An essay is generally a short piece of writing written from an author’s personal point of
view, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet and a
short story.
Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political
manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of
the author. Almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been
dubbed essays (e.g. Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man). While
brevity usually defines an essay, voluminous works like John Locke’s An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus’s An Essay on the Principle of
Population are counterexamples. In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada),
essays have become a major part of formal education. Secondary students are taught
structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays are often
used by universities in selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a
way of assessing the performance of students during final exams.
The concept of an “essay” has been extended to other mediums beyond writing. A film
essay is a movie that often incorporates documentary film making styles and which
focuses more on the evolution of a theme or an idea. A photographic essay is an attempt to
cover a topic with a linked series of photographs; it may or may not have an accompanying
text or captions.