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Literary Terms - Essay

 

Literary Terms

Essay

 

An essay is a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative. It is written in paragraph form using both formal and informal languages. Essays may be written in first-person and third-person point of view. It presents an idea, propose an argument, express the emotion or initiate debate. It presents writer’s ideas in a non-fictional way. The topics of essays are boundless.

Essays do not require research like academic reports and papers. They have paragraphs of introduction, of main ideas, and of the conclusion. Essays may be of any length. The length of the essay provides the writer enough space to develop an argument and work to convince the reader of the author’s perspective regarding a particular issue.

The word “essay” had its origin from the French word “essayer” which means “to attempt” and the ultimate purpose of the essay is to attempt to convince the audience of something.

The Essay began gaining popularity in the early 16th century, and their popularity has continued today because in this form, the writer speaks directly to the reader.

Types of essays:

The Essay in Academics – This type of essays requires an introduction, body paragraphs in support of the argumentative thesis statement, and a conclusion

Five paragraph essay - This is the most common type of a formal essay. It follows the structure of an opening introduction paragraph; three body paragraphs to expand the thesis; and conclusion to sum it up.

Argumentative essay - This type of essays explores controversial issues.

Compare and Contrast essay - This essay compares two or more items, to identify similarities and differences.

Definition essay - Definition essay defines a term or a concept in as much detail as possible.

Descriptive essay - This essay describes its subject using all five of the senses; for example, a descriptive essay could aim to describe the ocean to someone who’s never seen it or the job of a teacher.  Descriptive essays rely heavily on detail and the paragraphs can be organized by sense.

Illustration essay - This essay describes an idea, occasion or a concept, supported with several examples.

Informative Essay - Informative essay describes an idea, concept or any other abstract subject with the help of proper research and an amount of storytelling.

Narrative essay - Narrative essay describes a certain event or experience, chronologically.  It could be a historic event or an ordinary day or month in a regular person’s life.It does not always require conventional attributes, like the outline.

Persuasive essay - The persuasive essay persuades the reader to adopt a certain viewpoint. Strong, persuasive language is a characteristic of this essay type.

Examples of essays:

David Sedaris – Laugh, Kookaburra.

Charles D'Ambrosio – Documents.

E.B. White – Once more to the lake.

Zadie Smith – Fail Better.

Virginia Woolf – Death of the Moth.

Meghan Daum – My Misspent Youth.

Roger Ebert – Go Gentle In To That Good Night.

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