Understanding Essay Writing: Structure, Genres, and Style

Regulated Text: This is a text that discusses a subject freely and subjectively, whether philosophical, historical, social, or other. Its aim is literary, educational, and persuasive. It is understood as a personal reflection, an attempt to interpret the human condition and the world from one's own knowledge and experience.

Features:

• Expressive Function: Expressing one's thoughts.
• Referential Function: Transmitting information.
• Persuasive Function: Influencing the reader.
• Contact Function: Establishing proximity with the reader.
• Aesthetic Function: Utilizing literary resources and personal style.
• Metalinguistic Function: Disclosing elements of the linguistic code.

Structure:

• Introduction
• Development
• Conclusion

Methods:

• Inductive Method: Moving from specific to general.
• Deductive Method: Moving from general to specific.

Genres:

• Article: A short text on a particular topic in magazines or newspapers.
• Speech: An oral presentation on a public issue with a persuasive purpose.
• Epistle: A letter.
• Treatise or Dissertation: A systematic study of a particular subject.
• Study: Work done with the main purpose of in-depth study of a specific topic.
• Manifesto: Outlining purposes and programs of activity.
• Pamphlet: A text that violently attacks opposition or serves as political propaganda.
• Review: An examination of a work, especially a recently published one.

Humanistic vs. Scientific Texts

While there are significant differences between scientific and humanistic texts, they often share similarities. Typically, they present the same structure, types of text, discourse genres, and linguistic resources, such as specific terminology, clear objectives, and abundant logical cohesion elements.

Scientific Approach vs. Essay Approach

Scientific Approach:

Presents information objectively. Tends to treat the issue comprehensively. Argumentation is based on facts, data, hypotheses, and experiments. Arrives at a definitive and closed conclusion.

Essay Approach:

Presents information subjectively. Tends to treat the issue partially. Often uses persuasion through particular facts and examples, leaving the subject open to discussion or controversy.