What is “sustained judgement” and how can I make sure I have it throughout my essay?

Unlike most GCSE history essays where you present the for and against cases for the question and come to a judgement in the conclusion, sustained judgement means you are letting the reader know throughout the essay what your answer to the question is. For example, if my question is “what was the main cause of the end of the Cold War?” and I have decided that my answer is the policies of Gorbachev I need to make it clear from the introduction through to the conclusion that this is what I think. One simple way to sustain your judgement is to briefly challenge the points/factors in your essay that don’t agree with your overall conclusion. You can do this in one or two sentences. Going back to my previous example, if one of the other causes of the Cold War I mention is the policies of Ronald Reagan then I can briefly challenge it by explaining why I think it is a less important factor e.g. “However, Reagan’s policies would not have had as much effect if it wasn’t for the accommodating nature of Gorbachev etc.”. In just a brief sentence I have reminded the reader which factor/cause I believe is the answer to the question. Doing this consistently throughout your essay is likely to get you into higher grade boundaries and will come in handy at university.