An essay is a piece of nonfiction writing that usually expresses the writer’s point of view. The writer has to make sure that he or she will be understood by whoever reads their work. An essay is not easily defined because there are many different types. An essay can be narrative or argumentative, reflective or persuasive. In an argumentative essay, a person would address a controversial issue and give their position and support their position. In a persuasion essay, the writer tries to convince the reader to accept his or her opinion. Subjects of an abstract nature are talked about in reflective essays.
A web log, commonly known as a blog, is a website where the up to date entries are viewed first. A blog can be used as a personal diary. Someone may use their blog for commentary on politics or the latest episode of their favorite television show. An amateur journalist may use his blog to announce breaking news. A special feature of the blog is the ability for readers to publish their comments and opinions in response to the post. The blogger can decide who is able to read and comment to his or her blog.
Blogs and essays have distinct differences. Essays are written compositions but can be published online. Blogs are exclusive to the Internet. Blogs can consist of photos, art, and videos; whereas essays can only be made up of written words. A writer is required to support their position in an essay. Essays are made up of multiple paragraphs: introductory, body, and conclusion. The most commonly used form is the five paragraph essay, which has three body paragraphs. Blogs, on the other hand, have no established rules or formal structure. Sometimes, the line between essay and blog can be blurred. According to Joseph Epstein, “there is no standard essay.” Epstein also believes “what does unite almost all successful essays, no matter how divergent the subject, is that a strong personal presence is felt behind them.” This can also be said of blogs. Both essays and blogs are an organization of thoughts, usually on a particular topic. They both can give the writer a voice. Both forms of writing focus around the relationship between writer and reader.
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2 comments:
I never thought of essays being strictly words. Of course they are, I am just so used to that fact that I completely overlooked it. Sometimes I do not know if I like pictures or not. I mean pictures are good and very effective, but a lot of times I imagine things differently. Have you ever read a book and then watched a movie that pictured things all wrong? I think that the absence of pictures help the reader use their imagination more. Pictures should be used only if they present “the strong personal presence” of the author and not just to fill up space.
I agree with you that both essays and blogs are successful by the amount of enthusiasm by the writer. I think that essays do not have to be just nonfiction. You are right there is no good writing that does not involve the reader. With essay since there are no pictures the reader can use there on imagination but with a blog most have pictures, which can interfere the reader’s own interruption of the writing
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