About the Book: Essays for Upper to Secondary Level
The word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to
attempt". In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an attempt", and this is
still an alternative meaning.
An essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an
authors personal point of view. Essays can be literary criticism, political
manifestos, and learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections,
and reflections of the author.
Longer academic essays (often with a word limit of between 2,000 and 5,000
words) are often more discursive. They sometimes begin with a short summary
analysis of what has