Purposes behind essay writing assignments

School is not just about attending classes and taking examinations. There are other school activities that are meant to improve and enhance the intellectual skills of students. One of these activities is academic essay writing. You may have been writing essay since your primary school years, but after all these times, you may still have been wondering the advantages and benefits the class and the professor can get from writing essays.

To have a good look on the purpose behind this type of academic composition, it may be a worth to find the origin of the term “essay.” The term is historically derived from the Latin verb “exigere” that means "to weigh," “to examine” or “to test.” Based from this origin, it is possible to determine the purpose of academic essay writing, that to examine or test their thoughts or ideas regarding a certain topic or subject.

Concerning testing out ideas, this could be expounded into two more purposes. First is to educate or train the students. When students write essays, they are encouraged to think systematically and logically, while remaining open to new data and information. This way, students are trained to explore further and deepen their knowledge on a certain topic or subject. During the process, students are educated even without having to sit or listen to lectures in a classroom.

Second purpose is to assess the students’ knowledge or learning after a certain academic period. Teachers and professor typically wanted to know how much progress their students have made after a certain academic period. Aside from the usual examinations, they can assign essays to their students to find out if they really have learned enough.

Academic essay writing has been proven to be one of the most effective tools in furthering education. You better do your share.