Writing an essay or paper, no matter the topic, is a process.  

At the beginning (on a separate piece of paper)

• Establish your topic: state your thesis or theme
          a sentence or two at most

• Define your audience:  is it your instructor who grades you or the Teaching Assistant? 
  Your classmates who will critique your work? 
  A conference of professionals for review?
           Keep your audience in mind as you write

• Plan ahead:  set a time line and allow for unexpected developments and planned revision
          Often a paper is best finalized when it is finished, then revised!
  
• Use good logic in a reasoned argument
  to develop the theme and/or support the thesis
  

Your first paragraph

• Introduce the topic!
  
• Inform the reader of your point of view!
  
• Entice the reader to continue with the rest of the paper!

The first paragraph is often the most difficult to write.  If you have trouble, just get it down with the intention of re-writing it later, even after you have finished with the rest.  But remember this first entry draws your audience into your topic, your perspective, and its importance to continue with the rest.  So:

Development

• Establish flow from paragraph to paragraph
  • transition sentences, clauses, or words at the beginning of paragraph connect one idea to the next
  • topic sentence in each paragraph, also near the beginning, define their place in the overall scheme
  • avoid one and two sentence paragraphs (which may reflect lack of development of your point)
    
• Keep your voice active
  • "The Academic Committee decided..." not "It was decided by..."
  • Avoid the verb "to be" for clear, dynamic, and effective presentation
    (Avoid the verb "to be" and your presentation will be effective, clear, and dynamic)
  • Avoiding "to be" will also avoid the passive voice
    
• Use quotations to support your interpretations
  • Properly introduce, explain, and cite each quote
  • Block (indented) quotes should be used sparingly; they can break up the flow of your argument

• Continually prove your point of view throughout the essay
  • Don't drift or leave its primary focus of the essay
  • Don't lapse into summary in the development--wait until its time, at the conclusion
    

Conclusion

• Read your first paragraph and the development
  
• Summarize, then conclude, your argument
  
• Refer back once again to the first paragraph(s) as well as the development
  • do the last paragraphs briefly restate the main ideas?
  • reflect the succession and importance of the arguments
  • logically conclude their development?
    
• Edit/rewrite the first paragraph to better set your development and conclusion.

Take a day or two off!

Re-read your paper with a fresh mind and a sharp pencil.
Edit, correct, and re-write as necessary
Turn in the paper

Celebrate a job well done, with the confidence that you have done your best.

This last is very important.