Ingredients of a Perfect Essay

• Plenty of relevant background information. Unless you are writing a work of fiction you need to have information that will address the topic of the essay. Have to hand all the notes, books, articles and other source materials that you are using.
• Time, space, peace and quiet - the perfect essay will come together best if you have conditions conducive to thought and reflection.
• Organise your thoughts. The best way to do this when essay writing is to write down the title and then just go for it by writing a rough draft. Don't stop to correct yourself. Don't try to get it right first time. Think of it as making a sketch of a scene you intend to paint later.

N.B. Writing and editing are two entirely different skills. If you try to edit while you write - or vice versa - you won't do a good job of either.

Now you have the rough draft it is more likely that you know what you want to say about the subject. You are now ready to begin your edit. When you are editing take no prisoners - make every sentence serve the topic of the essay. If you have an opinion by all means express it, but only if it is on topic and you can back it up from your research and study.