Genre features of the essay. Essay features

- (French essai - attempt, test), a small prose work of free composition, expressing the author's impressions of something, his thoughts and thoughts on any issue. The essay does not purport to be exhaustive or definitive... ... Literary Encyclopedia

essay- neskl., cf. essai m. 1. Trial, attempt. I concluded that my whole life since then has been nothing but essays in various fields. 1861. A. I. Mikhailov Danilevsky Dn. 2. An essay interpreting literary, philosophical, social and ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

- [se], unchanged; cf. [French] essai] Spec. An essay that treats literary, philosophical, social and other problems not in a systematic scientific form, but in a free form. Literary critical e. Philosophical e. * * * essay (French essai experience, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- [fr. essai] lit. literary journalistic essay, historical, critical or Research Article, written in a relaxed polemical form and offering what l. general judgments on the chosen subject. Dictionary of foreign words. Komlev N.G ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- [se], indistinct, cf. (specialist.). A prose essay of small volume and free composition on a private topic, interpreted subjectively and usually incomplete. Philosophical e. Literary critical e. Dictionary Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova… … Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

Essay Dictionary of Russian synonyms. essay noun, number of synonyms: 1 essay (26) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

essay- ESSAY, neskl., Wed Literary genre, as well as a work created in this genre, philosophical, literary critical, historical biographical, journalistic, combining the author's emphasized individual position with a relaxed, often ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns

- (French essai experience, sketch), a small genre of philosophical, literary critical, historical biographical, journalistic prose, combining the author's emphasized individual position with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation, ... ... Modern Encyclopedia

- (French essai experience sketch), a genre of philosophical, literary critical, historical biographical, journalistic prose, combining the emphatically individual position of the author with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation focused on ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- [sse], indistinct, with ... Russian word stress

Multiple cf. A genre of philosophical and journalistic prose, characterized by a free form of the author's presentation and interpretation of the problem. Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

Books

• Essay, O. E. Mandelstam. The collection includes literary-critical articles by the famous Russian poet Osip Emilievich Mandelstam (1891-1938) "Francois Villon", "Talk about Dante", "Humanism and Modernity", ...

We are taught to write essays from childhood, from the first grades. You may not have suspected this, but those very essays on free topics (“How I spent the summer”, “What I want to become”, “What is school for me”) is the first attempt at writing by a novice essayist. The first experience you are sure to have.

Writing an essay is not difficult if you follow the rules of the genre. But before you get acquainted with the rules, you need to understand what an essay is.

So, translated from French, essai means "essay, test, attempt." This word comes from the Latin exagium - "weighing".

In the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary, an essay is understood as a genre prose- philosophical, journalistic, literary-critical or historical-biographical. In the Brief Literary Encyclopedia, the essay is directly called composition(in the broad sense of the word), and in the "Explanatory Dictionary of Foreign Words" - essay. In all definitions, the key features of the essay are emphasized - free form, individual interpretation and subjectivity.

The main features of the essay:

1. Small volume: two or three or ten pages - you decide. The main thing is to open the topic. And, of course, do not aim at the epic - no one will appreciate your efforts.
2. Free form: up to colloquial speech. The essay does not claim to be scientific, does not require an introduction and conclusion, is not divided into chapters and paragraphs. With regard to style, the author is left with complete freedom of creativity. However, it is still not worth switching to slang and making speech errors. Especially if you are studying to be a linguist.
3. The presence of a specific topic, which the essay reveals. The topic can be anything - from "What do I want to be when I grow up" (you remember these essays) to "The main cause of problems with the employment of a young specialist." If you want to be published in a local newspaper, choose a specific issue. If you are writing on a given topic, be so kind as to open it.
4. Subjectivity: the personality of the author is the main thing. Remember: you do not claim the truth in last resort. You express your personal opinion. And no one obliges you to reveal the topic to the end.
5. Novelty: say a new word on the topic. The main thing is that this word be yours. No need for common truths. Believe me, your readers have long been sick of “university is a second home”, “my main dream is world peace” and similar phrases.
6. Honesty: Record your thoughts and emotions on a topic. Of course, if you hate your home university or get a job in big company solely because of the money and "goodies", your honesty is unlikely to be appreciated. In other cases, a subjective view will be much more interesting for readers than laudatory odes.

Who is the essay for?

Let's leave aside the essays of publicists, philosophers, doctors of sciences and writers. These heights still need to grow. On the student's agenda is an essay as verification work at the university and alternatives to an interview.

