Slowly as it is, I realized that I am better at doing something simple but tedious than tasks of complexity that require efforts. That to be said, there is not much I can do. Luckily, academic writing is among one of the few that I can do. So, I am going to talk about it with you.
Starting with the introduction. The purpose of an essay is to inform (most of the times), and introductions are to brief your audience of the content. You might also want to give intelligent facts that will receive attentions in this section. It is important to entertain your readers while educating them.
In the next few paragraphs, you will discuss your idea/topic in detail. My recommendation is that do not complicate your content with redundant ideas, sentiments and so on. Explain yourself as concise as possible, but it does not mean not to add salt to your writing. Remember, good content is based upon good writing skills.
Then the conclusion. It is intended for you to summarize the above content, ideas you presented in the previous paragraphs. However, avoid to restate yourself in the same words. Repetition is the killer of interests. Apart from that, try to conclude the essay with a quote-ish sentence that will retain with the readers. This will further impress the content to the readers.
That is the overall format of an academic essay. Good luck with it and may you will rid yourself of this trivia soon.