In the form of an essay, modern schoolchildren are invited to write essays within the framework of the Unified State Examination in Russian language and literature, and companies often offer a competition of similar works to recruit new employees. It should be noted that the requirements for student work are somewhat contrary to the scope of the genre. But be that as it may, you need to pass the exam, and one more material on this topic will not be superfluous.
Something and thoughts
No less, but 435 years ago Montaigne introduced the concept of the essay genre. The Latin ancestor of this word is translated as “weighing”, and the French term that came into Russian has several meanings: it is used when it comes to an essay, a sketch, an attempt, some experience, and even a test. Apparently, the latter determined that a new type of written work appeared at school: an essay-essay on literature or the Russian language.
In Russia, the exact interpretation of this genre is given in the parodic tradition - "a look and something." Irony in this case is more than appropriate, since it is impossible to better name a small prose work without composition,based only on personal opinion and experience, and does not claim to be an exhaustive depiction of the subject.
Complete freedom in the presentation of material and the possibility of self-expression have made the essay a popular genre not only to test the knowledge and skills of students, but also one of the defining criteria in the selection of personnel for various organizations. The results of such testing help employers who want to see people who think creatively and have their own opinion in their team. Therefore, everyone should learn to write an essay in literature. Examples of successful work will always come in handy in the future.
Space for self-expression
Writing an essay develops creative thinking and writing skills to illustrate experience and argue conclusions. Features of this genre:
- consideration throughout the work of one issue or a specific topic; there can be no analysis of broad problems here;
- the text is based on personal experiences and impressions, so an exhaustive interpretation of the topic is impossible; conclusions can be called individual considerations;
– an essay-essay on literature suggests a new word for any reason, and, despite the subjective coloring, the nature of such a work can be varied (historical and biographical, philosophical, fiction, literary criticism, journalistic, popular science);
– the most valuable thing in the work of this genre is the personality of the author; content should be based on his thoughts, feelings, worldview.
GenreFeatures
Of course, one cannot demand strict observance of all the signs of the genre from a school essay, but it will not hurt to know them.
1. Conditionally small volume. In literary work, it can be from a book page to several dozen. In most Russian universities, up to 10 A4 typing pages are allowed, and, for example, in Harvard, you cannot exceed two. 300 words will be enough to work when passing the exam.
2. Concreteness. It is enough to consider one problem in the work to write an essay on literature. Examples should support the idea being expressed, which will create internal unity.
3. Conversation with a friend. This is exactly what the author of his reader should consider, and then it will be easier to avoid a strict or mentoring tone, complicated, confusing understanding of the essence of constructions. According to genre researchers, a good essay can only be written by someone who owns the topic, and provided that it is important to the author.
4. Paradoxical. The connection of mutually exclusive statements, the aphorism of statements and definitions, the characterization of the phenomenon from an unexpected side - this is inherent in the works of masters who surprise readers every time and make them think.
5. No formal framework. This genre is not subject to logic, everything here is based on associations. But the principle of “everything is the other way around” also needs to be learned, so school essays in literature, examples of which, if desired, can be found and read, are still a little regulated.
6. Conversational journalism. When introducing the reader as a friend, one should speak simply, but be wary of a frivolous tone. Template phrases, slang, abbreviated words are also unacceptable. It should be the language of a burning desire to share your thoughts.
School Essay Structure
Before starting work, it is important to decide on a topic that is close to the inner state of the author. And also set yourself the goal of writing: what will be said new in order to complete the task of the essay - to attract attention. It is better to immediately estimate the desired volume.
As mentioned above, works of this genre do not have a strict or mandatory composition - freedom and flight of thought are assumed. But, speaking of student work, it is necessary to make allowances for the little life and literary experience of young people. Of course, they need support, a sample essay on literature, so it is preferable for schoolchildren to give the structure of the expected text:
– Abstracts (personal thoughts) are usually put forward first.
– Arguments (evidence) support the opinion of the author. As arguments, you can use known facts, events, phenomena of public life; rely on personal experience or authoritative opinions of scientists and statistics; refer to literary works. The optimal number of arguments is two.
– The introduction is the focus on the issue that will be discussed.
– Conclusion - the author's personal opinion on this matter.
To maintain the structure, it is necessary to correctly allocate paragraphs. Do not forget that the essay genre in literature is impossible without expressiveness (emotionality) and artistry (the use of visual means). To do this, it is better to choose simple, short sentences, different in intonation and purpose of the statement. A dash in non-union and incomplete sentences will help to avoid verbosity.
