Your first plan should be quite detailed. It is often useful to think in terms of a heading for each paragraph with a note of examples you intend using in each one. Say which aspects you feel are worth concentrating on and how you intend going about it. II Main Argument Develop your line of argument through 3 or 4 main points, supporting each point with adequate evidence in the form of illustrations or examples. It often helps to strike out your original opening and if necessary replace by a brief introduction once you have written the essay.
Conclusions are likewise often too long.
In a short essay there should be no need to summarise all the points you have made at the end. If you want to argue a case strongly, it is essential that you should have thought of possible objections. One good tactic is to present the opposite case to your own first, and then proceed to establish your own argument. Most essays move between general argument and particular example and for the latter quotation is often necessary. And don t rely on quotations to be self-explanatory.