Genre features of the essay and its functions. Examples (samples) of essay writing

What is an essay

The word "essay" came into Russian from French and historically goes back to the Latin word exagium (weighing). French ezzai can be literally translated by the words experience, trial, attempt, sketch, essay.

An essay is a prose essay of small volume and free composition. , expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously does not claim to be a defining or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

In the "Explanatory Dictionary of Foreign Words" L.P. A rat essay is defined as "an essay that treats some problem not in a systematic scientific form, but in a free form."

"Big encyclopedic Dictionary" gives the following definition: "An essay is a genre of philosophical, literary-critical, historical-biographical, journalistic prose, combining the emphatically individual position of the author with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation, focused on colloquial speech".

The Concise Literary Encyclopedia clarifies: "An essay is a prose work of small volume and free composition, treating a particular topic and representing an attempt to convey individual impressions and considerations, one way or another connected with it."

Some features of an essay:

having a specific topic or issue. A work devoted to the analysis of a wide range of problems, by definition, cannot be performed in the essay genre.

an essay expresses individual impressions and considerations on a specific occasion or issue and obviously does not claim to be a defining or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

as a rule, an essay suggests a new, subjectively colored word about something, such a work can have a philosophical, historical-biographical, journalistic, literary-critical, popular science or purely fiction character.

in the content of the essay, first of all, the personality of the author is evaluated - his worldview, thoughts and feelings.

This genre became popular in last years. M. Montaigne ("Experiments", 1580) is considered the creator of the essay genre. Today, an essay is offered as a task quite often. It is one of the main components of the package of documents (upon admission to educational institution or employment). Essay contest helps to choose the best from the variety of the best!

Writing an essay is also important for a young specialist.

The way the candidate managed to present himself, how he described his achievements and failures, allows the employer to determine whether this person is good enough for business, whether his work experience is sufficient to justify hopes in the future and benefit the company (organization, enterprise).

The purpose of the essay is to develop skills such as independent creative thinking and writing your own thoughts.

Writing an essay is extremely useful because it allows the author to learn how to clearly and competently formulate thoughts, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight cause-and-effect relationships, illustrate experience with relevant examples, and argue their conclusions.

The most relevant topic for an essay by a young specialist is the topic "Me and my career". The topic of the essay is given so that it is easy for the commission (employer) to assess the features of your thinking, Creative skills, enthusiasm and potential. The best way to achieve such a result - to write directly and frankly, remaining honest with oneself. If you are not honest, there is every chance that your writing will be considered unnatural.

Structure and outline of the essay

The structure of the essay is determined by the requirements for it:

the thought must be supported by evidence - therefore, the thesis is followed by arguments (A).

Arguments are facts, phenomena public life, developments, life situations and life experience scientific evidence, references to the opinions of scientists, etc. It is better to give two arguments in favor of each thesis: one argument seems unconvincing, three arguments can "overload" the presentation, made in a genre focused on brevity and figurativeness.

Thus, the essay acquires a circular structure (the number of theses and arguments depends on the topic, the chosen plan, the logic of thought development):

introduction

thesis, arguments

conclusion.

When writing an essay, it is also important to consider the following points:

The introduction and conclusion should focus on the problem (in the introduction it is put, in the conclusion - the opinion of the author is summarized).

It is necessary to highlight paragraphs, red lines, establish a logical connection between paragraphs: this is how the integrity of the work is achieved.

Presentation style: the essay is characterized by emotionality, expressiveness, artistry. Experts believe that short, simple sentences of various intonations, skillful use of the "most modern" punctuation mark - a dash - provide the proper effect. However, the style reflects the characteristics of the individual, it is also useful to remember this.

Before you start writing an essay, pay attention to the following questions. The answers to them will allow you to more clearly define whatwhat to write in an essay:

When touching on your personal qualities or abilities in an essay, ask yourself:

Am I different in one way or another from those I know?
what is this quality?

About the activity that you were (are) engaged in:

What made me take up this activity?
why did I keep doing this?

About every event in your life that you mentioned:

Why do I remember this particular event?
has it changed me as a person?
how did I react to it?
was it a revelation to me; something I didn't know about before?

