WHAT IS AN ESSAY FOR? - LITERATURE - 2025

An essay is used by an author to give the audience information on a topic that is unknown. There are multiple different types of essays, however, the purpose of all is the same: to persuade, explain or entertain, reporting facts from an objective point of view or sharing positions from a subjective perspective.

The essay is a popularly used tool to give objective information or to express a point of view or opinion on a specific topic. For example, an essay on pollution would report on the sources, causes, types, consequences, and other related topics.

In the same way, it contributes to the acquisition of knowledge, since whoever writes an essay must investigate in depth about the topic they want to deal with before writing the essay.

This type of text is useful for the efficient presentation of information, results and conclusions of a work or an event. Being informal in structure, it is presented in a format that a wide audience can read and authors in different fields can write.

The essay format allows the writer to explore his creativity, since he can treat a subject subjectively, giving the text a personal touch that comes from his own perspective.

For this reason, the essay serves to understand how an individual understands a particular topic and wants to share it with an audience.

Being a text that seeks to give information or persuade the audience, the essay uses simple language, sometimes colloquial, which allows the reader to retain their interest in what they are reading and allow, later, to also take a stance on the issue.

What can an essay be for? 10 possible uses

Report

When writing to inform, the goal of the writer is to give the audience information they don't already have.

In this case, it is essential to report facts without giving personal opinions on the subject. In most cases, it is recommended to take information from various scientific or knowledgeable sources on the subject at hand.

All this with the aim of providing objective information based on facts and not opinions.

There are different types of essays that serve to inform, however, the most commonly used are the scientific and the expository.

Since these two types of texts seek to give the audience the greatest possible amount of objective information on a specific topic (Sirve, 2016).

Persuade

An essay can also be used to persuade the audience to take part in a topic passively or actively. To achieve this purpose it is essential that the author use arguments that can convince the public about the validity of his position.

In some cases, the essays used to persuade the public may include information from sources in order to strengthen the argument that is being made.

The essays that serve to persuade, are mostly considered argumentative, since they focus their speech on an approach that must be defended and supported by arguments that allow the author to convince the audience to take a particular position on a specific issue.

Explain

An essay can also be used to explain a point of view or a topic. In this way, the text is intended to help the audience better understand a topic, process or situation.

Generally, this type of essay is written by people who have a deep understanding of the topic they are dealing with.

Entertain

An essay can be used to entertain the audience by providing an emotional experience. This type of essay generally recounts a story or experience lived by the author.

Talk about someone's life

There is a form of essay known as biographical that talks about the life of a person and recounts the most important events of this person.

This type of essay uses interviews, texts or any means that can provide the author with the required information about the character whose life is to be documented in the essay.

Question

An essay can be used to challenge certain facts, ideas, and opinions. In this way, the writer takes a position on a topic and uses documents and data previously issued by other authors, with the aim of giving more force to what they consider to be true or false.

Expose results

An essay can be used as an expository tool for results. In this way, many authors use the writing of an essay to show the results or conclusions obtained during a specific event or event.

Thus, an essay can be used to expose and compare data derived from studies, competitions, statistical samples, surveys, among others.

An essay is useful for presenting data from different sources together.

Explore a topic

An essay seeks to address a specific topic, therefore, the author requires prior research on that topic to be able to treat it properly.

In this sense, an essay serves to carry out a deep exploration on a topic, with the aim of being able to present it later. In this way, the writing of an essay contributes to the intellectual development of both its author and its reader.

The sources used for the writing of an essay must be verifiable and truthful. If not, the essay will lack force and its content will fail to inform or persuade the reader.

Give creative freedom

An essay serves to give creative freedom to its author. This means that the author can choose which topic he wants to write about and the purpose of his writing. In this way, an essay promotes the creative freedom of the writer.

In some cases, commissioned essays can be requested, however, the way in which the topics are approached in said essays is generally free and uses the style of the writer.

Help in academic life

Knowing how to write an essay is highly important when you are a student. Therefore, an essay serves to present a topic in a written and formal way throughout the academic life.

The essay is a type of written document whose format is accepted in almost all institutions in the world.

References

1. Bradshaw, L. (August 22, 2008). Retrieved from Why is it Important to Write Essays ?: customwritings.com
2. Org. (September 11, 2015). Essay Lab. Obtained from Importance of Essay Writing: essaylab.org
3. Lesczinski, M. (December 17, 2014). Excelcior Life. Retrieved from Student essay: The importance of writing: news.excelsior.edu
4. Media, HS (2017). Hearst Seattle Media. Obtained from Importance Essay Writing University Learning: education.seattlepi.com.