In an academic essay, the outcome that you should strive for is to change your readers' minds, usually by explaining to them something they did not know, had not thought about, or did not understand adequately.
Academic essays raise questions and offer answers.
When you begin to think about writing a paper, don't start with the sentences you will write, the argument you will make, or even with the outline, but with a question you want to raise and answer . You have a paper to write only after you have a question to ask. Read the following introductions and decide which one promises to raise and answer a question. In Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian Wars, the representatives of the city-states Corcyra and Corinth went to Athens to ask for help in their war against the other. In their speeches, the Corinthians made an appeal to Athens's sense of justice, while the Corcyreans appealed to their self-interest.