How does a blog differ from a traditional essay?
A traditional essay consists of a topic, body, and conclusion without including web links. A blog consist of useful information that can be edited, added to, or discussed by others. When reading an essay, one cannot click to links for further information which can be done when reading a blog. Most blogs are in electronic form rather than printed work such as an essay. Blogs are great ways to post personal opinions and point of views on the web for others to read and comment on.
Blog
A blog is a conversational style text consisting of content that displays formal opinion. A blog is also known as a public journal which allows the blogger to release and readers to post comments responding to the blogger and each other. Each blog is usually easy to find and listed in chronological order. The term blog comes from the word weblog which is web content appearing in chronological order. A blogger's topic of choice may come from anywhere and be influenced by anything. Topics of discussion may include, celebrity news, educational content, how-to topics, religious topics, encouraging stories and so on. Not only is the language of blogs written in free-form, but the visual features are also huge components. Though it is important to gain and keep the readers' attention through text, the format of a blog and visual attraction are huge parts of creating a successful blog.
Anatomy
The features of a blog include:
- Order: A blog include the most recent blog post to the oldest, in somewhat of a reversed order.
- Date and Time: Blog entries include the date and time in which the blog was posted.
- Bloggers Identity: Bloggers may choose not to visually expose themselves but must have some sort of identification such as their actual name or any name they choose to go by.
- Audience: A blogger must have an audience to determine if their blog is successful. Readers are able to subscribe to a blogger's page giving them the option to comment and interact with other viewers.
Essay
An essay is a short piece of writing that discusses, describes, or analyzes one topic. It can discuss a subject directly or indirectly, seriously or humorously. It can describe personal opinions, or just report information. An essay can be written from any perspective, but essays are most commonly written in the first person (I), or third person (subjects that can be substituted with the he, her, it, or them pronouns). There are different kinds of essay each with a different form. A traditional essay is used for formal documents or most of the time in school (English Works).
Fifteen hundred and eighty is the accepted birth year of the essay (Tanner 11). Essays of today have a greater range, variety of subject, greater length and a greater literary finish compared to essays of the previous centuries. There is also evidence of greater individuality in thoughts and directness in style. The main influence that brought about these changes was the growth of individualism in all realms of thought (Tanner 17). Essays have a particular purpose. They can expand a reader's knowledge of a topic, or just entertain.
Traditional Essay
Traditional essays are mostly formal pieces of literature. Although the writer can add humor and their own creative writing style, one must not use slang or incorrect grammar. These types of essays are linear and do not have links. With a traditional essay the writer must pick a topic to research and discuss in full. A traditional essay is based on facts, while blogs are usually opinion driven. Essays are factually based because one has to research a topic thoroughly. This gives the writer all the necessary information he or she needs to write an efficient essay. In addition to that, traditional essays present all sides of the topic, even if the essay is persuasive. One of the largest differences between a blog and a traditional essays, is traditional essays require the writer to use a step-by-step structure. The essay starts off with an introduction, followed by body paragraphs, and finally comes the conclusion. The writer should not stray from this basic structure.An essay should have a structure that includes all of the components below
- Introduction- This part encompasses the first paragraph.The introduction has a variety of functioning purposes. One of the main purposes of the introduction is to establish and create the tone and style of the paper. It is important for the introduction to pave the way for the rest of the essay. The introduction tells the purpose of the essay, and introduces the subject. It also gives a brief synopsis of the points that will be covered in the paper. The writer should state the point and grab the reader’s interest in this paragraph. The final component of the introduction is the thesis.
- Body- Traditionally there are three to four body paragraphs in an essay. Each paragraph brings up a different point that is addressed in the thesis. The body includes the descriptions or explanations of what is given in the introduction. The body paragraph uses an particular point of view, develops the subject logically, and keeps the reader's interest with details.
- Conclusion- The writer offers closure and summarizes or ties the essay together in this final paragraph. This paragraph should be brief and straight tot the point beyond the limited scope of the essay. The writer makes the final word and writes what they personally think about the topic.
Links
There are several types of blogs, for instance you could have an author who creates a personal blog which is merely for the purpose of sharing information, trading ideas and communicating with both friends and strangers. The personal blogger usually focus on topics they are passionate about, such as cooking, photography, and education. The next type of blog is considered to be a business blog. This is used for businesses to sell or promote various products. Some businesses will use personal bloggers to promote there products,and pay them. Business blogs are usually well designed and packed with helpful content.Organizational blogs are very similar to personal blogs expect, for the fact that the content will represent a particular organizations views. Organizational blogs can be either internal or external. Internal meaning that the blog is to be used within a large company, and external meaning to communicate with clients and other interested parties. The final type of blog is the professional blog this type of blogging is not as popular as the others mentioned but is slowly becoming a career for some writers. Many companies are moving toward hiring bloggers to maintain their blogs and to promote service products or ideas.