can count up the number of lines of text in your paper and then the number of lines of each color (though this probably isn’t necessary and could be a waste of time).

2. If the percentage is weighted too heavily in favor of either evidence or explanation, make notes about what you might alter to bring the project closer to where you want it, keeping these notes handy when you shift to paragraph-level revisions.
3. If there are particular paragraphs that may be too heavy in one or the other, make note to examine those paragraphs in more detail when you are revising paragraphs. Keep in mind that sometimes you will need paragraphs that are heavily weighted in one direction or the other, so specific paragraphs may not be a problem, as long as the overall balance is what you want.