An essay is a piece of formal written composition. Essay-writing is an important part of most humanities subjects. Although different subjects may have different conventions, rules and styles for essays (and these conventions should be carefully followed), the basic skills of research paper writing are common to all these subjects. Essay-writing is taught directly in English classes, and you should try to apply what you learn in these classes when writing term papers in other subjects.

Part of the importance of essay writing is that you are learning how to study information, analyze it in terms of specific questions, and present coherent logical answers. A humanities graduate is not merely someone who knows facts about history, literature, etc., but a person who has been trained in skills of analyzing and dealing with problems. Essay-writing is an important part of this training.