The model of essay writing I use now was taught to me as a sophomore is high school. It is the standard five paragraph essay. I still use a (ever-so-slightly) more sophisticated version of the high school essay. Essay writing for me is closer to algebra than composition. I start with the standard template, plug in variables, create a thesis from the variables, and restate the variables in the closing paragraph. My essays are structurally uninspired, and I'm fine with that. I don't enjoy writing essays. I'm a creative writing emphasis. I like to spend the bulk of my writing time on other projects, so essays tend to get the bare minimum of my creative resources. When explaining essay writing to 1010 and 2010 students, I usually tell them to write their paper first, and then decide what their paper is about. The thesis/intro/conclusion bit comes last. Once you have a body of writing, you look at it and decide what it's saying. That is your thesis. Then you cut the parts that aren't pertinent to your thesis and make a list of what's left. This is the rough draft of your introduction. Once you have a polished introduction, you restate the exact same thing in a new way and put it at the end. That's your conclusion. It might seem juvenile and formulaic, but the western tradition of essay writing is in fact pretty juvenile and formulaic. Stray to far from the juvenile formula, and you won't be fulfilling the requirements of an "essay."