What Is an Essay?
What is the essay:
An essay is a type of text written in prose in which an author exposes, analyzes and examines, with various arguments, a certain topic, with the aim of establishing a position on it, following his own argumentative style. In this sense, the essay is characterized by being a proposal for reflection, analysis and evaluation structured in a classical way with an introduction, a development and a conclusion.
An essay can also be the test or experience of an activity or task to refine its execution or to test a hypothesis.
The word test comes from the Latin esagĭum, which means "weight" or "act of weighing something". Hence, it also refers to the task of specifying the proportion and weight of the metals found in the mineral ore as it is being mined before being cleaned.
Characteristics of a test
● It offers freedom in the choice of subject, focus and style and its length varies according to the type of essay. However, they are usually shorter than a research paper, they are expository because they must have a clear and concise explanation of the ideas that motivate them. They are argumentative in the sense that they use reasons that demonstrate the probability of the hypotheses that the author manages. They are reflective in that they do not intend to offer conclusive results, but to provide elements for reflection on a topic. Its purpose is to delimit a particular point of view. Although it has a basic structure, it can be adapted to needs. The essayist's analysis can begin either from the inductive or deductive method, that is, from the particular to the general, or from the general to the particular.
Parts of an essay
● Introduction: refers to the initial section of the text, in which the topic to be discussed and the author's motivations are announced. Development: corresponds to the detailed exposition of arguments, references, analysis and critical reflection on the subject matter. Conclusion: After the deliberation made in the development, the author exposes the conclusions he has reached, defining and validating his point of view.
Types of tests
The classification of essays is usually not easy due to the freedom that characterizes the genre regarding its form, style and themes. However, the following basic types can be recognized: literary essays and academic/scientific essays.
Literary essay
A literary essay is prose writing in which an author develops his ideas on a certain topic, but, unlike academic/scientific essays, the literary essay adds an aesthetic purpose.
By virtue of this, the literary essay does not oblige the academic apparatus of an academic or scientific monograph. On the other hand, it requires originality, attention to language and formal beauty, that is, attention to the literary style.
For example
● Essay of the cannibals, by Michel de Montaigne (father of the genre of the essay), Essay The labyrinth of solitude, by Octavio Paz.
Academic essay
It corresponds to the exposition and argumentation on a topic of interest to the academic community, in a logical discursive order and with a bibliographic basis. Academic essays must always include the sources consulted (bibliography and other sources).
As an educational tool, the academic essay serves to assess and evaluate students in terms of source management, subject knowledge, argumentation and criticism. Although academic essays have no aesthetic purpose, they are not at odds with the pursuit of discursive elegance.
For the purposes of experienced researchers, academic essays develop pre-exercise to test the scope and limitations of an idea or research project (e.g. doctoral or doctoral thesis).
Get the Low stress jobs here -> https://resumecroc.com/15-low-stress-jobs-that-pay-well/
For example
● Essay The perpetual orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary , by Mario Vargas Llosa Essay Popular culture: from epic to simulacrum , by Néstor García Canclini.
For the challenging method and source management demonstration, academic evidence can also be called scientific evidence. However, in its most common use, the term "scientific essay" often refers to essays that have science as their subject. Let's see
Scientific essay
It is an argumentative text intended to reflect scientific arguments and, by virtue of this, it requires rigour in the data offered and in the analysis of the information. Unlike the literary essay, the scientist does not pursue any aesthetic purpose, but to ensure the effective communication of the premise.
Scientific essays are often discussed in light of references to theories, experiments, tables, etc., which serve to present a hypothesis or refutation in the debate. Like academic essays in general, scientific essays require the submission of a bibliography or reference sources.
For example
● Albert Einstein's essays for the field of gravitational equations.
See also:
● Argumentative text Exposition text.
Learn: How to write an expository essay? -> https://essays.uk/how-to-write-an-expository-essay/
The steps to write an essay.
For those of you who want to know how to write an essay, here are some helpful steps and tips.
- Choose the topic to discuss. The more delimited, the better. If it is an academic essay, identify and consult essential sources on the subject. Write a brainstorm of what we mean. In other words, write down all the ideas we have in mind associated with the topic in question, without paying attention to the order. Organize these ideas as a structure following a coherent discursive structure. Write the draft based on the preliminary structure. If adjustment is needed, do it loosely, let the gum sit for a day or two, and come back to it for fixes and improvements. Clean the rubber.
Music, theatre and dance essay
As a method, the essay is usually applied in performing arts disciplines such as theatre, music or dance, to correct possible defects before the final presentation of a work to the public.
Scientific essay
In the scientific field, the test is called a test or analysis which is performed in an experiment to check if the hypothesis initially proposed is correct. It is not to be confused with the scientific essay as a literary genre.
Trial and error
Because trial and error are called a method of verification to obtain empirical knowledge about the functioning of a thing.
When you go with this method, you try to solve specific problems by trying different alternatives. If one of these fails, it is discarded and tested with another until the correct one is found.
In this sense, it is an essential method for finding solutions or for correcting and improving tasks or processes. As such, it is widely used in the area of technology, pharmacology and science in general.
Resource: https://www.researchprospect.com/how-to-write-an-essay/
https://www.nearpeer.org/blog/CSS/how-to-write-an-essay-for-css-exam