Thus, the main (sometimes the only) reader is a teacher or an employer.

What is assessed in an essay?

The ability to correctly formulate thoughts and write without errors is, of course, good. Moreover, it goes without saying. Maybe the employer will miss one or two mistakes, but a text written somehow, even without checking in Word, will not characterize you in the best way.

The form and style for an essay is rather secondary. Yes, the employer may like creativity. But if in the text - exclusively common truths your efforts will be in vain.

An essay characterizes you, your personality, your skills, your temperament and character. Neat handwriting (if you submit your work in writing), the absence of errors, the ideal style will characterize you as a responsible, assiduous person. unusual shape show your creativity. A clear structure and a consistent presentation of thoughts will indicate rationality, the ability to concentrate and logic. Finally, a grain of negativity will tell the employer about your honesty and courage.

Is it worth learning to write an essay and how to do it right?

It may seem surprising to a student lancer to not be able to write on a given topic. But there is also this. If everyone school essays you ordered for money or safely rolled up from the Internet, an essay may seem like an unattainable peak. You should not despair. Write the way you would for a blog. Re-read, correct everything you need, give it to a friend to check.

It is worth it only if you do not have time, and the topic makes you sad. The essay is not always read, alas. Sometimes written work is needed "for show". However, it is in such jobs that it is worth learning - the ability to correctly express thoughts will still come in handy.

Essay (from French essai, English essay, assay) - an attempt, a test, an essay; (from the Latin exagium) - weighing. M. Montaigne ("Experiments", 1580) is considered the creator of the essay genre.

This is a prose essay - a small amount of reasoning with a free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or a socially significant problem and obviously does not claim to be an exhaustive interpretation of the subject. An essay is a genre of criticism and journalism, a free interpretation of a problem. As a rule, an essay suggests a new, subjectively colored word about something and can have a philosophical, historical-biographical, journalistic, literary-critical, popular science, fiction character.

A student's essay is an independent written work on a topic proposed by the teacher (the topic can be proposed by the student, but must be agreed with the teacher). The purpose of the essay is to develop the skills of independent creative thinking and writing one's own thoughts. main function essay is the formation of sociological imagination in students. This ability allows you to correlate the knowledge gained in the learning process with the changes taking place in the outside world, in society.

In order to understand certain realities, the attitude of people towards them, it is not enough for a specialist to know the postulates of the theory, to understand its methodological principles. It is necessary to show an originality of thinking, a special interest in those problems that do not deserve attention for an ordinary observer. It is necessary for a student to be able to see more meaningful meanings behind the habitual.

Writing an essay is extremely useful, because it allows the author to learn how to clearly and competently formulate thoughts, structure information, use the main categories of analysis, highlight cause-and-effect relationships, illustrate concepts with relevant examples, argue their conclusions; master scientific style speech.

Essay Features

Let's single out the most characteristics essay.

1. Pronounced subjective coloring of the author's position on the problem under discussion. This feature makes it possible not to substantiate the importance of the problem under discussion so carefully and to scientifically work out the arguments; allows you to draw public attention to a problem that, for example, is not relevant at the moment; when addressing the scientific community, an essay provides an opportunity to expand the circle of specialists, scientists.

2. The style of the essay is distinguished by figurativeness, aphorism, as well as the free use of metaphors and analogies.

3. The essay, in a sense, is a "literary synthesis" of similar techniques that take place in other areas of human creativity:

– problematization of the established point of view;

– preparing for some fundamental problem(paradigm shift in science, creation of an artistic canvas, training of musicians, etc.)

In this sense, an essay is akin to such forms of expression as an etude, a diary, a story, an essay, biji, confession, speech, writing, notes, a word, etc.

4. The essay requires the author not only to demonstrate some "amount of knowledge", but also to focus on his own feelings, experiences, on his personal position on what he writes about. This allows you to see the bright individuality of the author, whose opinion is respected in any community.

5. The boundaries of the genre are rather blurred. It is sometimes defined as notes, sketches, reflections, a fragmentary story.

Thus, the above makes it possible to note the following features essay genre:

- small volume and specificity of the topic;

- personal approach to its disclosure, subjectivity, sometimes paradoxical judgment;

- independently conducted analysis of the problem under study using the concepts and analytical tools considered within the discipline, conclusions summarizing the author's position on the problem posed;

- free composition, determined by the whimsical movement of thought, impressions, memories, associations;

- free use of the language - from words of high style to colloquial vocabulary;

- an atmosphere of trust in the reader, colloquial intonation.

