What is another word for "essay"?

Roget's Thesaurus (1911) lists these synonyms for "essay": adventure, aim, article, attempt, best, bold, canvass, chance, commentary, commentator, consideration, coup, critic, criticism, critique, deal, debut, delve, descant, discourse, discoursive, discursive, discuss, discussion, disquisition, disquisitionary, dissert, dissertation, editorial, empirical, endeavor, essayist, excursus, exertion, experiment, experimental, experimentally, explanation, exposition, expository.