Have I answered the question asked?
Do I back up each point that I make with an example? Have I used concrete and personal examples?
Have I been specific? (Go on a generalities hunt. Turn the generalities into specifics.)
Could anyone else have written this essay?
What does it say about me? After making a list of all the words you have used within the essay -- directly and indirectly -- to describe yourself, ask: Does this list accurately represent me?
Does the writing sound like me? Is it personal and informal rather than uptight or stiff?
Regarding the introduction, is it personal? Is it too general? Can the essay get along without it?
What about the essay makes it memorable?
STRUCTURE
The meaning of an essay can be obscured by not properly ordering your ideas. Your essay should be a roadmap leading the reader to an inevitable conclusion.
To check the overall structure of your essay, conduct a first-sentence check. Write down the first sentence of every paragraph in order. Read through them one after another and ask the following:
o Would someone who was reading only these sentences still understand exactly what I am trying to say?
o Do the first sentences express all of my main points?
o Do the thoughts flow naturally, or do they seem to skip around or come out of left field?