Depending on the specifics of the discipline, essay forms can vary significantly. In some cases, this may be the analysis of available statistical data on the problem under study, the analysis of materials from the media and the use of the studied models, detailed analysis proposed problem with detailed opinions, selection and detailed analysis of examples illustrating the problem, etc.

The topic should not initiate the presentation of only definitions of concepts, its purpose is to encourage reflection.

Essay structure

An essay, like other types of written work, has its own structure.

1. Title page.

2. Relevance, which is written in the first paragraph of the text. It should reflect the essence and rationale for the choice of topic. At this stage, it is very important to correctly formulate the question that you are going to find an answer to during your creative work. When writing relevance, answers to the following questions can help: “Why is the topic I cover important at the moment?”, “What concepts will be involved in my reasoning on the topic?”, “Can I divide the topic into several smaller subtopics ?

3. The main part reveals the theoretical foundations of the chosen problem and the presentation of the main issue. This part involves argumentation and analysis, as well as their justification. Depending on the question posed, the analysis is carried out on the basis of the following categories: cause-effect, general-special, form-content, part-whole, constancy-variability.

In the process of constructing an essay, it must be remembered that one paragraph should contain only one statement and the corresponding evidence.

A well proven way of constructing any essay is to use subheadings to indicate key points argumentative presentation: this helps to look at what is supposed to be done (and to answer the question of whether the idea is good). This approach will help to follow a well-defined goal in this study. Subheadings, their sequence may also indicate the presence or absence of logic in the coverage of the topic.

4. Conclusion - generalizations and reasoned conclusions on the topic, indicating the scope of its application. The conclusion summarizes the essay or once again clarifies, reinforces the meaning and meaning of what is stated in the main part. Methods recommended for drawing up a conclusion: repetition, illustration, quotation, impressive statement. The conclusion may contain such a very important element, as an indication of the application (implication) of the study, without excluding the relationship with other problems.

Requirements for evidence and other sources

When writing an essay, it is extremely important how empirical data and other sources are used. All (actual) data are time and place specific, so before using them, you need to make sure that they are appropriate for the time and place needed for research. Appropriate specification of data in time and place is one way that can prevent overgeneralization, which might, for example, lead to the assumption that all countries are the same in some important respects (if you think so, then this must be proven, and not be an unfounded assertion).

You can always avoid overgeneralization if you remember that within the framework of the essay the data used is illustrative material, and not final act, i.e. they support arguments and reasoning and indicate that the author knows how to use the data properly.

It should also be remembered that the data relating to contentious issues are always questioned. No definite or definitive answer is expected from the author. It is necessary to understand the essence of the factual material related to this issue and demonstrate this in an essay. You can not refer to works that the author of the essay has not read himself.

Ivan Kotva

In the XVIII-XIX centuries. essay is one of the leading genres of English and French journalism. The development of essays was promoted in England by J. Addison, G. Fielding, in France by Diderot and Voltaire, in Germany by G. Lessing and I. Herder. The essay was the main form of philosophical and aesthetic controversy among romantics and romantic philosophers (

As journalism developed, it experienced demarcation. Genres were gradually formed (informational, analytical, artistic journalism), genres were distinguished (reportage, article, correspondence, feuilleton, essay, essay, etc.), types were manifested (political, economic, literary-critical, moral-ethical, etc.). ), styles (polemical, satirical, propagandistic, agitational, critical, etc.).

The essay as a genre has been transformed throughout time. As a result, the essay still does not have clear boundaries that define its forms, types, a clear distinction among other genres of journalism. This led to the emergence of disparate opinions of many scientists who speak out about the attitude of the essay to a particular genre.

Essay (French "essey" - experience, sketch) is a genre of philosophical, literary-critical, historical-biographical, journalistic prose, combining the author's emphasized individual position with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation focused on colloquial speech. This definition is given to this genre by the researcher S.I. Chuprinin. Chuprinin S.I. Life according to concepts [electronic resource] // http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2004/12/chu13.html . - (Date of treatment: 04/13/2013).

In the explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Ozhegov Ozhegov S.I. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language: about 100,000 words, terms and phraseological expressions. - M, 2009. - 1359 p. essay - a prose essay of small volume and free composition on a private topic, interpreted subjectively and, usually, incompletely.