About every person you mentioned:

Why did I name this particular person?
Do I aspire to be like him?
what qualities do I admire?
Was there something he said that I will remember for the rest of my life?
did I change my mind?

About each of your preferences and what you don't like:

Why do I like it or don't like it?
Has this circumstance significantly affected my life?

About your every failure:

what have I learned as a result?
What good have I learned from this situation?

Essay classification

In terms of essay content, there are:

philosophical,

literary-critical,

historical,

artistic,

artistic and journalistic,

spiritual and religious, etc.

According to the literary form, essays appear in the form:

reviews,

lyric miniature,

notes,

diary pages,

letters, etc.

There are also essays:

descriptive,

narrative,

reflective,

critical,

analytical, etc.

In this case, the compositional features of the work made in the essay genre are taken as the basis.

Essay features

It is possible to highlight some common features(features) of the genre, which are usually listed in encyclopedias and dictionaries:

Small volume.

There are no hard and fast boundaries, of course. Essay volume - from three to seven pages of computer text. For example, at Harvard Business School, essays are often written on just two pages. IN Russian universities an essay is allowed up to ten pages, however, typewritten text.

A specific topic and its emphatically subjective interpretation.

The topic of an essay is always specific. An essay cannot contain many topics or ideas (thoughts). It reflects only one option, one thought. And develops it. This is the answer to one question.

Free composition is an important feature of the essay.

The researchers note that the essay, by its nature, is arranged in such a way that it does not tolerate any formal framework. It is often built contrary to the laws of logic, obeys arbitrary associations, and is guided by the principle "Everything is the other way around."

Ease of storytelling.

It is important for the author of an essay to establish a trusting style of communication with the reader; in order to be understood, he avoids deliberately complicated, obscure, overly strict constructions. The researchers note that a good essay can only be written by someone who is fluent in the topic, sees it from different angles and is ready to present the reader with a non-exhaustive, but multidimensional view of the phenomenon that has become the starting point of his reflections.

prone to paradoxes.

The essay is designed to surprise the reader (listener) - this, according to many researchers, is its mandatory quality. The starting point for reflections embodied in an essay is often an aphoristic, vivid statement or a paradoxical definition that literally pushes together at first glance indisputable, but mutually exclusive statements, characteristics, theses.

Internal semantic unity

Perhaps this is one of the paradoxes of the genre. Free in composition, focused on subjectivity, the essay, at the same time, has an internal semantic unity, i.e. consistency of key theses and statements, internal harmony of arguments and associations, consistency of those judgments in which the personal position of the author is expressed.

Conversation Orientation

At the same time, it is necessary to avoid the use of slang, formulaic phrases, word abbreviations, and an overly frivolous tone in the essay. The language used when writing an essay should be taken seriously.

So, when writing an essay, it is important to determine (understand) its topic, determine the desired volume and purpose of each paragraph.

Start with a main idea or catchy phrase. The task is to immediately capture the attention of the reader (listener). Comparative allegory is often used here, when an unexpected fact or event is associated with the main topic of the essay.

Essay writing rules

Of the formal rules for writing an essay, only one can be named - the presence of a title.

The internal structure of the essay can be arbitrary. Because it small form written work, then it is not necessary to repeat the conclusions at the end, they can be included in the main text or in the title.

Argumentation may precede the formulation of the problem. The formulation of the problem may coincide with the final conclusion.

Unlike the abstract, which is addressed to any reader, therefore, begins with "I want to talk about ...", and ends with "I came to the following conclusions ...",essay is replica addressed to the prepared reader (listener). That is, a person who in general terms already knows what will be discussed. This allows the author of the essay to focus on revealing the new and not to clutter up the presentation with service details.

Essay writing mistakes

Unlike tests, essays do not require a multiple-choice format (when you are offered several answers to choose from). Writing an essay is not limited in time, you can rewrite it many times, ask friends to read your essay. Take advantage of every opportunity and try to avoid common mistakes.

Do not think that you can limit yourself to just checking spelling. Reread your essays and make sure there are no ambiguities, bad phrases, etc. Examples that you should not "take note of":

"I am proud that I was able to resist the use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco."

"Working for your firm (organization), located in a wonderful place, where there is a lot of gothic architecture, will be an exciting challenge for me."

