What is essay?

We explain what an essay is and the characteristics of a literary essay. Also, how is the structure of an essay.

1. What is essay?

The word essay comes from the Latin exagium.

• In the first instance, this concept can be understood as the action of rehearsing, that is, conducting tests or preparations for a show.
• The second definition that can be found from the word essay is related to a literary genre . This is recognized by its reflexive and critical character, but without using the scholarly apparatus.

2. What are literary essays?

Literary essays are brief writings, usually in prose . The author tries to present a particular topic and his personal way of understanding it. There are authors who emphasize the importance of understanding the essay as a reflection and not a mere opinion.

The themes of the essays are diverse and their structure is open . Some examples are philosophical essays, politicians, poetics, argumentative, personal, etc. Normally to the public to whom these texts are directed , that is, their readers, they should not be experts in the subject developed. Even your readers are usually very diverse.

There are those who suggest that logic plays an elementary role in essays . This is because from these texts we try to convince or demonstrate something to the reader. For this, the way in which ideas will be postulated is very important. Two types of logic are usually used , on the one hand the deductive and on the other the inductive .

• The deductive logic. it requires that the beginning of the essay be based on the general statements. They will be supported throughout the text, thanks to the deduction, with concrete demonstrations. From this it will be tried to develop the thesis .
• Inductive logic. Its starting point is concrete demonstrations that will then allow to induce broader or more general statements. This type of logic is considered to be more effective in trying to convince someone since the reader clearly discovers and understands how conclusions are reached.

3. How are the trials structured?

Although the structure of the essay is not characterized by its rigidity, as already mentioned, certain authors recommend some steps to follow when writing an essay. The arrangement of the parts of an essay depends on its author but, mostly, it is the union of an introduction , a development and a final conclusion .

• Introduction. Here the presentation of the subject is made by exposing a  hypothesis  or its position on the central theme by glimpse the objective of the essay itself; the way in which the subject will be treated later is appreciated by the author since it briefly explains the content and the subtopics to be covered.
• Developing. Here the exhibition and analysis are carried out where own ideas are suggested and the essay is reaffirmed by means of the implementation of sources (magazines, web pages , books, among others). The topic developed is deepened by using a synthesis , a summary and a final comment. The content verifies and sustains the thesis through an intensive argument that in turn contains questions that encourage the reader to reflect or why not, delve deeper into the subject on his own.
• Conclusion. Finally, the conclusion is based on a combination of the author’s own ideas on the subject, where he may or may not suggest a solution to it through the use of a development closure or anticipate lines of analysis for subsequent writings. It reflects the initial personal reflections, trying to add to the hypothesis new ideas from the investigation.