In the big encyclopedic dictionaryBig encyclopedic Dictionary. - M., 2008. -1248s. the following definition of an essay is given: a genre of philosophical, literary-critical, historical-biographical, journalistic prose, combining the emphatically individual position of the author with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation, focused on colloquial speech.

Based on the above definitions of an essay, we can conclude that this genre is also a kind of philosophizing of the author on a particular topic.

This means that the essay is not only fiction with its characteristic features (paths, style, etc.). Separating from it, the essay can approach both journalism and philosophy with its endless reasoning.

But there is also a clear boundary between philosophy and essayism. Philosophical thinking implies the principle that truth is more important than mere opinion, and truth is inseparable from its own logical or intuitive knowledge. Essayistic thinking remains on the basis of subjective human opinion. Pure subjectivity, spontaneity of thought and feeling, situationality, whim and arbitrariness - this is what an essay is, according to V. Kovalev. Big Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M., 2008. -1248s...

Thus, the essay is more of a literary phenomenon than a philosophical one. In the essay, the main thing is the author's "I", his reflections on a specific topic and attitude to an exciting issue.

In newspaper, documentary journalism, the essay genre is more often considered as a “hybrid” type of text, where the use of essay elements depends on the individual style of the author.

To answer the question of what style the essay genre belongs to, one should find in it the genre-forming factors of both analytical and artistic journalism. The main genre-forming factors of both analytical and artistic journalism include: the subject of display, the target setting or function and method of display.

First, the essay should be considered as an analytical genre. Essay texts are classified as such by A.A. Tertychny Tertychny A.A. Analytical journalism: cognitive-psychological approach. - M., 1998. - S. 134 .. In his book, he writes that in analytical publication the object of reflection of the author's thought is almost always in outside world towards the essayist. Although sometimes it may exist in inner world author. In this case, we will talk about introspection.

The next genre-forming factor is the target setting. Indeed, what kind of genre the finished text will be depends largely on whether the author of the material aims to describe in detail, in all details, an event or phenomenon, affecting the causes and forecast of its development, while creating analytical material.

The essay should be considered from the point of view and artistic journalism.

Unlike scientific texts, literary texts are distinguished by linguistic figurativeness, ambiguity of concepts, generalization of a specific fact, and classification of phenomena. Another difference between scientific and artistic texts is obvious in the object of the material: in scientific publications, these are objects and events of the surrounding world, in fiction, it is mainly the person himself with his attitude to the outside, with his perception, V.L. Zvik Zvik V.L. Introduction to journalism. - M., 2000. - From 56 ..

Texts written in an essayistic manner carry the author's reflections on the subject, his personal attitude to the phenomenon, his direct or indirect motivation for the reader to act.

If we talk about methods, it will be obvious here that there are means of artistic expression, phrases, words that brightly or subduedly express the attitude of the author himself, etc.

Referring the essay to artistic journalism, A.I. Galperin Galperin I.R. Essays on style of English language. - M., 1958. - S. 175. also puts forward its main functions. What is important is the impact on the audience, the belief in the correct (one's own, subjective) views.

I.R. Galperin, Galperin I.R. Essays on the style of the English language. - M., 1958. - S. 212. puts forward the main tasks of the essay: "You can talk about the influencing function, but this effect takes longer (compare, for example, with oratory speech), that is, its effect is slow"

In addition to the author's personality, the essay is characterized by the presence of several other characteristic features. Firstly, it is topical, the relation of the event to present moment time. Secondly, the availability of means of artistic expression. Thirdly, it is the style of the text that reflects the temperament and personality of the author.

The attribute of the essay should include dialogue. Regardless of the form of presentation of the author's thoughts, composition, the dialogue of the author himself with the reader remains the main feature of this genre. The simplest technique is the presence of rhetorical questions in the text. The reader mentally answers them.

Some types of essays are known. Literary-critical or art-critical. Such works are set by the work of art itself, the author only reflects his view of music, painting, literature, etc. through various means of expression.

The existing classification of an essay into narrative, descriptive, analytical, critical, reflective, etc. is rather doubtful, since any essay text can combine several of these characteristics at the same time.

According to A.A. Muravyova Muravyova A.A. Essay [electronic resource] // http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/murawxewa_a_a/esse.shtml . - (Date of access: 04/13/2013), it would be more correct to divide essay works into: a personal, subjective essay, where the main element is the disclosure of one or another side of the author's personality, and an objective, or "serious" essay, where the personal beginning is subordinate to the subject description or some idea.

