An example of an essay. How to write an essay? What is an essay in the literature

In literature there are more than fifty different genres, the essay is one of the most interesting of them. This work absorbed a little from fiction, a little from journalism. Students and students, through ignorance, write ordinary articles of a descriptive nature, but this is not right. The essay is something more, the author's idea slips in him, there is truthful information, facts, thoughts on solving the problem. To write such an article, in some cases it is necessary to conduct a journalistic investigation. To do this, we need an example of an essay, so that it would be clear how to design an essay and what kind of thoughts to put on paper. Similar works are found in many eminent writers.

What is an essay

The first acquaintance with this literary genre takes place in the lessons of the Russian language, but all its types and subspecies are studied in greater detail by journalists and philologists. To correctly write an essay, you need to understand its essence. The essay is a small literary work describing truthful events, events, a particular person. The time frame is not respected here, one can write about what happened thousands of years ago and what just happened.

Before writing an essay, you need to collect all the facts, because they are the basis of the essay. The incidents and actions, which the eyewitness narrates, must be important for society, touch upon serious sociological questions. The article is written in a descriptive style, the subjective evaluation and own inventions of the author are excluded in it.

The main components of the essay

Composition of such a genre must contain three main components: a journalistic, sociological and figurative aspect. The author must necessarily touch on socially important issues. This may be an essay on the topic of juvenile delinquency, alcoholism and drug addiction of a particular people, environmental pollution, AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis and other dangerous diseases for society. The writer should take as a basis the facts, draw on statistics. For example, it can be data on the number of sick people in a particular region, country or worldwide, by the amount of hazardous substances released into the atmosphere, etc. In this case, the work can not be littered with numbers only, otherwise it will turn out to be dry, too official and will not affect the feelings of readers.

Publicism in the essay is also very important, since the author acts as a journalist and conducts a personal investigation. An example of the essay can be found in many entertainment magazines, newspapers. To get reliable data, sometimes it takes a lot of time to devote to collecting information. To do this, you need to visit the library, look for facts on the official websites of enterprises or government agencies, communicate with specific people, visit the places described, because you can not paint what a beautiful lake Baikal, seeing it only in the picture. In other words, the essayist must be a versatile, inquisitive person, a great connoisseur of life.

To interest the reader, you need to write a beautiful literary syllable sketch. Genre is an important part of the work. The writing should be written in an artistic style, here it will be logical to paint a colorful description of the problem, a story about the life of a particular person. Introduction to the story of a bright and memorable character will allow the reader to dive into a certain environment, to understand the essence of the problem. The text has a specific structure: the identification of the problem, its analysis, and the search for solutions. Composition of this kind is a collection of statistics with worldly histories.

History of the appearance of the essay

A vivid example of the work can be seen in the works of some writers of the XVIII century. The fact is that such informative, vivid and fascinating essays arise in times of crisis of social relations, changes in the way of life usual. Great Britain came to this genre at the beginning of the 18th century, because exactly at that period the moral decline of the elite of society was observed. In magazines, mostly socio-critical sketches on the theme of everyday scenes or characters of representatives of certain segments of the population.

In Russia, a similar phenomenon was observed in the second half of the same century. In satirical journals, the intelligentsia ridiculed the officials and landlords of the old system in sketch forms. In the first half of the XIX century, the crisis reached unprecedented heights, so the essays became the main genre of writers who want to bring to society the thought of the decline of morality, the oppression of the poor, the stupidity and degradation of the powerful and wealthy. In this style, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Belinsky, Nekrasov wrote, Gorky, Korolenko and other democratic writers continued in the same spirit.

An example of the essay can also be found in Soviet literature. This genre feeds changes in the life of society, changing the economic, social, domestic and legal spheres of life. Soviet writers developed compositional and informative forms, perfected the main functions of the essay: the study of the problem, the disclosure of the complexity of life. Such a genre was used by V. Tendryakov, V. Peskov, E. Radov, F. Abramov, E. Dorosh and others.

Portrait work

Genre portrait essay requires good observation and reading from the essay. In the absence of these qualities, the author will not get a vivid and lively description of the appearance of a person, but some kind of fotobot. Good essays are usually obtained from fans of classical literature, because such people already know how to roughly compose the text. Classics have already left to the descendants of memory full-fledged examples of portrait sketches. You also need to accustom yourself to observation, to look closely at the behavior of your relatives, friends, acquaintances, ordinary passers-by, neighbors. Concentrate follows the manner of conversation, style of speech, gait, gestures, facial expressions, features of physique, facial features.

