What is an essay?
An essay is a piece of writing, usually from an author's personal point of view. Essays are nonfictional
but often subjective; while expository, they can also include narrative.
In other words, the essay must be well structured and presented in a way that the reader finds
easy to follow and clear: it must look tidy and not present any obstacles to the reader. It must
have a clear readable interesting style. But, above all, it must consist of your ideas about the
topic. This is the centre of it: this, and this only, gets the marks. Not quotes from critics, not filling
and padding; your thoughts, that you have had while in the act of reading specific bits of literary
texts, which can be adduced in the form of quotations to back up your arguments.
An essay is a piece of writing, usually from an author's personal point of view. Essays are nonfictional
but often subjective; while expository, they can also include narrative.
In other words, the essay must be well structured and presented in a way that the reader finds
easy to follow and clear: it must look tidy and not present any obstacles to the reader. It must
have a clear readable interesting style. But, above all, it must consist of your ideas about the
topic. This is the centre of it: this, and this only, gets the marks. Not quotes from critics, not filling
and padding; your thoughts, that you have had while in the act of reading specific bits of literary
texts, which can be adduced in the form of quotations to back up your arguments.
