Writing
Structure your argument before you write a single paragraph. Build a clear thesis, add supporting points with evidence, and wrap it up with a conclusion - then export the whole outline as plain text to work from.
Using it well
The most common essay problem is not bad writing. It is a thesis that does not say anything. "The Great Gatsby explores the American Dream" is a topic, not an argument; nobody could disagree with it. "Fitzgerald presents the American Dream as inherently self-destructive because every character who pursues it is ruined by the pursuit" is an argument, and it tells you exactly what the body paragraphs need to prove. Spend your first five minutes on the thesis field and keep rewriting it until it is a claim someone could push back on.
Each supporting point should be a reason the thesis is true, not a topic related to it. A good test is to put "because" between the thesis and the point and see if the sentence works. Under each point, add the specific evidence you will use: a quotation, a statistic, a dated event. If a point has no evidence, it is either not a real point or you need to go back to the source before you write.
Once the outline holds together, the writing is mostly filling in. Students who skip outlining and write from the top usually discover the structural problem around paragraph three, when it is expensive to fix. The writing and grammar page has structures for argumentative, analytical, and compare-and-contrast essays, and the literature page covers building an argument about a theme.