1. You need to draft, redraft, and polish.
2. Show your instructor your BEST work. If you receive a marked-up paper, and want to redo it, redo it based on those indications, plus the perspective you have on your work (now, it probably looks to your that you could do better--you can see the flaws more clearly). Then show it to your instructor. If you do not under4stand the advice, you might ask for clarification--but usually, the problems are apparent in hindsight. You really don't want an instructor to see your weak paper more than once.
3. Be your own critic.You want to be autonomous. Hence, you need to learn to reread your work and improve it then and there. You will benefit from a friend's reading as well.
4. Be resourceful. If you have a question or have missed a class, ask a classmate, check the textbook, use the web. Use the "Help" in the computer application; search for tutorials; find the experts in Leavey.
5. Ask questions. In tension with #4, do ask questions of your instructor (or others). There are no dumb questions. But it will make a difference if you ask those questions after you have been resourceful.
6. No excuses. The cows do not want to hear excuses for why they were not milked today. If you do not show up, or show up late, the natural and necessary inference is that this engagement matters to you less than other engagements. Your instructor or boss will notice. The excuses rarely help your case.
7. Don't blame the boss or the teacher or your parents. You really don't want to say, "you told me so." You want to take charge, and say, "I'll fix it." Again, you want to be autonomous.

In the end you want others to think of you as responsible, delivering your personal best, resourceful, thoughtful, and respectful. Someday you will need a favor from others, and you want them to owe you, not you owe them.