In creative universities, mainly in directing faculties, students are offered to play a game - to describe a stranger, to try to guess his profession, where he goes, who he brings his companion or companion, etc. Composition in the genre of a portrait essay is written in the same format. It is necessary to carry a pen and a notepad with you in order to record all the interesting moments, details, which will help you to train and learn to separate the important from the insignificant. Experienced essayists at a glance determine the specific qualities inherent in the person described.

Only a description of the appearance, gestures, gait of the hero should not contain a portrait essay. An example can be found in the classical literature. Appearance very often can tell a lot, to introduce the inner world of man, his habits, preferences. For example, by the type and condition of clothes you can find out if the hero is neat, whether he is interested in fashion, likes to be in the spotlight or prefers to merge with the crowd. When studying a person, one should rely not only on the visual impression, but also connect touch, hearing, and sense of smell. What hands to touch the hero, what his voice, maybe, from him something special smells.

A portrait essay can contain an example from the life of the character described. For example, in the life of the hero happened, something unusual, he was able to save people from a burning house, to solve global issues affecting the economy of the region, to make a serious operation, etc. It is necessary to trace how this character manifests the character of a person. It should be an unusual verbal portrait, consisting of beautiful words, the incident shows what a hero in life, whether you can rely on it.

Track essay

Such an essay is often used in journalism, both beginners and professional journalists resort to it. It has some features that must be taken into account when writing a work. First of all, it is necessary to determine the purpose for which the essay-essay is written, what purpose the author pursues. Perhaps the essayist wants to share his impressions of what he has seen, tell about the political, economic, environmental or social situation in a particular region or country.

Before writing a work, it is advisable to get acquainted with the works of other, more experienced, authors. An example of the essay can be found in the works of such great writers as Pushkin, Novikov, Radishchev, etc. You can not write an essay of this type without experiencing the described emotions without seeing the sights yourself. Here one can not rely solely on imagination, because the essay is a truthful work based on reliable information. Traveling in some places, it is necessary to make notes in a notebook about the impressed details of landscapes, interesting incidents, about what you liked and what went wrong as planned. At the same time, it is impossible to describe a specific person, the composition should be more ambitious.

People tend to forget about some moments from their lives, so when traveling it is useful not only to take notes, but also to keep an audio diary, to take photographs. Before you write an essay, you need to collect all the pictures and records, refresh memories, draw up a rough plan of the composition, and then start writing it.

Problem work

The literary essay contains an analytical beginning and an artistic description. In a problematic work, the author can touch upon any economic, political, social, environmental situation in which he is very well versed. The main goal of the essayist is to get to the bottom of the truth, understand why this problem has arisen, what it can lead to, what are the ways to solve it. Composition requires a deep analysis, a superficial description here will not work. Before writing an essay, you should not only study all the details in detail, but also read the works of other authors, get acquainted with their views on this issue, and learn the style of writing.

Only those people who are interested in solving and analyzing the existing problem can qualitatively write such texts. The topic should be close to the author himself, only then he will describe the situation in a truthful and living language. In the travel essay, the individuality of the essayist can be clearly traced, the text is written only from the first person. The author should clearly depict the essence of the problem, acquaint the readers with his vision of the situation, and the work can be supplemented with the views of several heroes, it is very good if they are the opposite.

The sketch is based only on reliable information, but it should not be overloaded with graphs, figures and statistics, so as not to turn it into a dry, uninteresting article. The writing is written in an artistic style, if some data are given, then they need to be accompanied by explanations and comments. This kind of text is similar to a story and a story, it allows the use of art revolutions, spatial reflections, comparison with other events.

Essay on the person

Gorky also said that in the center of the work there must be a man. The writer also mentioned that the essay is between the story and the study. This genre can not be called easy, because it consists of rational facts and a vivid, emotional description of events. The essay should complement each other's journalism, documentary and creative work, then it turns out an interesting, truthful and living essay about a man. Examples of such works can be seen in classics, it is they who need to learn and try to reach the level of their work.

