2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Recently, in the higher educational institutions of the country in the humanities, closely related to the knowledge of the Russian language, teachers have increasingly begun to require students to write a somewhat new type of literary work - an essay.
Despite the fact that this type of written presentation of one's own thoughts resembles ordinary essays, there are still several significant differences. Requirements, structure, form, volume of the essay - this is just an incomplete list of characteristic features.
What is an essay
The word "essay" itself is of French origin (essai), and means "sketch", "essay", "etude", "test". Most often, this type of composition is found among works of art. However, there are not only essays on literature: written reasoning is common in philosophy, social studies, history, foreign languages, political science and many other subjects.
The main idea of an essay as a work
Essay means a free presentation of thoughts. However, under certain essay requirements, this assertion can be called into question. In particular, the teacher sets the volume 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 s alt of the whole work lies in the fact that the student on paper independently expresses his thoughts and opinions regarding this or that aspect, interprets his personal attitude to certain problems and describes his views. In this regard, the essay genre can be of different colors - critical, philosophical, journalistic.
Practical use
Essay, which has been successfully used in Western education systems for many years, helps organize your thoughts, expressing them clearly in writing, promotes creative thinking and broadens the horizons of students. In addition, in the process of writing, 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 science, history and political science.
Key Features
In 2004, the Russian scientist M. Yu. Brandt singled out and most accurately described the main features of the essay:
- specific theme underlying each essay;
- comprehension of the problem and direct perception of it by the author himself;
-short essay;
- free structure;
- narration is free, not limited by strict limits;
- the presence of original and non-trivial author's judgments;
- 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 issue, as well as some examples illustrating it.
Difference from term papers, essays, essays
An essay differs from other written works mainly in its main features. Consider these features in more detail:
- Structure. The term paper has a strictly regulated order: title page, table of contents, introduction, a logical chain of topics, including chapters, paragraphs and paragraphs, conclusion, bibliography and applications. The essay form does not imply such a rigid framework. Although the information is presented in an orderly manner, but without proof of the relevance of the problem, without setting specific goals and objectives.
- Style. Diploma, term papers and abstracts are written exclusively in a scientific or academic style. The essay is presented in free language, but the sentences must be literate, and the speech well-delivered.
- Specific information. If in scientific papers an abundance of numbers, dates, theses (often not very necessary) is welcomed, then in an essay on literature or any other subjectjust a few, but very vivid and memorable examples will suffice.
- No quotes or references. Quotations are not allowed in free essays: remember that our essay is personal judgments and thoughts.
Some teachers confuse students by calling an essay a composition. This is not entirely true. The essay has a colloquial intonation, the topic is retold figuratively, the text is decorated with aphorisms, and judgments in it can often contradict each other.
Structure
In each essay, you can highlight some structure, which, in general, is not regulated by anything, but still takes place.
A brief digression into the problem under consideration makes a conditional introduction to the essay. The beginning, as a rule, has no more than two paragraphs, takes about 15-30% of the entire 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 main part 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 the essay is illustrated, the better it will show the author's consistency in the ability to reason descriptively and support his speech with arguments.
The third and last part of each article is the conclusion. It 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 briefly summarizeresults, leaving a slight understatement.
Following all the described principles when writing an essay, you will be able to attract the attention of the teacher and make a good impression on him.
Volume
Quite a lot of controversy raises questions about how long an 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 a judgment about his work as a whole.
A standard essay takes about three A4 sheets, filled out on one side. However, the essay may well fit both on one page and on seven. The volume of the essay also depends to a large extent on the skill of the author himself and the manner of his explanation.
Essay Requirements
Due to the fact that essays are increasingly included in competitive programs for admission as a certification tool, 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 ideas and views of the reviewer, 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. Sentences should be short but meaningful. Avoid lengthyreasoning, do not get distracted from the topic. Write to the point, but not too sparingly. If you follow these simple rules, the chances that your essay will be read to the end increase significantly. A pre-written outline will also help organize your thoughts and keep your paragraphs concise and interesting in content.
Be prepared for the fact that you can be asked both a specific topic and be allowed to independently search for a subject of discussion. Since the second option is the most common, choose 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 say on a given topic, try to study the examples. Essays in social science or philosophy are much easier to find than in economics or law, but after studying similar materials, the model for a future article will still begin to emerge.
You should seriously prepare for a serious task. Try to find as much information as possible on the topics covered. Explore the different points of view and motives of stakeholders - this will help you to most fully form a picture of your own worldview and describe it in the most meaningful way in a future essay.
Preparing and writing
To simplify your task and put your thoughts in order, which will later be put on paper, writers recommend taking into account the following tips for preparing and writing an essay:
- plan your essay;
- create a draftwork option;
- Enclose each idea in a separate paragraph;
- complete the resulting essay with new passages;
- correct the order of presentation;
- come up with an interesting, memorable headline.
As for organizational issues, distribute the stages of work, do not try to do everything in one day, if this is a fairly voluminous work. Do not overload your head with information and remember that the essay written the day before will be read in the morning a little differently than immediately after many hours of work.
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