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Essays are generally short pieces of writing written from an author's personal point of view, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphletand a short story.

Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, politicalmanifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. Almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been dubbed essays (e.g. Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticismand An Essay on Man). While brevity usually defines an essay, voluminous works like John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population are counterexamples. In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada), essays have become a major part of formal education. Secondary students are taught structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays are often used by universities in selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a way of assessing the performance of students during final exams.

The concept of an "essay" has been extended to other mediums beyond writing. Afilm essay is a movie that often incorporates documentary film making styles and which focuses more on the evolution of a theme or an idea. A photographic essayis an attempt to cover a topic with a linked series of photographs; it may or may not have an accompanying text or caption

An essay has been defined in a variety of ways. One definition is a "prose composition with a focused subject of discussion" or a "long, systematic discourse".[1] It is difficult to define the genre into which essays fall. Aldous Huxley, a leading essayist, gives guidance on the subject.[2] He notes that "the essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything", and adds that "by tradition, almost by definition, the essay is a short piece". Furthermore, Huxley argues that "essays...