Too often an interesting essay falls short in being a listing of statements without illustrating them with examples. The essay is characterized by the usual clichés: the importance of hard work and perseverance, learning from mistakes, etc.

Essays are limited to a certain number of words, so you need to manage this amount wisely. Sometimes this means giving up some ideas or details, especially if they have already been mentioned somewhere or are not directly related to the case. Such things only distract the attention of the reader (listener) and overshadow the main topic of the essay.

The longer the sentence, the better, according to some candidates. However, this is far from the truth. Long phrases do not yet prove the correctness of the author, and short sentences often have a greater effect. It is best when in an essay long phrases alternate with short ones. Try reading the essay aloud. If you feel like you are out of breath, break the paragraph into smaller paragraphs.

When you finish writing your essay, do this exercise. Give each paragraph a letter: either S (short), M (medium), or L (long). S - less than 10 words, M - less than 20 words, L - 20 or more words.

A correct essay has the following or similar letter order - M S M L M S.

An incorrect essay is characterized by such a sequence of letters - S S S M L L L.

When writing an essay, discard words from encyclopedias. Incorrect use of such words distracts the reader's attention, diminishes the value of the essay.

Algorithm for writing an essay on history (Personality in history)

1. Open historical conditions and influence public environment in which views were formed

Historical personality:

historical setting;

Entourage;

The path of personality formation; main character traits, ideas about morality, socio-political views, direction of activity.

2. Determine what his activities were connected with, interests, what social system he expressed; his associates.

3. Determine what personality traits (intellectual, moral, strong-willed) helped or hindered the achievement of his goals, the solution of historical tasks that objectively face the country and people.

4. Reveal the connections and contradictions of the individual - in activities, between his goals and means to achieve them, with other people.

6. Determine what results he has achieved in his activities.

According to the results of his activities;

By the significance of this person for the country, the people;

By its influence on the subsequent course of events, etc.;

By the impact of his personal example on other people, on new generations.

8. Expand the reasons for the success or failure of this historical figure. Express your attitude towards him: moral assessment (admiration for his activities or disapproval of his actions, etc.

An example of an essay in the direction: Personality in history

( I GIVE ONLY THE GENERAL STRUCTURE!)

Dmitry Donskoy

Dmitry Donskoy Moscow prince of the second half of the XIV century. The years of his reign are 1359 - 1389. The two main activities of this prince were: the struggle of the Moscow principality against the Mongol-Tatar yoke and the unification of Russian lands around Moscow.

The struggle against the Mongol-Tatar yoke was expressed in the military confrontation between the Moscow principality and the Golden Horde due to the accumulation of forces by Moscow and the desire to end the yoke - the dependence of the Russian lands on the Golden Horde. It was the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich who became the leader of this struggle. The key battle in this confrontation is the Battle of Kulikovo, which took place in September 1380.

At that time, the dark man Mamai came to power in the Golden Horde, who was not a Genghisid (a descendant of Genghis Khan) and therefore wanted to strengthen his power with the help of military subjugation of the Russian lands, which were already waging an armed struggle against the Golden Horde (battle of the Pyan River, battle on river Vozha). As a result of the Battle of Kulikovo, Russian troops under the command of Dmitry Donskoy and with the spiritual support of Sergius of Radonezh decisively put the Mongol-Tatar army to flight.

The second direction is connected with the fact that during the reign of Dmitry Donskoy the Principality of Moscow included, for example, the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod and a number of other principalities. And the victory on the Kulikovo field made Moscow the leader of the unification of Russian lands.

The victory at the Kulikovo field did not bring freedom from the yoke. This was manifested, for example, in the fact that in 1382 the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh went on a campaign against Moscow and burned it down. Moscow only became the leader of the resistance to the Golden Horde recognized by all Russian lands. The unification of Russian lands did not end under Dmitry Donskoy either, the separatism of local princes would soon (in the first half of the 15th century) turn into a feudal war in which the Moscow authorities would win in the fight against the separatism of other princes.

Algorithm for writing an essay on history on topics of a problematic nature

1. First, in work it is necessaryshow how well the problem is understood. The sentence can be structured like this:

The statement "......................................................" related to ........................................ problem.

