writing process

When I am writing, I need to have structure. Before I begin a long essay I need to have a thesis statement, and an outline which will give me the basis of what my ideas are and how they will flow throughout the paper. The outline allows me to see the order of my ideas and to organize them so that it makes the most sense. It also makes writing transitions from paragraph to paragraph much simpler. I would never just sit down and start to write on a piece of paper without at least first thinking of the ideas I am going to point out in the essay. Usually I will write out an outline but if not I most likely have a clear idea of what will be going where in my paper. I can not just write freely, I guess this is because all of my english teachers since middle school usually required outlines prior to long essay. But it put me in the habit of doing it even when it's not assigned which allows the writing process to be much quicker. I think it makes things neater, and eliminates a lot of time which I would instead spend making sense of all my thoughts in a huge unorganized mess. After I think I am finished I then have a typical way of editing my paper which is basically just re-reading it myself and making sure everything makes sense, I am usually happy with my papers when I hand them in but I have always seemed to find it difficult to please my teachers as well, which is annoying.