Classification and signs of an essay

In terms of essay content, there are:

• philosophical

• literary critical

• historical

• artistic

• artistic and journalistic

• spiritual and religious, etc.

According to the literary form, essays appear in the form:

• reviews

• lyrical miniatures,

• notes,

• diary pages

• letters and others

There are also essays:

• descriptive

• narrative

• reflective

• critical

• analytical and others

In this case, the compositional features of a work performed in the genre of essays essayhave are the basis.

Finally, an essay is classified into two large groups:

• a personal, subjective essay, where the main element is the disclosure of one or another side of the author’s personality,

• objective essay, where the personal principle is subject to the subject of the description or some idea.

An essay by a young specialist on a specific topic belongs to the second group.

You can highlight some common signs (features) of the genre, which are usually listed in encyclopedias and dictionaries:

Small volume.

There are, of course, no rigid boundaries. The length of the essay is from three to seven pages of computer text. For example, at Harvard Business School, essays are often written watchlist in just two pages. An essay of up to ten pages is allowed in Russian universities, however, typewritten text.

A specific topic and its subjectively interpreted interpretation.

The topic of the essay is always specific. An essay cannot contain many topics or ideas (thoughts). It reflects only one option, one thought. And develops it. This is the answer to one question.

Free composition is an important feature of the essay.

Researchers note that the essay is inherently structured so that it does not tolerate any formal framework. It is often built contrary to the laws of logic, obeys arbitrary associations, and is guided by the principle "Everything is the other way around."

Ease of storytelling.

It is important for the author of the essay to establish a trusting style of communication with the reader; to be understood, he avoids the intentionally complicated, obscure, overly rigorous constructions. Researchers note that a good essay can only be written by someone who is fluent in the topic, sees it from various angles, and is ready to present the reader with a not exhaustive but multi-faceted look at the phenomenon that has become the starting point of his thoughts.

Propensity to paradoxes.

The essay is intended to surprise the reader (listener) - this, according to many researchers, is its mandatory quality. The starting point for the thoughts embodied in the essay is often an aphoristic, vivid statement or paradoxical definition, literally pushing at first glance indisputable, but mutually exclusive statements, characteristics, theses.

Inner semantic unity

Perhaps this is one of the paradoxes of the genre. Free in composition, focused on subjectivity, an essay at the same time has an internal semantic unity, i.e. the consistency of key theses and statements, the internal harmony of arguments and associations, the consistency of those judgments in which the author’s personal position is expressed.

Speech Orientation

At the same time, it is necessary to avoid the use of slang, template phrases, word abbreviations, and too frivolous tones in the essay. The language used in writing an essay should be taken seriously.

So, when writing an essay, it is important to determine (clarify) its topic, to determine the desired scope and goals of each paragraph.

Begin with the main idea or bright phrase. The task is to immediately grab the attention of the reader (listener). Comparative allegory is often used here, when an unexpected fact or event is associated with the main topic of the essay.