Those. you need to link this or that statement with a specific problem.

2. Reasons for choosing this topic.

It should be noted why, out of 6 proposed statements, he chose this one related to this topic.

The student, having shown that he knows the problem and the topic with which the statement is connected, must show that he understands her author's vision. Another thing is a problem, a fact, and another thing is the interpretation of a fact, a point of view on a problem.

4. Express your attitude to the opinion of the author :

a) complete agreement (“I agree (a) with the author, because ............................”);

b) partial agreement (“I agree (a) with the author in .......................... because...... ....................; I do not agree with the author in .................... ..............., because ............................... »);

When something is affirmed or denied, argumentation is needed. The argument is carried out according to the following scheme:

a) Conceptual-theoretical (with reference to theories and scientists).

b) Examples.

c) Reliance on one's own personal practice, experience.

Only after the graduate reveals the author's vision of the problem, one can begin to express one's attitude towards it, which can be expressed in three ways.

5. Conclusions. ( When formulating conclusions, it is necessary to summarize your reflection. It is clear that it should be directly related to the original premise of the essay - the selected quote)

EXAMPLE of a history essay on problematic topics

The problem of the formation of the Old Russian state (882-1132 centuries)

Old Russian state - medieval political organization socially differentiated society, one of the main institutions political power, which results from public division labor, appearance private property and classes. Its characteristic features:
the presence of a special system of bodies and institutions exercising power functions;
· the right fixing system of the norms sanctioned by the state;
a certain territory to which the jurisdiction of this state extends;
arose in the 882nd century as a result of the unification of the East Slavic tribes under the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty.
In world history, there are two points of view on the origin of the Old Russian state - Norman and anti-Norman.
Norman theory -direction in the study of history Ancient Russia, whose supporters consider the Normans (Varangians) the founders of the first state Eastern Slavs- Old Russian state; was put forward by the German historians G. Bayer, G. Miller and others in the 18th century.
Anti-Norman theory -opposite to the Norman point of view of M. Lomonosov (XVIII century) and B.A. Rybakov (XX) on the origin of the Old Russian state, which is based on its formation as a result of internal development society, social, economic and economic changes, the need to regulate relations between people living in the same territory, as well as to protect their land from external enemies.
I share the second point of view - anti-Norman.
The creation of the Old Russian state is a natural process of the internal development of the Slavs.
Firstly,the presence during the formation of statehood (VI-IX centuries) among the Eastern Slavs of economic, social and economic changes:agriculture provided the East Slavic society with a stable and fairly significant surplus product, which contributed to the division of labor, in particular, the separation of craft into an independent industry economic activity;
there was an exchange of mutual services: the farmer supplied the artisan with products Agriculture, the artisan of the farmer - with his products;
the formation of neighboring communities - the settlement of people who are not related by family ties, but occupy a certain limited area of collectively cultivated land.
dominance of subsistence economy - a primitive type of economy, in which production is aimed only at satisfying one's own needs (not for sale).
Secondly,the need to regulate relations between people living in the same territory: in the 9th century, the East Slavic tribes saw the emergence of feudal relations, the stratification of society into land owners (patrimonials) and peasants dependent on them, working on the land of the feudal lord.The formation of the Old Russian state was influencedthe need to protect their land from external enemies - Khazar Khaganate (VII-X centuries), Byzantium (IX-XI centuries), Volga Bulgaria (IX-XII centuries).
In this way, it is quite obvious that the formation of the Old Russian state was the result of the internal development of society, which refutes Norman theory and proves anti-Norman. At the same time, one cannot deny the influence external factors to the creation of Ancient Russia.

The word "essay" came into Russian from French and historically goes back to the Latin word exagium (weighing). French ezzai can be literally translated by the words experience, trial, attempt, sketch, essay.

An essay is a prose essay of small volume and free composition., expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously does not claim to be a defining or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

In the "Explanatory Dictionary of Foreign Words" L.P. Krysin, it is defined as "an essay that treats some problems not in a systematic scientific form, but in a free form."

The Big Encyclopedic Dictionary gives the following definition of an essay:"this is a genre of philosophical, literary-critical, historical-biographical, journalistic prose, combining the emphatically individual position of the author with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation, focused on colloquial speech."

