by: Susan Kassel

I love essays! I enjoy reading them, checking them, teaching my students how to generate them, but most of all I enjoy writing them! You want to ask why. I hope after reading my article you will understand. And I so much believe that you will also fall in love with the incredible world of essays. Let's start our trip from a short background. The word "essay" originated from French word "essai" which means "attempt, effort, sketch". And this translation reflects the essence of the task you are assigned at your college. Really, it is your personal attempt to give a challenging sketch on some engrossing issue. Unlike other academic assignments, essay suggests freedom of your creative work. Its main advantage is that you can write it on any topic, in any style. Essay is your own point of view on something you have heard, read, seen etc. The forefront of the essay is your personality, your thoughts, feelings and your life position. You have a unique chance to enter a reasonable controversy with other authors, as the teacher expects you to show your erudition in the subject. However, you should remember that regardless freedom of the writing process, it is not that easy at all. Because you are expected to find an original and capturing idea (even in the traditional context) and exceptional opinion on some problem.

The title of essay does not strictly depend on the essay topic: the title can also serve as a starting point in your reflection; it can express the relation of the whole and the parts. A free composition of essay is subject to its inner logic, it is an emphasized position of the author.

The style of the essay is marked by its aphoristic, paradoxical and figurative character. To convey your personal perception of the world you should: employ a lot of capturing examples, draw parallels, choose analogies, use various associations. One of the characteristic features of essay is the wide usage of numerous expressive means, such as metaphors, parable and allegoric figures, symbols and comparisons. Your can enrich and make your essay more interesting if you include in it: unpredictable conclusions, unexpected turning points, interesting clutches of events.Essay presents a dynamic interchange of author's arguments, supporting evidence and questions.

Be brief, but at the same time avoid absolute simplicity. No one will like reading a monotonous narration. Completing the draft of your essay, read it aloud, yes, aloud. You will be struck by the number of rough details in your essay. You should get rid of them with no regret. If you have to say something new, original and exclusive, then the genre of essay is your genre. Be creative, free your mind and may be you will reveal a great essayist in yourself.