In the center of the work there should be a hero, it needs to be described from two sides. First it is necessary to find out the social relationship of the character with the society, and then to study his inner world, to find out how he behaves at home, relates to close people, acquaintances. It is necessary to collect a maximum of information about a person, before writing an essay. An example of a step-by-step compilation of the work: conducting interviews, selecting key points, listing positive and negative traits, mentioning extraordinary situations in the life of the character.

In the essay it is usually necessary to compile a brief biography of a person, but it should not look like a personal data. It is important to focus on the character of the hero, while you can not just say that he is hardworking, persistent, intelligent, etc., you need to provide evidence, give examples of difficult moments from his life, tell how he led himself, what he led. Describing a certain act, one should analyze the psychological features of a person, typical and individual traits of character. You can also tell about the hero's thoughts in this or that situation.

Absolutely isolated people do not exist, each person interacts to some extent with the society, it has and is affected by economic, political, moral processes. Therefore, in the essay it is necessary to be able to tie together the individuality of the hero with social phenomena, to show the character's attitude towards them. Professional essayists often succeed through a fact from the biography of a particular person to reconstruct an important historical event.

If the central figure is a well-known public figure with numerous merits, then it is worth emphasizing them. The essay-essay also should contain a theme about creativity, spiritual searches. A good work not only tells the reader in detail about someone else's life, accomplishments and falls, but also makes you think about understanding your mistakes, learn to dream, set goals and achieve them.

Essay-investigation

Very often, journalists conduct research to tell the reader about unknown or little-known information. It may be some unusual area of human activity or the study of certain phenomena. Here, a historical essay is allowed, the author can collect important data about a specific region or country, study the structures erected several centuries ago, or open an organization that keeps important information secret for many years.

To begin with, the journalist must gather facts and, if necessary, go to the investigation site. Then you need to determine the task and objectives of the study, based on the information received, you can proceed to the promotion of various versions and hypotheses. In America, an essay-investigation called the material collected and analyzed by the journalist on a serious topic, which some people would prefer to keep secret. Such an article can not be written by anyone, because even at the stage of information gathering requires a certain qualification, the author must understand the topic of the study. In this case, the essayist should not only competently operate on the data, but also in a beautiful, lively form to describe the situation, create an image of the central character.

Judicial composition

Unfortunately, not only good events and kind, sympathetic people are written essays. The stories are different, there is a bad ending. Works on the judicial theme are mostly written by journalists with the goal of giving a moral and moral assessment of the crime, making readers think about where this world is heading, find ways to prevent such situations from repeating. The author of the essay should analyze in detail the corpus delicti made by a group of persons or by one person. The journalist does not give a legal assessment of the situation, he must come from afar, talk about what influenced the criminal act, what factors prompted him to a terrible step, which led to the violation of the law.

For example, a young man is accused of stealing. The essayist must understand the motive of the crime. This guy from an unhappy family, since childhood parents have taught him to steal, deceive, to get yourself to eat. So he got used to such a life, a man does not want to get a job, create a family, he likes to sit back and live at someone else's expense. Of course, it is not only the young man who is to blame, but also his parents, the society that did not stop at the right moment, did not direct the true one.

A journalist in his essay should paint the childhood of a homeless child in color, how he begged in the streets, and searched with some stray dogs in the dumps for at least some food. Also worth mentioning are parents who suffer from alcoholism, who do not care about the child, a society that looks through their fingers at such children. The main task of the author is to show the conditions and circumstances that led a person to commit a crime, analyze the motive.

As evidence, eyewitness testimony, details and the nature of the crime can be cited. The journalist should not only acquaint the reader with the negative assessment of the criminal's actions, but also make him think about his own behavior. Perhaps very close to people who need help, if they do not give a helping hand today, then tomorrow they will become potential thieves and murderers.

The place of the essay in the literature

Each genre has a certain influence on the minds of mankind. What is an essay in literature, what place does it occupy in the cultural development of people, how important is it for society? The main goal of this genre is to tell the reader the truth about the events, innovations, life of a particular person. Thanks to a lively, understandable language, information is easier to digest. A colorful description takes the reader to those places or draws the image of the person the author talks about. Though the sketch is read as an artistic text, it contains reliable dates and facts.

About the events taking place in the world, most people learn from newspaper articles written in an essay form. There are no areas of human activity in which this one of the most important and useful literary genres is not used. Thanks to the essay people learn a lot of reliable information from different parts of the world. In the literature there is a huge number of varieties of this genre, the most common of them are portrait, travel and problem.