Some features of an essay:

having a specific topic or issue. A work devoted to the analysis of a wide range of problems, by definition, cannot be performed in this genre.
expression of individual impressions and considerations on a specific occasion or issue. Obviously does not claim to be a defining or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.
as a rule, it implies a new, subjectively colored word about something, such a work can have a philosophical, historical-biographical, journalistic, literary-critical, popular science or purely fiction character.
in the content of the essay, first of all, the personality of the author is evaluated - his worldview, thoughts and feelings.

This genre has become popular in recent years. The creator of the genre is M. Montaigne ("Experiments", 1580). Today, this genre is offered as a task quite often. It is one of the main components of the package of documents (for admission to an educational institution or for employment). Essay competition helps to choose the best from the variety of the best!

Writing an essay is also important for a young specialist.

The purpose of the essay is to develop skills such as independent creative thinking and writing your own thoughts.

His writing is extremely helpful, since this allows the author to learn how to clearly and competently formulate thoughts, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight cause-and-effect relationships, illustrate experience with relevant examples, and argue their conclusions.

For a young specialist, for example, the most relevant topic is "Me and my career". The topic is given so that it is easy for the commission (employer) to assess the peculiarities of your thinking, creativity, enthusiasm and potential. The best way to achieve this result is to write directly and frankly, while remaining honest with yourself. If you are not honest, there is every chance that your writing will be considered unnatural.

Structure and outline of the essay

The structure is determined by the requirements:

the author's thoughts on the problem are presented in the form of brief abstracts (T).
the idea must be supported by evidence, so the thesis is followed by arguments (A).

Arguments are facts, phenomena of social life, events, life situations and life experience, scientific evidence, references to the opinions of scientists, etc. It is better to give two arguments in favor of each thesis: one argument seems unconvincing, three arguments can "overload" the presentation made in a genre focused on brevity and figurativeness.

Thus, the essay acquires a circular structure (the number of theses and arguments depends on the topic, the chosen plan, the logic of thought development):

introduction
thesis, arguments
thesis, arguments
thesis, arguments
conclusion.

When writing an essay, it is also important to consider the following points:

The introduction and conclusion should focus on the problem (in the introduction it is put, in the conclusion - the opinion of the author is summarized).
It is necessary to highlight paragraphs, red lines, establish a logical connection between paragraphs: this is how the integrity of the work is achieved.
Presentation style: emotionality, expressiveness, artistry. Experts believe that short, simple sentences of various intonations, skillful use of the "most modern" punctuation mark - a dash - provide the proper effect. However, the style reflects the characteristics of the individual, it is also useful to remember this.

Before you start writing, consider the following questions. The answers to them will allow you to more clearly define

what to write:

When touching on your personal qualities or abilities, ask yourself:
- Am I different in one way or another from those I know?
- what is this quality?
About the activity that you were (are) engaged in:
- What made me take up this activity?
- why did I keep doing this?
About every event in your life that you mentioned:
- Why do I remember this particular event?
- has it changed me as a person?
- how did I react to it?
- was it a revelation to me; something I didn't know about before?
About every person you mentioned:
- Why did I name this particular person?
- Do I aspire to be like him?
- what qualities do I admire?
- Was there something he said that I will remember for the rest of my life?
- did I change my mind?
About each of your preferences and what you don't like:
- Why do I like it or don't like it?
- Has this circumstance significantly affected my life?
About your every failure:
- what have I learned as a result?
- What good have I learned from this situation?

Essay classification

In terms of essay content, there are:

philosophical,
literary-critical,
historical,
artistic,
artistic and journalistic,
spiritual and religious, etc.

In literary form they appear as:

reviews,
lyric miniature,
notes,
diary pages,
letters, etc.

There are also the following types:

descriptive,
narrative,
reflective,
critical,
analytical, etc.

In this case, the compositional features of the work made in the essay genre are taken as the basis.

Finally, a classification into two large groups is proposed:

personal, subjective, where the main element is the disclosure of one or another side of the author's personality,
objective, where the personal principle is subordinated to the subject of description or some idea.

An essay by a young specialist on a specific topic belongs to the second group.

don't forget about friends:

Ready-made essays on various topics.

