How do you structure an essay?

Structure is key to an essay, and begins with the process of essay-planning. After you've read the question, take some time to plan your answer. This involves working out which specific points or quotations you think work best in relation to the question, and crucially putting them in an order that follows an argument. For example, on a question about Halmet's hesitation or uncertainty, you could decide to write about the "Murder of Gonzago" scene, Hamlet's conversation with the ghost, and his conversation with the Player. Each of these helps us to answer the question, but importantly helps us to answer it in different ways. An essay should always begin with an introduction - this sets out your key terms and ideas, but doesn't need to spell out everything your essay will cover. It should present your thoughts as an idea or an argument (e.g. "Hamlet's uncertainty is tied up in his Freudian relationship with his mother"), but you have the rest of the essay to properly evaluate this idea - and you needn't agree with it at the end.The bulk of your essay will expand on this idea, pulling it in different directions with the different quotations and contextual information you've chosen. Each paragraph should attempt to say something new, and should always return to the question at hand. That is, why have you written this in particular.The conclusion evaluates all of your points, and often reconsiders your opening idea. Maybe your essay has confirmed that idea, maybe it has challenged it. While you shouldn't introduce too much new material here, the conclusion is space for you to develop your own critical voice, and be a bit self-critical too.