By Introduction
As a student you might often get confused whether the assignment given to you in an essay or report. It can get a bit tricky when you try to figure out whether you have to write an essay on the topic or write a report on the topic. It is really important to understand the difference between an essay and a report. As it can really help you make your writing assignments more effective. In this blog, we will discuss the two types of writing formats. Moreover, we will discuss where and why they are used. So, next time you will know how to write the assignment.
- Definition and Purpose
Essay
Let us first see what an essay is. An essay is like a discussion in detail on a particular topic. It helps you to find out more about a subject, argue a point, or share your thoughts. In other words, an essay is a comprehensive discussion where you show how well you have understood the topic by giving your ideas. There are two main types of essays. One is a descriptive essay, where you might describe a place or a person in detail. And the other one is argumentative, where you share your opinion and argue for or against the given issue.
Purpose:
An essay writing is done to develop and communicate your thoughts and arguments. When you present a viewpoint or analyze a concept, essays are all about showing how well you have understood the topic. Moreover, it also shows your critical thinking skills.
Report
The next thing to talk about is reports. It is slightly different from an essay. In other words, a report is about presenting information in a clear and organized way. When you put together some data for a science project where you need to share your findings and explain what you discovered. Then, that is called a report. It usually involves gathering data, analyzing it, and then presenting it in a structured and a proper format.
Purpose:
The main goal of report writing is to inform or explain the topic by giving evidence and facts. Reports are made to give the information clearly so that others can understand and use it as well.
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Structure and Organization
The structures for essay and report are different in their own way. let’s take a look.
Essay
The structure for the essay is pretty simple. Here is how it looks:
- Introduction:
This is the first part of the assignment. The introduction should be interesting enough so that it can catch the reader’s attention. Moreover, the introduction consists of a thesis statement. It is a statement that tells the readers about what they are going to learn in the essay. Also, you can include a little background in the introduction. - Body:
Body is the part of the essay where the writer adds details. There can be more than one paragraph in the body of the essay. Each paragraph has a different topic sentence. Also, add evidence to support the idea mentioned in the essay. - Conclusion:
This is the last paragraph of the essay. In conclusion, you wrap things up and summarize them. You also need to restate the thesis in a different way. Make sure that the conclusion leaves a lasting impression on the readers.
Report
On the other hand, reports are more formal and more organized than essays. The structure for report is like:
- Title Page:
The title page has a title of your report, name and the date. This is the first page that the people see so make sure that it is neat, clean and simple. - Abstract/Executive Summary:
A brief introduction or overview of what your report is about. It includes the main findings as well. A reader can understand the key points of the report easily. - Table of Contents:
It is a list of all the sections in the report along with their page numbers. Having a table of content in a report makes it easy for the readers to find the specific part of the report. - Introduction:
This is the first paragraph of your report. It sets the stage because you write the background information about the topic. Moreover, you also need to add a topic sentence here which will help readers to know what they are going to read about. Make sure that your introduction starts with something catchy to attract the attention of the readers. - Methodology:
This part of the report is about how you collected the data and did your research. It is about showing the process and the approach. - Findings/Results:
Here you provide the data and the evidence. It could be in the form of charts, graphs and tables. - Discussion/Analysis:
In this section, you are supposed to explain and discuss your results. Moreover, you need to provide analysis for your results. - Conclusion:
In the end, conclude all the findings and suggest any ideas about the topic. Make sure that the conclusion leaves a lasting impression on the readers. - References/Bibliography:
One of the most important sections come in the last of the report. It is a list of sources of references in your report. This shows where your information came from and gives credit to the original authors. This avoids having plagiarism in the assignment.
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Style and Tone
The style and tone for the essay and report writing vary slightly. Lets see what tone and styles you can use for essay and report writing.
Essay
When it comes to essay writing, the style is personal. Moreover, you can reflect upon yourself in an essay. Since you share your own ideas and viewpoints, therefore, you use a conversational and informal tone. The goal for an essay is to make the readers connect with the ideas of the writers. Also, the writer’s goal is to make sure the reader is convinced with the argument in the essay.
Tone:
Your tone for the essay depends on the type of the essay you are writing. If it is a descriptive essay then it needs to be more detailed and expressive. On the other hand, if it is an argumentative essay then your tone will be more persuasive. You need to convince the readers for the ideas that you have mentioned.
Report
Now when we talk about report writing, the style should be formal and objective. You need to give the information in a clear and simple way. Make sure that you do not add your personal opinions in the report. It is important to keep in mind that reports are about facts and clarity. Therefore, stick to a formal tone and do not add irrelevant data.
Tone:
For report writing, the tone used is neutral and professional. You are providing the information and doing analysis. So therefore, it is important that you do not add your personal ideas.
- Research and Evidence
There are different ways to do research for essay and report.
Essay
In essays, you need to use evidence to support your arguments or points. This could be quotes from books, examples from real life, or theoretical frameworks. The important key is to add this evidence into your discussion smoothly. This shows that your ideas have a solid support in form of evidence.
Integration:
Evidence in essays is added into the arguments. They back up your ideas to provide a solid support for your ideas.
Report
Reports rely mostly on data and evidence. You need to add charts, graphs, and tables to show your findings clearly. The evidence has to be in a structured format, making it easy for readers to understand and analyze.
Integration:
In reports, evidence is provided systematically. The goal is to make the data easy to read and understand.
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Audience and Use
The audience and uses for essay and report are different from each other.
Essay
Essays are basically written for academic audience. Mostly teachers, professors or mentor ask you to write the essay. You can be asked to write an essay to show your under of a topic or to give argument over a specific topic.
Audience: the audience for an essay can be teachers, professors, and students.
Use: essays are used to Evaluate your understanding and ability to argue or analyze.
Report
Reports can be for a different audiences, including business professionals, researchers, or other stakeholders. The reports give information and data that can help with decision making or further research.
Audience: the audience for the report are business professionals, researchers, and stakeholders.
Use: the reports are used to Provide information to the readers and insights for decision-making or further research.
Conclusion
To summarize, when you figure out the difference between an essay and report you can easily understand how and what to write in your assignment. Essays are about making arguments and sharing ideas, while reports are about presenting information clearly and professionally! In essays you can give your personal opinion but in reports you have to state the facts and analyse them.