"Banks are willing to lend money to those who can prove they don't need it."

The bank provides its services to those who have the means and sources of income.
The banking system is a set of national banks and other credit institutions operating within the framework of a single financial and credit mechanism. The banking system consists of two levels: the Central Bank - the main bank of the country, and credit organizations. The functions of commercial banks can be divided into active and passive. One of the active functions of the bank is the issuance of credit. A loan is a provision to an individual or legal entity in need of money, the right to carry out their expenses at the expense of the bank, subject to guaranteed reimbursement to the bank of the spent amounts. The main principles of lending are: urgency, payment, repayment and guarantee. Loans may differ in the method of lending, in terms, in the nature of the loan and in the subjects of lending. In this statement, the author raises the problem of the active functions of the bank. I agree with the author. Firstly The richer the person, the greater the likelihood that he will repay the loan on time. Secondly, it is more profitable for banks to work with wealthy clients, as they take loans for large amounts, thereby providing the bank with more profit. Thirdly, working with wealthy clients is associated with minimizing risks and increasing the prestige of the bank.
In Russia, credit institutions must obtain a license to operate from the Central Bank. The development of the Russian banking system does not lag behind other countries. Are in special demand mortgage loans, the volume of which in 2012 exceeded the pre-crisis level.
Due to my age, I cannot get a loan, but I think that if you approach this issue reasonably and responsibly, then you can, thanks to a loan, get out of a difficult financial situation.
It is more difficult for less wealthy people to get a loan than for rich people, but sometimes this is the only way to solve their problems.
Cheloyants Naira, 10 A class.

"A man's heart makes him rich"
L. Tolstoy.

You can't judge a person's wealth by the thickness of his wallet. Only the presence of high moral character allows you to consider a person truly rich.
Morality is the degree to which a person learns moral values and follows them in Everyday life. A person may not commit evil deeds because he is afraid of punishment or values the opinions of other people. But highest degree development of spirituality - reliance in their behavior on certain principles. If the desire for profit and pleasure turns into an indefatigable passion, the whole life of a person is subject to greed. Insatiable greed and acquisitiveness oust all moral qualities from a person's soul. Such a person finds an excuse for all evil deeds or even crimes, if they increase his treasures.
In the etymological dictionary, the word "rich" means "guarded by the gods." According to Christian teaching The Lord makes a person rich so that he uses his wealth for the benefit of other people. Then, according to the golden rule of morality, a person will receive respect and kindness from others. No material goods can replace beauty human soul, and this is what attracts other people to us, creates a wide circle of communication.
A prime example of moral behavior is charity Russian merchants. Generous donations for the development of culture and education, care for orphans, the disabled and the homeless - all these were the usual expense items for Russian merchants in the second half of the 19th century. The most significant results of the charity of the Moscow merchants were: the Tretyakov Gallery, the Bakhrushinsky Theater Museum, the Alekseevskaya Hospital and many other institutions. Today, the tradition of charity began to revive.
I believe that we should continue this trend, and then the number of truly rich people will only increase. When I become self-reliant, I plan to spend part of my Money for charity.
money and material values not important in and of themselves. What makes a person rich is his kindness, his mercy, everything that a person cherishes.

Pavel Zaitsev.

“Be more courteous with the people you meet while climbing up - you will still meet them when you go down” W. Mizner.

Human life is unpredictable, there are not only ups and downs in it.

Throughout life, a person adapts to his environment. From infancy to old age, a person is included in the process of socialization - the assimilation social roles and cultural norms. The position of a person in society is never the same: we perform many social roles, we belong to different strata, we have different social status. The position of a person in the stratum, according to M. Weber, is determined by four main criteria: income, power, education, prestige. The situation in one or another stratum is not static. Sorokin introduced the concept of social mobility - a change in the place occupied by a person or a group of people in social structure. social mobility can be individual and group. The causes of group mobility can be social upheavals, wars, natural disasters. Individual mobility may depend on education, abilities, change of residence, change in marital status. Distinguish vertical mobility- when a person moves up and down the strata and horizontally - when the movement occurs within the same stratum. Mobility indicators are movement speed and intensity. As a result of movement, a person may lose his former status and be unable to adapt to the new stratum in which he finds himself. Such people are called marginals. Depending on mobility, open societies, closed and societies are distinguished. mixed type- when the change of stratum is prohibited by law, but in practice it is possible. Throughout life, a person can improve his education, repeatedly change his place of residence (migration and emigration), change his marital status, get busy entrepreneurial activity, make a career. As a rule, other people help an individual to move up the social ladder, and not just his personal abilities. But many, having reached the top, forget about those who once helped them, begin to look down on their friends who are below. social status. I believe that the behavior of a person who has achieved some heights in life largely depends on his upbringing and on the life principles that he adheres to. Being at the top, you must always remember that life is unpredictable, and one day you may find yourself in the place of those whom you now laugh at and despise.

