Read the work all the way through one time to see how it flows as a whole. Check for places in the manuscript that require extra attention for reading comprehension, including misused words or phrases that generally slow down the work as a whole. Make a notation at a point in the manuscript wherever the writing becomes unclear or you cannot quite follow the logic.
Determine the cause of every hitch. Go back through the manuscript from beginning to end. Examples might include grammar errors, dips in tone and voice and, of course, disorganized information. Notating the reason for each time the work slows down or becomes unclear will help you pinpoint which places are disorganized and which places are just poorly written.
Read for consistency and order. It should be possible to maintain a logical flow of reasoning in the essay by reading the first and last sentence of every paragraph from beginning to end. The first sentence of each paragraph should introduce the topic or main idea, while the last of each should conclude the paragraph and lead into the next.
Make sure there is a beginning, middle and end to the essay. No point that is brought to attention or mentioned in the essay should go unresolved or unexplained. The essay should include an introduction, which should provide a general overview of the topic, as well as a thesis statement or statement of the problem or topic. The middle of the essay should address each point in paragraphs that read in a logical order, with no omissions.
Each topic should be addressed on its own. Information about the birth of a person in a biographical essay, for instance, should not be contained in the same paragraph as the information about the parents, since the birth marks the beginning of a new part of the story.
Finally, the essay should include a conclusion. A conclusion is a final paragraph that essentially restates the introduction and also provides closing thoughts on the subject. The conclusion paragraph should effectively read in terms of tone as the end of the piece. Conclusions should not end with statements like "But no one will ever know, so it doesn't really matter," for instance. Rather, something like, "Fortunately or unfortunately, the world is left to wonder about the disappearance of Amelia Earhart."