{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.essay","code":"thing-q35760","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q35760/","name":"essay","alternateNames":["bibliographic essay","video essay","zhi","autobiographical essay","historical essay","LGBTQ essay","mini-essay","Bangla essay","audio essay","personal statement","zuihitsu","application essay"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.2.0-wave.3","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Information and virtual systems","entryKind":"thing","plane":"INF","domain":["INF.MED"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"A short piece of prose that presents the author's own argument, reflection or exploration of a subject, from Montaigne's personal essays through formal academic and critical essays to journalistic, autobiographical, historical and bibliographic essays; essays are taught as a school and university genre, published in periodicals and collections, and related forms exist in other traditions such as the Chinese zhi.","purpose":"Let an agent explain the essay as a form and its kinds, relay its history and notable practitioners with attribution, describe academic essay conventions, and distinguish essays from articles, reports and treatises.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Author voice and stance","Flexible structure","Many kinds","Educational genre"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"form","name":"Form","description":"What an essay is.","layers":[{"id":"definition","name":"Definition","description":"Definition and kinds.","findings":[{"id":"definition-finding","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","questions":[{"text":"What is an essay, and what kinds exist?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Is the text an essay, an article, a report or a treatise?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"structure","name":"Structure","description":"Structure and voice.","findings":[{"id":"structure-finding","name":"Structure","description":"Structure.","questions":[{"text":"How are essays structured, and how does the author voice shape them?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific kind?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"write","name":"Write","description":"Writing essays.","layers":[{"id":"academic","name":"Academic","description":"Academic essays.","findings":[{"id":"academic-finding","name":"Academic","description":"Academic.","questions":[{"text":"What conventions govern academic essays, from thesis to citation?","kind":"action"},{"text":"Which references are standard?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"craft","name":"Craft","description":"Craft.","findings":[{"id":"craft-finding","name":"Craft","description":"Craft.","questions":[{"text":"How do essayists develop argument, reflection and style?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits writing?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"history","name":"History","description":"History and traditions.","layers":[{"id":"history","name":"History","description":"History.","findings":[{"id":"history-finding","name":"History","description":"History.","questions":[{"text":"How did the essay develop from Montaigne and Bacon to modern forms, with attribution?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits a specific essayist?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"traditions","name":"Traditions","description":"Other traditions.","findings":[{"id":"traditions-finding","name":"Traditions","description":"Traditions.","questions":[{"text":"What essay-like forms exist in other literary traditions, such as the Chinese zhi and Japanese zuihitsu?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Is the presentation attributed?","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"media","name":"Media","description":"New media and teaching.","layers":[{"id":"video","name":"Video","description":"Video essays.","findings":[{"id":"video-finding","name":"Video","description":"Video.","questions":[{"text":"What is the video essay, and how does it relate to the written form?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits video essay?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"teach","name":"Teach","description":"Teaching.","findings":[{"id":"teach-finding","name":"Teach","description":"Teaching.","questions":[{"text":"How is the essay taught, and what debates exist about formulaic models, with positions attributed?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which sources are cited?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Help a person plan, structure and revise their own essay.","Discuss essays and essayists, citing them accurately."],"mustNot":["Write an essay for a person to hand in as their own where that breaks the rules of their school or employer.","Fabricate quotations, sources or data in an essay.","Present another writer's essay or argument as original."],"requiresHuman":["Publishing an essay under a person's name."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Essays assess a person's own thinking; ghost-writing undermines fair assessment.","Fabricated sources spread through essays into public belief."],"affectedParties":["Students and teachers","Readers","Authors of cited work"]},"owners":{"steward":"The author or rights holder; schools and publishers set rules for their own essays.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q3752011","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"argumentative text","type":"related","note":"in registry terms"},{"target":"prose","type":"related","note":"a short form"},{"target":"article","type":"related","note":"which reports"},{"target":"Michel de Montaigne","type":"related","note":"as a named form"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.essay","Wikidata: Q35760 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35760)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"recognition":{"applicability":"optional","items":["Prose argument or reflection in the author voice","Personal, academic, critical and other kinds","Articles report; treatises are systematic; reports document","Not a physical object; a prose text of a few pages, or a video in the video essay form."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["explain the form and kinds","relay history with attribution","describe academic conventions","distinguish from related forms"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Confusing essay with article or report","Formulaic teaching of the form","Eurocentric histories"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["Academic style guides for essays","Copyright and publishing contracts","Assessment criteria in education"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Argument, reflection and exploration in prose.","personal and autobiographical essays","academic and argumentative essays","critical and literary essays","historical and bibliographic essays","journalistic essays and op-eds","video essays","thematic categories such as LGBTQ essays","related forms in other traditions such as the zhi"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q35760: essay","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35760","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Essay","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should academic essay and video essay be separate entries?","How should style guides be linked?","The registry entry has merged aliases naming kinds and categories; should they be split off?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q35760/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q35760/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-12T23:13:44Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T10:10:30+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane INF: no invented physical properties."},"score":1.0}}