So, in the course of considering the history of the emergence and development of the essay genre in journalism, some features were identified. The origin of the essay genre began long before the appearance of the first print media, or rather, with Lucian's "Recitations", Plato's "Dialogues", Cicero's treatises. Also, the ancient Russian genre "Word" is referred to the origins of essays.

The essay genre actively manifests itself in changing times for society, when a fundamentally new, different from the previous worldview is being formed.

Being at the same time a philosophical, literary and journalistic genre, the essay nevertheless moves away from philosophy and more and more relates to literature, since, unlike philosophy, in essayism, truth is not in the first place, but intuitive or experimental knowledge. At the same time, the genre of the essay is more journalistic than literary, because if there is an unreality of the hero, place or time in literature, then the text of the essay reveals the true reality to the reader, but reveals it in the way the author himself accepts it.

Genre, essay is close to analytical texts, thanks to the subject of its display, located in the outside world; appraisal; goals such as describing the phenomenon in detail, giving the event a forecast; thanks to the theoretical approach of the author in writing the work. Even more, this genre approaches the artistic and journalistic genres, since the author's empirical approach is possible; typification of real-documentary reality; the author's emotions precede the place of the fact; texts always use means of artistic expression, and the text itself appears in a free flow of thoughts; The essay is inherently paradoxical.

From this it becomes clear that the essay is a related genre, skillfully combining the features of both analytics and artistry, this is due to the breadth of the functions performed by the texts and the choice of the author's approach in own work. What will come first: a fact or his own opinion, largely determines the fate of his text.

There is an increasing essayization of printed materials. We can cite the most striking example - the emergence of a blog that realizes itself precisely in the essayist style of writing.

A large amount of information leads to the fact that the audience has the opportunity to choose not only the text that is interesting to each reader individually, but also the point of view of the writer and the author himself.

Journalism is becoming more personified, the author himself is no longer an impersonal source of information, now he interprets this information, thereby arousing the interest of the reading audience in his person.

Many people assume that an essay is a regular essay. However, it is not.

Essay is a prose literary genre. Translated from French means "essay" or "sketch". The essay reflects the individual experiences of the author, his view on a particular issue. It does not give an exhaustive answer to a specific question, but reflects one's own opinion or impression.

When writing an essay, logic develops perfectly, the ability to argue one's opinion, and correctly present information. The style of presentation is more conversational.

Characteristic features of an essay

To write an essay correctly, one should take into account the specific features that distinguish it from other genres.

The main features of the essay:

1. The presence of a specific narrow topic that contains a problem and prompts the reader to think.
2. Subjective author's position. The essay is distinguished precisely by the presence of the author's view of the existing problem, his attitude to the world, speech and thinking.
3. Conversational writing style. Complex wording, too long sentences should be avoided. It is important to maintain a casual style in order to establish contact with the reader. At the same time, it is important not to overdo it by turning the essay into a low-quality text full of slang. The correct emotional coloring of the text will be given by short, simple and understandable sentences, the use of different intonation in sentences.
4. Detailed analysis of the problem. Your own point of view must be argued based on factual material.
5. Relative brevity of presentation. There are no restrictions on the number of pages, but the essay is notable for its small volume.
6. Free building. The essay is in the nature of a presentation that does not fit into any specific framework. The construction is subject to its own logic, which the author adheres to, trying to consider the problem from different angles.
7. Presentation logic. Despite the free composition, the essay must have internal unity, consistency of the author's statements expressing his opinion.

Thus, the essay is distinguished by a special style of narration, its purpose is to encourage the reader to think. The author does not insist on his point of view, but, as it were, invites the reader to consider and discuss it.

How to write an essay?

The correct writing of an essay is to understand the features of the genre. Compliance with the basic principles and recommendations for writing will allow you to create an interesting essay.

How to choose a theme

If there is no list of topics among which you can choose one, and only a general direction is given, then you need to consider what audience the essay is intended for. The options may be different: a teacher at a university, a commission, a literary community, an employer. If an essay is written for delivery to a teacher, then it is necessary to consider what qualities will be assessed. Based on this, the topic should be chosen so that it is possible to show the abilities that the verifier expects from the author: originality, the ability to logically build sentences, literacy, professional qualities, etc.

When choosing a topic for writing an essay from the proposed list, you should choose one that has certain knowledge, considerations, or just a strong interest.

If the essay is focused on the employer, then it is desirable that both the topic and the content of the essay reflect the character of the author, his sincerity, originality, humanity and individuality.

