Academic essays writing requires certain analytical writing skills. But this should not discourage those who are not sure in their writing abilities. The structure of the academic essay stays close to the standards offered by the five paragraph essay. What you will need to add is just good information and clear transitions as well as the development of the main idea throughout the academic essay.
 
The structure of the academic essays:

1. Academic essay starts with the Introduction. Make sure it is new and interesting. Even if you are talking about some basic issues assigned by the teacher, do not show how ordinary the situation in your academic essay Introduction is.
2. The Main Body follows the Introduction in the academic essay. Depending on the amount of information you possess there can be as many paragraphs as you wish, if your teacher does not set the limit of two pages for your academic essay, of course. But the number of paragraphs is less important than the ultimate rule to stick to one main idea within a paragraph of an academic essay.
3. The Conclusion in the academic essay has to smoothly end your writing. Basically, you have to state the most important things about your paper without copy-pasting them from the main body of the text. An academic essay has to have a strong analytical conclusion that puts a certain dot in the issue you wrote about.

There are also things students prefer to ignore. But it is better to memorize by heart: academic essays require thorough editing and proofreading.