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.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Form What an essay is.
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.
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.
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.
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
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Information and virtual systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- INF
- Domain
- INF.MED
- Other names and narrower kinds
- bibliographic essay, video essay, zhi, autobiographical essay, historical essay, LGBTQ essay, mini-essay, Bangla essay, audio essay, personal statement, zuihitsu, application essay
What it is Filled
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.
Why it exists Filled
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.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Author voice and stance
- Flexible structure
- Many kinds
- Educational genre
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- 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.
Only with a human decision
- Publishing an essay under a person's name.
May
- Help a person plan, structure and revise their own essay.
- Discuss essays and essayists, citing them accurately.
Moral aspects Filled
- Essays assess a person's own thinking; ghost-writing undermines fair assessment.
- Fabricated sources spread through essays into public belief.
Who is affected
- Students and teachers
- Readers
- Authors of cited work
Owners Filled
Steward
The author or rights holder; schools and publishers set rules for their own essays.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q3752011 - registry parent class
related
- argumentative text - in registry terms
- prose - a short form
- article - which reports
- Michel de Montaigne - as a named form
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.essay
- Wikidata: Q35760 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q35760)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane INF: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- 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 and actions required Filled
- explain the form and kinds
- relay history with attribution
- describe academic conventions
- distinguish from related forms
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Confusing essay with article or report
- Formulaic teaching of the form
- Eurocentric histories
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Academic style guides for essays
- Copyright and publishing contracts
- Assessment criteria in education
Context of use required Filled
- 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 Filled
- Wikidata item Q35760: essay - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Essay - general description of the item
Open questions
- 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?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q35760/spec.json