The essay can have many different qualities, especially the literary and academic essays. The essay is also interpreted and defined in different ways, depending on who reads and writes it.

The word essay comes from the Old French word, assaier, which means to “judge” or “to weigh out”. A few years later, Montaigne—then Francis Bacon—started writing literary pieces that talk about love, peace and their kidney stones. These literary pieces became the ancestors of the essays.

Students especially change their views about their essays as they proceed to a higher academic level. This is also the point where the transition from literary to academic essays occurs. As they progress to a higher education, their essays become more formal and more research-oriented. Still, there are common elements that remain true for both literary and academic essays. These elements basically embrace what an essay generally is.

The older meaning of the essay gives a clue to the essay’s most important quality: it is personal. It is the work of the writers testing the thoughts of others and incorporating their own into writing. The essay cannot stand alone with just facts and research included in it. It has to be equally provided with the writer’s analysis of the issue presented. Therefore, it is a must for students that they integrate their own approach in their own essays: their opinions, their angle of presenting their ideas or the way they connect and analyse the materials given.

An essay, whether literary or academic, talks about a single topic. It does not skip from one subject to another, unless these are sub-topics that further support a more general idea. For literary essays, students have more freedom in choosing the topic that they want to write about. In academic essays, it is the professor who assigns the essay topic to the students.

The essay is also not complete without its three parts: the introduction, the body and the conclusion. It will not also garner a passing mark at all without a proper referencing system.