Classification by character
Probably there is no topic on which it would be impossible to write an essay. The breadth of directions requires a meaningful approach. So the reasoning could be:
– spiritual and religious;
– artistic and journalistic;
– literary critical;
– philosophical;
– artistic, historical.
Thoughts in shape
Any thought can be clothed in a literary shell. This will give interest and novelty to essays on literature. Examples of how such an essay can be written may lead to an unusual solution:
– epistolary genre (letter);
– diary entries (chronological event);
– lyrical thumbnail (description);
– review (competent opinion);
– note (media article).
Choosing by way of presentation
According to their type, essays can be:
– analytical (based on analysis);
– critical;
– reflexive (personal response to something);
– narrative;
– descriptive.
There are two approaches
You need to be especially careful when writing essays on literature, the topics of which have an ambiguous solution. What is it? For example, givehis reasoned assessment of universal moral phenomena means writing a subjective work. In such an essay, the sides of the author's personality are revealed. And if the topic requires consideration of a scientific problem inherent in some kind of professional activity, then this should already be an objective essay, where the subject of research or description is primary, the author submits to it. As a rule, at school, such essays are written on linguistic or literary topics.
Essay on given text
It is worth dwelling on the peculiarities of writing the final paper as part of the Russian language exam. Here you can use the cliché for an essay. In literature, it is better to avoid stencilling in essays. So, in the exam in Russian, you need to write a small opus according to a given text. And if you recall the structure of the essay, then an additional point appears here: it is necessary to reflect the position of the author (a famous writer, scientist or publicist) and express your attitude towards it.
The expressions can serve as a support:
- evaluate (what);
- reveal the essence (of what);
- explain your approach;
- assume that;
- based on your own understanding;
- delimit concepts;
- consider legitimate;
- pay attention to;
- convincingly prove;
- define an entity;
- emphasize relevance.
How to avoid mistakes
He who is forewarned is forearmed. It is worth re-reading famous essays on literature,examples of which will be a role model. The freedom of the genre implies unlimited creativity, but shortcomings in speech will reduce the flight of thought to nothing.
1. We check everything. And not just spelling. You need to read aloud in order to better understand. If speech stumbles, it means that an unsuccessful turnover has occurred, and it needs to be replaced. There should be no ambiguous expressions.
2. We prove it well. The idea of the essay should be bright, and illustrations confirming it should be no less interesting. It is the dullness and lack of persuasiveness of the arguments that reduce the level of work.
3. We remove the excess. A typical mistake is a very long introduction or a detailed retelling of a work taken as an argument. Verbosity dilutes thought. The essay should be concentrated around one idea. And unnecessary details and distractions impoverish her.
4. We speak briefly. Preparation for an essay on literature also consists in learning how to write in short sentences (this does not mean that only simple and monosyllabic in thought). A long syntactic construction does not give the effect of emotionality, interferes with paragraph articulation. It is worth taking advantage of non-union and incomplete sentences.
5. We write clearly. No need to show your scientific erudition in an essay. The text is intended for a friend-reader, so it should not contain any obscure words that require reference to dictionaries or encyclopedias.
Opus for the boss
If the result of a school essay is an assessment, then a competitive essay for getting a job can change your whole life, so you need to write it likeone last try.
All thoughts must be polished, the argument is formed on the principles of logic, and the style of presentation must be impeccable. And we must remember that this is not an essay on literature - examples from literary texts are of little relevance here.
Important points that are of interest to the employer:
- your purely individual assessment;
– the ability to express thoughts on paper;
– literacy rate;
– sincerity and honesty;
– the ability to be ironic and joke;
– a positive outlook on life.
Essays on literature on the subject of war
Examples of other people's work can be used for informational purposes only. Plagiarism is a thankless task. If someone can write an essay, then why don't you learn how to do it? At least start like this.
“Vasil Bykov's story “Sotnikov” is considered a work not so much about the war as about a person's moral choice. What does it depend on? Well, after all, it can’t be like this: in a critical situation, before making a decision, someone argues: “I must do what my parents taught me, how my teachers raised me, otherwise everyone will consider me a bad person.” Agree that this is unbelievable. I dare to suggest that the moral choice is prepared by the whole previous life. It is as natural to a person as to make a preference between two apples.
Here it is - the gallows with five loops. Five are sentenced to death: the girl Basya, the elderly Peter, the mother of three children, Demchikha, and the partisans: Rybak and Sotnikov. Did they have a choice to stay alive? Yes. After the execution, one loop will remain empty.”
Intro is. Thesis has been put forward. The first argument is started. Then you can rely on facts from life and finish everything with a conclusion.
An essay is easy to write if you have something to say and share.
