Development: An essay is well developed when every claim you make is supported by evidence, details, and reasons, (in Lit essays this is from the text - examples and quotations). A well-developed essay does not claim anything without offering evidence to show why or how it is included in relation to the topic/thesis. Topic sentences forward the development of your ideas.

Organization: Strong essays are well organized into paragraphs. Each paragraph focuses on a single idea—often this one idea can be conveyed in a single topic sentence—and displays a logical strategy for conveying its information. Each paragraph should be unified by intelligent use of explanations, transitions and key words, with of course, evidence. Similarly, a good writer uses transitions to link paragraphs into a sequence. This sequence of paragraphs should be logical and should serve to support the essay’s thesis. (NB your topic sentences should not be repeated in each paragraph, as your are showing a developed response.)

Audience Awareness: Good writers tailor their essay tone towards the needs of the audience, or reader. A writer with good audience awareness also does not make unfair assumptions about the reader’s gender, race, religion, class, sexuality, or value system. Who is your audience when you write your Lit essay? Answer: your teacher or your examiner. You can assume that they know your text.

Correctness: Strong essays display correct sentence grammar, punctuation, sentence unity, agreement, syntax, and spelling. For Lit essays your register needs to be formal and non-judgemental.

 Research and Citations: When it’s called for, you should know how to find and correctly cite outside information to support your arguments. In Lit essays most if not all of your citations will come from the focus text. Ensure you are consistent (MLA).