How to start an essay

It often happens that a person who has sufficient eloquence and the ability to express his thoughts on paper has difficulty in starting a composition, including an essay. Thinking about the beginning can stretch for quite a long time, which greatly overshadows the process of creative work. Check out our tips on how to start an essay.

Tip 1. Before you start writing an essay, you need to formulate an idea, define a goal and find sources of information for work.

Tip 2. Use the freewriting technique (free writing). Its essence is to write down all the thoughts that come to mind without editing it and not following the grammar, punctuation, style, etc. A great way to help deal with a creative block and find an extraordinary idea.

Tip 3. It is important not to dwell on the introductory part. The introduction can be written after the main part is written. In this case, it is already clear what the essay is about, so it is easier to write the introduction.

Tip 4. One of the fairly common options is to write an essay, starting with a question, the answer to which is given later.

How to plan an essay

You should not strive to draw up a perfect plan right away. It can be edited while working. It is generally not necessary to make a plan when writing an essay, as well as stick to an already written plan. The absence of restrictions and rigid frameworks is the advantage of this genre. If it is easier for the author to stick to a strict plan, then it is worth taking the time to compile it.

All the main thoughts should be reflected in the form of points of the plan. Then, detail it as much as possible, breaking each item into sub-items.

What is the structure of an essay

The order of writing an essay usually comes down to three steps.

1. Introductory part

Like any written work, an essay contains an introductory part or introduction.

A well-written introduction makes the reader interested and read the essay to the end. The introductory part may contain the formulation of the problem and its essence, a rhetorical question, a quote, etc. it is important to create a special emotional mood and bring the reader to the problem under consideration.

1. Main part

In the main part, one can different points view on the problem under consideration, touch on the history of the issue.

Usually the main part consists of several subparagraphs, each of which consists of three sections: thesis(arguable proposition), justification(arguments used to prove the thesis), subconclusion(partial answer to the main question).

Arguments are judgments made in order to convince the reader of the truth of a certain point of view. These can be various situations from life, the opinions of scientists, evidence, etc.

The argument can be built in the following sequence:

1. Statement.
2. Explanation.
3. Example.
4. Final judgment.
5. Conclusion

The conclusion unites all the conclusions made on each thesis presented in the main part. The reader must come to a logical conclusion based on the arguments given. In conclusion, the problem is re-stated and a final conclusion is made.

If the purpose of the introductory part is to interest the reader, then the purpose of the last sentences is to add integrity to the overall picture, leave the work in the reader’s memory and prompt reflection.

The difference between an essay and an essay

The correct writing of an essay is different from writing a regular essay. Therefore, if the task is to write an essay, then you need to consider character traits genre that sets it apart from the rest.

Unlike an essay that analyzes a work of art, an essay contains the author's point of view and his position on the problem under consideration.

Also, one of the distinguishing features of an essay from a composition is its paradoxical nature, that is, the goal is to surprise the reader, to impress him using vivid images, aphorisms, paradoxical statements.

Writing Tips:

1. When writing an essay, you should alternate short phrases with long ones. In this case, the text will be dynamic enough to be easy to read.
2. Do not use complex and incomprehensible words, especially if the meaning of the word is unfamiliar.
3. Use as few general phrases as possible. The essay should be unique, individualized, reflecting the personality of the author.
4. Humor must be used with great care. Sarcasm and brashness can annoy the reader.
5. Reflection personal experience, memories and impressions - great way confirmation of their point of view and beliefs of the reader.
6. It is necessary to stick to the theme and the main idea, without deviating from it and without describing unnecessary details.
7. Having finished the essay, you should re-read it, making sure that the logic of the presentation is maintained throughout the story.
8. The use of facts and research results in an essay is a great option to give credibility.

Common mistakes when writing an essay

Knowing the most common mistakes will help you avoid them when writing your own essay.

Mistake 1. The fear of being misunderstood or not making the right impression contributes to the fact that the author removes everything superfluous, outstanding from the essay. Due to this, the essay can lose its individuality and originality.

Error 2. Lack of detail work. A common mistake is the presence of a statement that is not supported by a sufficient number of arguments in the form of examples and evidence.

Mistake 3. Misunderstanding of the essence of the problem stated in the essay or incorrect interpretation of the topic.

Mistake 4. Enumeration of other people's opinions, without indicating their authorship and the absence of their own point of view.

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How to write an essay - all the rules from "A" to "Z" updated: February 15, 2019 by: Scientific Articles.Ru