The word "essay" came to Russian from French and historically goes back to the Latin word exagium (speedypaper review). The French "essai" can literally be translated with the words experience, trial, attempt, sketch, essay.

An essay is a prose work of small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a particular subject or issue and not necessarily claiming to be definitive or exhaustive treatment of the subject.

L.P. Krysin's "Explanatory Dictionary of Foreign Words" defines it as "an essay treating any problems not in a systematic scientific form, but in a free form."

"The Great Encyclopedic Dictionary" gives the following definition of an essay: "it is a genre of philosophical, literary-critical, historical-biographical, publicist prose, combining an emphasized individual position of the author with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation, oriented to colloquial speech."

"The Concise Literary Encyclopedia" specifies: "An essay is a prose work of small length and free composition, treating a private subject and presenting an attempt to convey individual impressions and considerations connected in one way or another with it."

Some signs of an essay are:

The presence of a specific theme or question. 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 particular subject or issue. It does not purport to be a definitive or exhaustive treatment of the subject.

usually involves a new, subjectively colored word about something, such a work can be philosophical, historical and biographical, journalistic, literary and critical, popular science or purely fiction.

in the content of essays are evaluated primarily the personality of the author - his worldview, thoughts and feelings.

This genre has become popular in recent years. The creator of the genre is considered to be M. Montaigne ("Essays", 1580). Today this genre is offered as an assignment quite often. It is one of the main components of the application package (for admission to an educational institution or for employment). An essay contest helps to choose the best from the variety of the best! The way a candidate manages to present himself, how he described his achievements and blunders, allows the examiners to determine - whether this person is good enough for them, whether his experience is sufficient, whether he will live up to expectations in the future and whether he is able to be useful.

The purpose of the essay is to develop skills such as independent

creative thinking and writing your own thoughts.

Writing it is extremely useful, as it allows the author to learn how to formulate thoughts clearly and competently, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight cause-and-effect connections, illustrate experiences with relevant examples, and argue their conclusions. For applicants, for example, one of the topical topics of essays is "Me and My Career". Such topics allow the commission to easily assess the features of your thinking, creativity, enthusiasm and potential. The best way to achieve a good result is to write directly and frankly, remaining honest with yourself. If you are not honest, there is a good chance that your essay will be considered unnatural.