As journalism developed, it experienced demarcation. Genres were gradually formed (informational, analytical, artistic journalism), genres were distinguished (reportage, article, correspondence, feuilleton, essay, essay, etc.), types were manifested (political, economic, literary-critical, moral-ethical, etc.). ), styles (polemical, satirical, propagandistic, agitational, critical, etc.).

The essay as a genre has been transformed throughout time. As a result, the essay still does not have clear boundaries that define its forms, types, a clear distinction among other genres of journalism. This led to the emergence of disparate opinions of many scientists who speak out about the attitude of the essay to a particular genre.

Essay (French "essey" - experience, sketch) is a genre of philosophical, literary-critical, historical-biographical, journalistic prose, combining the author's emphasized individual position with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation focused on colloquial speech. This definition is given to this genre by the researcher S.I. Chuprinin. Chuprinin S.I. Life according to concepts [electronic resource] // http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2004/12/chu13.html . - (Date of treatment: 04/13/2013).

In the explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Ozhegov Ozhegov S.I. Dictionary Russian language: about 100,000 words, terms and phraseological expressions. - M, 2009. - 1359 p. essay - a prose essay of small volume and free composition on a private topic, interpreted subjectively and, usually, incompletely.

In the big encyclopedic dictionaryBig encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 2008. -1248s. the following definition of an essay is given: a genre of philosophical, literary-critical, historical-biographical, journalistic prose, combining the emphatically individual position of the author with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation, focused on colloquial speech.

Based on the above definitions of an essay, we can conclude that this genre is also a kind of philosophizing of the author on a particular topic.

This means that the essay is not only fiction with its characteristic features (paths, style, etc.). Separating from it, the essay can approach both journalism and philosophy with its endless reasoning.

But there is also a clear boundary between philosophy and essayism. Philosophical thinking implies the principle that truth is more important than mere opinion, and truth is inseparable from its own logical or intuitive knowledge. Essayistic thinking remains on the basis of subjective human opinion. Pure subjectivity, spontaneity of thought and feeling, situationality, whim and arbitrariness - this is what an essay is, according to V. Kovalev Big Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M., 2008. -1248s...

Thus, the essay is more of a literary phenomenon than a philosophical one. In the essay, the main thing is the author's "I", his reflections on a specific topic and attitude to an exciting issue.

In newspaper, documentary journalism, the essay genre is more often considered as a “hybrid” type of text, where the use of essay elements depends on individual style author.

To answer the question of what style the essay genre belongs to, one should find in it the genre-forming factors of both analytical and artistic journalism. The main genre-forming factors of both analytical and artistic journalism include: the subject of display, the target setting or function and method of display.

First, the essay should be considered as an analytical genre. Essay texts are classified as such by A.A. Tertychny Tertychny A.A. Analytical journalism: cognitive-psychological approach. - M., 1998. - S. 134 .. In his book, he writes that in analytical publication the object of reflection of the author's thought is almost always in outside world towards the essayist. Although sometimes it can exist in the inner world of the author. In this case, we will talk about introspection.

The next genre-forming factor is the target setting. Indeed, what kind of genre the finished text will be depends largely on whether the author of the material aims to describe in detail, in all details, an event or phenomenon, affecting the causes and forecast of its development, while creating analytical material.

The essay should be considered from the point of view and artistic journalism.

