What Makes an Essay Great?

From Longform’s “Best of” list, I read Rebecca Onion’s essay called “Against Generations.” This essay was about how she and many others are against the idea of generations and how your generation tells something about you as a group. I think what the users of Longform liked so much about this essay was how all encompassing it was. Rececca Onion used research from all different parts of time and history to support her argument. She really was able to be inclusive towards many people by doing this as well. The research she included was very effective and clear while she also used her own input and thoughts which made it more enjoyable to read and feel more relatable and welcoming. What also was particularly captivating was the idea that she altered the idea of something that so many people just commonly look at as normal. People are just generally grouped into these generations and are expected to be similar just because of the date they were born when really there are so many other things that make a person who they are. Onion brought in interesting ideas on this topic that you typically would not really consider. She included politics and how millennials are stereotyped to have certain political views compared to those of later generations.