What is an Essay? An essay is a short piece of writing, usually assigned by your professor to torture you. Essays come in all shapes and sizes, most of them only a few pages long. Some professors ask that your essay is written in a specific format. The three most common formats are APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), and Chicago. Remembering the specifics for each source can be difficult, since there are so many source types. However, there are many resource out there to help you format properly. Screw-Essays.com wishes you the best luck with your essays and hope you get an easy professor.