Revising and redrafting your essay

The following questions may help you in the process of revising and redrafting your essay:

does the essay clearly and explicitly answer the question asked? (would a reader be able to formulate the question by reading your essay?)
does the Introduction provide a background to your answer? does it state your overall response to the question? and outline how your essay will deal with it?
does each paragraph in the Body have a clear topic sentence that states the main point of the paragraph? does that main point relate explicitly to the question?
do the other sentences in each paragraph expand on the topic sentence in some way? do they provide evidence or support for the point you are making in that paragraph?
are all ideas and quotes from other sources correctly referenced?
have you shown the relationship between ideas by using appropriate linking words or phrases?
does your conclusion draw together the main points you have made in the body? does it sum up the case you have presented?
have you checked the spelling, grammar, punctuation?
is your reference list complete and does it follow an accepted referencing system?