Revising and Editing the Draft
It is wise to put aside your rough draft for awhile before you set about editing it and creating a final draft. If you can approach it with “new eyes,” you will be able to test whether it does what you wanted it to do. You will be able to see things that can (and should) be left out and you will be able to see where there are holes that you need to fill. Also, does it stand up to questions? Do you need to shore up your reasoning? It is not uncommon that writers see that their direction was entirely wrong, and they will feel like scrapping it and starting over. Do not make that mistake. Even if you start over, hold onto what you have already written because it will probably have some very good material that you will need in your new paper.
Having someone you trust read over the paper and tell you whether or not you made your point is also a good way to get some objective feedback. Do not let another person tell you what to do with your paper, but hearing another opinion (or two or three) is sometimes very helpful.