Drafting an Essay:

An essay can be drafted in any order. You do not have to draft your introduction
first and your conclusion last. In fact, it usually works best if your introduction is
the last thing you draft. By the time your essay has been completed, you know
exactly what you have discussed in your essay and so can construct a concise,
well-worded introduction based on your essay rather than your essay based
around your introduction.

Drafting an outline to your essay is one of the most helpful things you can do in
order to create a coherent piece of writing.

As you are reading and re-reading the texts you are using, highlight key
passages that are candidates for quotations in your essay. A good indicator to
tell if a quotation is important or not is “Does it reveal the theme of the piece?” If
the answer is yes, then chances are it is an important quotation.

Revising an Essay:

While drafting may seem time-consuming, it is usually nothing compared to the

time put into revising and polishing an essay.

If you do no other revising, please, PLEASE, PLEASE do this: READ

YOUR ESSAY OUT LOUD. Read it to your mom, your dad, your dog,
your cat, your little brother, your big sister, your grandmother, your uncle, the guy
beside you at the bus stop, to yourself, as long as it is spoken aloud. It might
sound amazing in your head, but until it is out in the open, you will not (I
guarantee you) find all of your errors in flow, in conventions, in structure and
every other error essay writers make.