Unlike scientific texts, literary texts are distinguished by linguistic figurativeness, ambiguity of concepts, generalization of a specific fact, and classification of phenomena. Another difference between scientific and artistic texts is obvious in the object of the material: in scientific publications, these are objects and events of the surrounding world, in fiction, it is mainly the person himself with his attitude to the outside, with his perception, V.L. Zvik Zvik V.L. Introduction to journalism. - M., 2000. - From 56 ..

Texts written in an essayistic manner carry the author's reflections on the subject, his personal attitude to the phenomenon, his direct or indirect motivation for the reader to act.

If we talk about methods, the availability of means will be obvious here. artistic expressiveness, phrases, words that brightly or subduedly express the attitude of the author himself, etc.

Referring the essay to artistic journalism, A.I. Galperin Galperin I.R. Essays on style in English. - M., 1958. - S. 175. also puts forward its main functions. What is important is the impact on the audience, the belief in the correct (one's own, subjective) views.

I.R. Galperin, Galperin I.R. Essays on the style of the English language. - M., 1958. - S. 212. puts forward the main objectives of the essay: "You can talk about the influencing function, but this effect takes longer (compare, for example, with oratory), that is, its effect is slow"

In addition to the author's personality, the essay is characterized by the presence of several more characteristic features. Firstly, it is topical, the relation of the event to present moment time. Secondly, the availability of means of artistic expression. Thirdly, it is the style of the text that reflects the temperament and personality of the author.

The attribute of the essay should include dialogue. Regardless of the form of presentation of the author's thoughts, composition, the dialogue of the author himself with the reader remains main feature of this genre. The simplest technique is the presence of rhetorical questions in the text. The reader mentally answers them.

Some types of essays are known. Literary-critical or art-critical. Such works are set by the work of art itself, the author only reflects his view of music, painting, literature, etc. through various means of expression.

The existing classification of an essay into narrative, descriptive, analytical, critical, reflective, etc. is rather doubtful, since any essay text can combine several of these characteristics at the same time.

According to A.A. Muravyova Muravyova A.A. Essay [electronic resource] // http://zhurnal.lib.ru/m/murawxewa_a_a/esse.shtml . - (Date of access: 04/13/2013), it would be more correct to divide essay works into: a personal, subjective essay, where the main element is the disclosure of one or another side of the author's personality, and an objective, or "serious" essay, where the personal beginning is subordinate to the subject description or some idea.

So, in the course of considering the history of the emergence and development of the essay genre in journalism, some features were identified. The origin of the essay genre began long before the appearance of the first print media, or rather, with Lucian's "Recitations", Plato's "Dialogues", Cicero's treatises. Also, the ancient Russian genre "Word" is referred to the origins of essays.

The essay genre actively manifests itself in changing times for society, when a fundamentally new, different from the previous worldview is being formed.

Being at the same time a philosophical, literary and journalistic genre, the essay nevertheless moves away from philosophy and more and more relates to literature, since, unlike philosophy, in essayism, truth is not in the first place, but intuitive or experimental knowledge. At the same time, the genre of the essay is more journalistic than literary, because if there is an unreality of the hero, place or time in literature, then the text of the essay reveals the true reality to the reader, but reveals it in the way the author himself accepts it.

Genre, essay is close to analytical texts, thanks to the subject of its display, located in the outside world; appraisal; targets such as describing the phenomenon in detail, giving the event a forecast; thanks to the theoretical approach of the author in writing the work. Even more, this genre approaches the artistic and journalistic genres, since the author's empirical approach is possible; typification of real-documentary reality; the author's emotions precede the place of the fact; texts always use means of artistic expression, and the text itself appears in a free flow of thoughts; The essay is inherently paradoxical.

From this it becomes clear that the essay is a related genre, skillfully combining the features of both analytics and artistry, this is due to the breadth of the functions performed by the texts and the choice of the author's approach in own work. What will come first: a fact or his own opinion, largely determines the fate of his text.

There is an increasing essayization of printed materials. We can cite the most striking example - the emergence of a blog that realizes itself precisely in the essayist style of writing.

A large amount of information leads to the fact that the audience has the opportunity to choose not only the text that is interesting to each reader individually, but also the point of view of the writer and the author himself.

Journalism is becoming more personified, the author himself is no longer an impersonal source of information, now he interprets this information, thereby arousing the interest of the reading audience in his person.