Essay Structures
Jonathan Swift's Proposal Structure in "A Modest Proposal" (1729)

Problem & Its Importance
Advantages of proposal
Proposal
Explanation of proposal
Advantages Enumerated
Objections to proposal refuted, conceded, or dismissed
Restatement of advantages
Disclaimer

Form
1 Introduction establishing common ground, ending in thesis
2 Background, definition of terms
3 Reasons (pro points) for the writer's stance, usually one per paragraph, with explanations and illustrations, using various rhetorical modes (patterns of development)
4 Opposition (con points): recognition and response to the most important points of those opposing the writer's stance
5 Conclusion, with an earned, contingent, qualified thesis, more precise than in the introduction
For further reading: Edward P. J. Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford UP, 1971), pages 31-39.