essay
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.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
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.
A short piece of prose that presents the author own argument, reflection or exploration of a subject, from Montaigne personal essays through formal academic and critical essays to journalistic, autobiographical, historical and bibliographic essays and the modern video essay; 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.
What it is for: Argument, reflection and exploration in prose.
It can be explain the form and kinds; relay history with attribution; describe academic conventions; distinguish from related forms.
Distinguishing features
Author voice and stance
Flexible structure
Many kinds
Educational genre
What it looks like
Not a physical object; a prose text of a few pages, or a video in the video essay form.
How it is recognised
Prose argument or reflection in the author voice
Personal, academic, critical and other kinds
Articles report; treatises are systematic; reports document
Related models
is a kind of - in registry terms
is a kind of - a short form
is contrasted with - which reports
originates with - as a named form
In practice
Families and kinds
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
Standards and regulation
Academic style guides for essays
Copyright and publishing contracts
Assessment criteria in education
Failure modes and hazards
Confusing essay with article or report
Formulaic teaching of the form
Eurocentric histories
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.essay
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Form What an essay is.
Definition.
Definition
Definition and kinds.
Definition
Definition.
- What is an essay, and what kinds exist? definition
- Is the text an essay, an article, a report or a treatise? boundary
Structure
Structure and voice.
Structure
Structure.
- How are essays structured, and how does the author voice shape them? definition
- Which entry fits the specific kind? action
Write Writing essays.
Practice.
Academic
Academic essays.
Academic
Academic.
- What conventions govern academic essays, from thesis to citation? action
- Which references are standard? provenance
Craft
Craft.
Craft
Craft.
- How do essayists develop argument, reflection and style? provenance
- Which entry fits writing? action
History History and traditions.
Attribution.
History
History.
History
History.
- How did the essay develop from Montaigne and Bacon to modern forms, with attribution? provenance
- Which entry fits a specific essayist? action
Traditions
Other traditions.
Traditions
Traditions.
- What essay-like forms exist in other literary traditions, such as the Chinese zhi and Japanese zuihitsu? provenance
- Is the presentation attributed? boundary
Media New media and teaching.
Context.
Video
Video essays.
Video
Video.
- What is the video essay, and how does it relate to the written form? provenance
- Which entry fits video essay? action
Teach
Teaching.
Teach
Teaching.
- How is the essay taught, and what debates exist about formulaic models, with positions attributed? provenance
- Which sources are cited? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- 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?