Obviously you don't write your essay until you plan it.
Or if you do, you'll have a lot of organizational trouble.
And you don't plan it until you go find some information.
That much you probably know.
Okay.
But say you've got that information.
Now it's easy to make a plan.
How? What do you do to create an essay plan? First, see where your information clumps together.
Take a slow look.
You'll see that you've got similar kinds of information.
Keep mental track of those kinds.
Second, label those clumps.
Third, abstract the answer all those clumps point to.
Fourth, move the clumps into the logical order to back up your answer.
And fifth, write it up, in talking words.
Let me show you how fast your essay plan can form.
Imagine an essay assignment on man's return to the moon.
You go to the library and find factoids about proposed space vehicles, about developments in propulsion, about what we've learned about keeping astronauts healthy during long missions, and so on.
You'll sort everything into these piles, and other ones, as they emerge.
The more stuff you find, the more separate piles will form.
Keep track of those.
It's the basis of your essay plan.
You'll eventually decide that all the piles point to something.
Maybe you'll decide that we're actually going to Mars, not the moon.
You'll decide this because you see it said, in perhaps several ways, in your information piles.
If you saw it in your information piles, you can prove it.
Write that answer down.
Then in separate sections write each pile's contribution to that answer.
You'll find this writes fast.
There is no writer's block if you have this essay plan in place.