Refining the Second Draft: Strengthening Your College Essay

Purpose of the Second Draft Essay Structure Thesis Statement The second draft is an opportunity to add, remove, or reorganize content to better support the essay's thesis and overall argument.  Strengthening Arguments: This stage allows for deepening analysis, providing more evidence, and ensuring a logical flow of ideas.  Clarity and Coherence: The second draft focuses on improving the clarity of the writing, making sure the essay is easy to understand and follow.  Style and Tone: The second draft allows for polishing the writing style, ensuring consistency, and refining the tone to suit the academic context.  Grammar and Mechanics: While the first draft may have focused on getting ideas down, the second draft allows for careful proofreading and editing for grammatical errors, punctuation, and spelling.  MLA Formatting: The second draft is also the stage to ensure the essay adheres to all MLA formatting guidelines, such as proper citation style, margins, spacing, and heading formats The 5 paragraph