Recently, in higher educational institutions of the country on humanitarian specialties that are closely related to knowledge of the Russian language, teachers have increasingly begun to demand from students to write to some extent a new type of literary work - an essay.
Despite the fact that this type of written presentation of one’s own thoughts resembles ordinary compositions, there are still some significant differences. Requirements, structure, form, volume of an essay - this is only an incomplete list of characteristic features.
What is an essay
The word “essay” itself is of French origin (essai), and means “sketch”, “essay”, “study”, “test”. Most often this type of composition is found among fiction. However, there are not only essays on literature: written reasoning is common in philosophy, social science, history, foreign languages, political science, and in many other subjects.
The main idea of an essay as a work
An essay implies a free presentation of thoughts. However, in accordance with some requirements regarding the essay, this statement can be called into question. In particular, the teacher sets the scope of the essay and, in most cases, its topic. This is precisely what contradicts the original definition of liberty. What then should be understood by the term "essay"?
The salt of the whole work is that the student independently expresses his thoughts and opinions on paper on a particular aspect, interprets his personal attitude to certain problems and describes his views. In this regard, the genre of essays can be of different colors - critical, philosophical, journalistic.
Practical benefit
The essay, which has been successfully used in Western education systems for many years, helps to organize your thoughts, clearly stating them in writing, contributes to creative thinking and broadening the horizons of students. In addition, during the writing process, the cause of the problem is clarified, the prerequisites for its occurrence, possible consequences and ways to avoid them are highlighted. The student learns to argue thoughts and draw conclusions. Particularly striking in this regard are examples of essays on social studies, history and political science.
Key features
In 2004, the Russian scientist M. Yu. Brandt identified and most accurately described the main features of an essay:
- the specific topic underlying each composition;
- understanding of the problem and its direct perception by the author;
- a small amount of essay;
- free structure;
- narration - free, not limited by strict limits;
- the presence of original and non-trivial author's judgments;
- the continuity of the meaning of the story;
- incompleteness, that is, the lack of an exhaustive analysis with a specific ending.
In addition, each essay on literature or any other subject should have in its body an analysis of the materials found on this problem, as well as some examples illustrating it.
Unlike course, essays, essays
Differences of the essay from other written works are mainly in its main features. Consider these features in more detail:
- Structure . The term paper has a strictly regulated order: the title page, table of contents, introduction, a logical chain of topics, including chapters, paragraphs and paragraphs, conclusion, list of references and applications. The form of the essay does not imply such a rigid framework. The information, although presented in an orderly form, but without proof of the relevance of the problem, without setting specific goals and objectives.
- The style . Graduation, term papers and essays are written exclusively in a scientific or academic style. The essay is presented in a free language, but the proposals should be literate, and the speech well-posed.
- Specific information. If in scientific papers an abundance of numbers, dates, theses (often not very necessary) are welcomed, then in an essay on literature or any other subject literally a few, but very vivid and memorable examples will suffice.
- Lack of quotes and links. In free essays, quotes are unacceptable: remember that our essay is personal judgments and thoughts.
Some teachers confuse students by calling an essay an essay. This is not entirely true. The essay contains conversational intonation, the theme is retold figuratively, the text is decorated with aphorisms, and judgments in it can often contradict each other.
Structure
In each essay, a certain structure can be distinguished, which, in general, is not regulated by anything, but still takes place.
A brief digression into the problem under consideration makes a conditional entry into the essay. The beginning, as a rule, has no more than two paragraphs, takes about 15-30% of the whole essay and outlines the essence of the problem. It is important to make the introduction so that it interests the reader, motivates him to further study the article.
The introduction is followed by the bulk of the essay. The volume of words of this fragment should be at least 50% of the text. In the main part, the author’s judgment is revealed, relevant arguments and examples are given. The brighter the idea of an essay will be illustrated, the better it will show the author’s consistency in the ability to reasonably and reasonably support his speech.
The third and last part of each article is a conclusion. She is the shortest - only about 10-15%. In conclusion, it is permissible to emphasize the main idea, draw conclusions regarding the problem under consideration and summarize briefly, leaving a slight understatement.
Following all the described principles when writing an essay, you can attract the attention of the teacher and make a good impression on him.
Volume
Quite a lot of controversy raises questions about how much essay should have. It all depends on the requirements of the teacher, as well as the topic of the article itself. Agree that the analysis of a certain poem of the poet will take much less pages than the judgment of his work as a whole.
A standard essay takes about three sheets of A4 format, filled on one side. However, the essay may well fit both on one page and on seven. The volume of the essay also largely depends on the skill of the author himself and the manner in which he is explained.
Essay Requirements
Due to the fact that essays as an instrument of certification are increasingly being included in competitive programs upon admission, it is important to know some of the requirements that apply to them in most universities in the country.
One of the main roles is played by the human factor. In other words, the essay will be checked by a teacher with whom you are most likely not familiar. In addition, in addition to your work, he will need to process many other articles. Therefore, regardless of the inspector’s ideas and views, it is important to impress him, to “catch” attention.
In this regard, it is recommended to dress the text of the essay in a light form. Suggestions should be short but informative. Avoid lengthy reasoning, do not distract from the topic. Write about the case, but not too sparingly. Subject to these simple rules, the chances that your essay is read to the end are greatly increased. A pre-compiled plan will also help streamline thoughts and make paragraphs concise and interesting in content.
Be prepared for the fact that you can be asked as a specific topic, and allow independent search for the subject of discussion. Since the second option is most common, pick up questions that you have something to say about. Even better, if they are neutral, then your thoughts or criticism are unlikely to go against the opinion of the commission.
If you have no idea what you can tell about a given topic, try to study examples. An essay on social studies or philosophy is much easier to find than on economics or law, but after studying similar materials, the model of a future article will begin to emerge anyway.
For a serious task, it should be prepared seriously. Try to find the maximum information on the issues involved. Study the various points of view and motives of interested parties - this will help you to most fully form a picture of your own worldview and most meaningfully outline it in a future essay.
Preparation and writing
To simplify their task and put in order the thoughts that will later be laid out on paper, writers recommend taking into account the following tips for preparing and writing an essay:
- make an essay plan;
- create a draft version of the work;
- enclose each idea in a separate paragraph;
- add the resulting essay with new passages;
- adjust the order of presentation;
- come up with an interesting heading that cuts into your memory.
With regard to organizational issues, distribute the stages of work, do not try to do everything in one day, if it is a voluminous work. Do not overload your head with information and remember that the essay written the day before will be read in the morning somewhat differently than immediately after hours of work.