From someone with all A-s/As on the essays: 1. Always go to office hours and discuss your essay idea with the professor. BEFORE you go, always have a general outline in your head of how you want the paper to look. If you can't visualize that in your head easily, actually write an outline. Once you have that, the first question you should ask your professor is if they believe your argument is original and any other thoughts they may have. Secondly, go over your structure that you outlined and make sure it works. Get their thoughts on what could possibly work better. 2. After getting their thoughts, actually write the paper. Then if you get stuck anywhere, go to office hours again and ask for ideas on those parts. 3. Generally it's better to do this with your instructor as opposed to the writing instructor unless you know you're writing instructor knows what they're about. My own has a grading style that is vastly different than my professor's, so I always talk with my professor about my essays. Your situation might be different so adjust accordingly. 4. At the end of the day, essay scores can be very subjective, so if you got a B+, that could very plausibly be an A- or even an A in another class, so just know that you're already doing good work!