Today, academic exercises begin with writing essays. As an academic tool, essays are useful just as much for writers as they are for readers. In reference to that, this article reflects about the essay and guides the reader through the steps of writing this type of text. It does not make a difference between sciences, styles, topics and intentions, but maintains the independence of knowledge. In fact, the structure of the text is designed to develop composition exercises, encouraging access to the chosen topic based on its antecedents, formal structure, language and development of learning from the essay.