Writing an essay can be difficult for some persons, especially if they are not familiar with its rules and structure. This is why this article contains simple guidelines which must be followed in order to create a correct essay from a structural point of view. For a history of essays you can access this page http://ukessaywriting.org/
Let’s start with the title. If you are the one who has to give your essay a title depending on what you wrote, then make sure this will clearly reflect the subject and the theme of the entire essay. If the title is already imposed and you have to write the essay around it, first of all you must understand it very well so that you will then know what to write about. Also, most of the times you have to decide upon a certain opinion/aspect (depending on your personal beliefs) and maintain it throughout the essay. The personal aspect of an essay is mentioned here too http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/192869/essay
After you have heard the title, the best thing you can do is to look for information regarding the subject – make some research work. You can use the internet freely, as long as you always mention the sources in the bibliography.
The introduction is next. This one should include the following ideas written in this order: the explanation of the words in title, a statement about what you are going to write about and your personal attitude towards the subject.
The body is the largest part of the essay. This one is made up of paragraphs each one developing a single idea and including: a statement about what you are going to do in the current paragraph, another statement about how you are going to do that and the part where you do it – develop the idea, bring arguments, include some relevant examples, use quotations and prove your point. Also, every paragraph should end with a short conclusion. Every new paragraph has the exact same structure. In an essay you can have as many paragraphs as you want, depending on the assignment. For learning more about paragraphs go here http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Paragraph.aspx.
Every essay should end with a conclusion that must include: the main ideas stated in the introduction, but now followed by the demonstrated facts from the body and writer’s conclusion regarding them. It is completely wrong and unacceptable to introduce new ideas in the conclusion!
There are also formatting rules. Your essay should respect a format style all along its length. For example, the most used one is MLA style. According to this, your essay should be written with Times New Roman font, size 12 pt. and double-spaced text. You can learn more MLA style rules in here https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
At the end of the essay, on a separate page make an alphabetical list with the sources used/quoted in the text. For a detailed page of works cited use these indications https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/.
Eventually, do not forget to check your paper for any kind of mistakes!
Good luck!