A well-structured, but simple essay is much better than a complex one As students, we were always aware of only one way of writing an essay paper and that was mostly a five paragraph format which was implanted in our heads by our school teachers. Most of us were scared of improvising and trying something new and never thought of drifting away from such a set pattern. As the time passed and with progression into the academic careers, this perception gradually changed and we found out that the structure of an essay as described to us at lower stages is not the only way. A five paragraph format did not mean that you cannot exceed the number of paragraphs, but that this is the minimum number of paragraphs you should write and can include as many paragraphs as you want staying in the word limit. The set format and number of paragraphs were pre-defined just to give discipline to the writing and to organize the material written so that it conforms to the standards adopted by the examiners. This helps you in keeping track of all the information you have in your mind and then arranging that information in a logical order. This is why developing a structure for an essay is the very initial step during the preparation of any assignment. In fact, structuring should be done at the start of any sort of writing. A structure or framework of any essay is considered to lay the foundation for any such assignment. It helps the writer in keeping track of all the information he has in his/her mind and sets the dimension for a work of art. Planning should be done before the commencement of writing and planning a structure for an essay has many advantages. Some of which are as follows: 1. It saves a lot of time when you start writing the content 2. It gives a logic to the entire material of the research paper 3. It can assist you to stick to your point 4. It helps avoiding any complexities while thinking of the material 5. Every major idea can be summarized down and then put into different paragraphs of the structure 6. It helps you to stay within the defined limit of words and also the writer does not fall short of words In short, structuring an essay is the key to a high quality paper and should be the foremost step whether you are a student, an academic writer or a professional one.