What is an essay, anyway?

essay (n.): (1) a short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author. (2) an initial attempt

essay (v.): (1) to make an attempt at; try. (2) to subject to a test.

Essays are written assignments we usually get in our english classes. They can be written about any topic but in english classes the topic is usually assigned to you. There are also different types of essays like informative or persuasive.

Essays in middle school and high school were a lot easier than essays in college. In college essays assigned are longer and they take a lot of research. Also, there's the whole plagiarism issue that goes along with it.

I knew what essays were from english class but just the noun definition. I had no idea that essay was also a verb. I looked up the definition in an online dictionary and essay as a verb means to attempt.

The best essay experience I can remember was last semester when I had to write a midterm essay for my government class. The essay was about slavery in the colonies and I don't remember the exact question but we just had to argue if slavery was really bad or if it wasn't really that bad based on all the reading and lectures. I felt like I had learned so much and that class and actually knew the material. It was easy becuase I had all the resources I needed to complete it and it was something that interested me. I ended up earning an A on that paper.