[Ask ] What's the meanning of "essay"?

[peal (立委選舉了)]

When I was studying "the magazine of Studio Classrom",
I saw the vocabulary called "essay"

(A girl who want to go into University,so she have to write an "essay"
to the school first. And let the school check if she is up to par.)

Here is the teacher's description for "essay"
========
When we were in Junior or senior high school,The paper we wrote called
"composition"(作文),But after we go into University,we called it "essay"
=========
and after I have looked up the dictionary via
http://tw.dictionary.yahoo.com/word/essay
It means "散文,小品文,論說文,隨筆,漫筆 "
Which one is correct?
is the meanning of essay called "論文"(像博碩士論文)?
Or just a "作文"(similar to composition)?

Who can tell me what is "essay"?
I greatly appreciate your kindness ^_^

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◆ From: 203.203.136.197
※ 編輯: peal            來自: 203.203.136.197      (01/30 01:42)
推 engjap:博碩士論文"dissertation"will be better
推 BlueDays:maybe you can go to Eng-Class board 1st
→ BlueDays:there must be something you want ^^~
推 peal:Thanks to BlueDays, I am there XD