Essays can range from being five paragraphs to twenty pages or more, covering any topic, whether it's what you learned from your dog, why societies become hierarchies or how themes are shown in a novel. The purpose of an essay is to answer a question. An essay is essentially your attempt to explain your perspective, and a skillfully written essay is clear, illuminating and informative.
Remember, the main point is what you should concentrate on. Stick to the question key words throughout your essay. If the question is given and it asks you to describe for example an important character in a novel, you must always refrain from saying an 'interesting character' or 'admirable character'.
If the essay is assigned, certain parameters will usually be defined for you, such as the length of the essay, format of the title page, and the intended audience (e.g. your teacher, an admissions committee, a cheating website) and what length is appropriate. No matter what, if you're given directions, follow them. A brilliant essay might still fail to get its point across if it doesn't follow the rules. Stick to the words of the question.
A thesis statement is what your essay is attempting to explain and prove. Make sure your thesis statement explains everything you will talk about in the essay. It should also be no longer than 1 sentence.
Now that you've written the body and the conclusion, you're in the best position to tell the reader what they're getting into. Explain your thesis statement, and how you're going to affirm it, without being too specific.
. Every paragraph in the body of your paper should have a topic sentence, usually at the beginning, that supports your thesis statement. And every sentence in every paragraph should support the topic sentence. Follow this rule, and you will pull your reader through your essay, from beginning to end, and not leave him stuck, reading one paragraph over and over, trying to understand why it is there.
Your conclusion should answer the question, “so what?” That is, assume that you have convinced your reader of your thesis statement, and tell her why it is important. Summarize your points and suggest ways in which your conclusion can be thought of in a larger sense.
Good idea is to use quotes or pieces of some historical, philosophical literature.
In the end, check your essay, do it critically, make corrections and add format you need.