The text in essay is organized in three major blocks:
Introduction
Since the essay is a publicistic genre, no matter how profound the text is, it must first of all be of interest. It is the introduction that determines whether the reader will want to familiarize with the essay further. In this part of the text you need to describe in clear language what you will talk about on the next five pages: what event struck you so much that you wanted to write about it? Most importantly, immediately describe your point of view and key position regarding the main topic of the text.
For example, if you are writing an essay about cats ruling the world, you can tell how because of your cat you get up for work every morning to buy him food with shrimp and trout in the evening. You can also mention whether your text claims to be scientific; if so, mention in support of your words how you conducted your research, whether you talked to experts, what methods you used.
The main part
This is the largest and most voluminous part of the essay. In it, you provide your key points, examples, and arguments. Here you can refer to other authors or your own research, quote or tell funny stories from life. So that the text does not turn into an idle rambling between standup and a letter to a mysterious stranger, start with key theses. For an academic essay they require 2-3 pieces, you can more – if you are already a student, but if you are writing for yourself, you can not be limited to some numbers. The main thing is to keep the logic of the narrative.
Returning to the example of the essay about kittens, you can cite two statements in support of your main thought. For example, that cats are not trainable and do not perceive people as masters at all. Here, research from the field of zoology will help you as an argumentation. Then you can give a second thesis, for example, mentioning how many people have spent half of their salary on an emotionally distant furry housemate who, despite all the toys and goodies, has ungodly torn up the sofa and eaten half the houseplants.
Conclusion
In this part, you briefly remind what your main point was and how the body of the essay supports it. After that, you can mention what other problems or controversial points you discovered while writing the essay. For example, should cat people be at war with dog people, or why do some cats treat their owners faithfully and some cats treat their owners like leather servants? Show that the topic you are considering is viable and can be relevant, especially if you are not writing about kitties.