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The purpose of an essay

When we write an essay we are often looking at topics in depth. The essay may voice an opinion, or explain something in detail. The essay may include arguments or counter arguments or offer solutions to problems.Tthere are many different ways to approach writing an essay. The purpose of an essay is to provide a detailed insight in to an aspect of a topic.

The purpose of a report

A report often discusses the results of a practical investigation. For example a report could discuss an experiment and its results or discuss  research that has been undertaken. The purpose of a report is to help people to find the information they need quickly. For example they may need to see the results of an experiment but not want to know how it was carried out.

The common structure of an essay

An essay has the following structure: introduction,  main body of the essay and conclusion. Each part of the essay is written in paragraphs. It is not common practice to use headings within an essay. The paragraphs within the essay should link together clearly as the reader is going to be reading every section. This can be done by trying to link each paragraph to the other.

The common structure of a report

Reports often include the following features:

A list of contents - this shows your reader where  they can find the exact information they are looking for.

An abstract -  an abstract is a brief summary of the report journal article or research. It usually outlines its purpose, methodology and findings ( results)

An introduction - here you say what you are going to be discussing in the report and why the report is important.

A literature review - this shows what you have read before completing your report.

Methodology - this explains what you did and how you did it

The results - here you present your findings

Discussion - in this section you discuss your results.

Conclusions - here you say what the report has shown and what you think could be learnt from the report. 

Recommendations - often a report will include your recommendations - what you think should be done next having considered the results.

The main differences between a report and an essay

Reports are divided into many sections whereas essays have three main sections divided into paragraphs.

Reports include an abstract, essays do not.

Reports can use bullet points, essays do not.

Reports can use subheadings for each of the sections, it is rare for essays to have subheadings.

Reports often include graphs and tables, essays do not.

Similarities between report writing and essay writing

Both use a formal style- this means that we don't use shortened words, we remember we are writing for an academic audience, we don't use slang, and we write in sentences, using a formal style.

Both avoid sounding personal - in academic writing it is important to sound objective. This means that you don't try to sway your reader with your own opinions and viewpoints but you put your points across using proof and evidence. With this in mind, in reports and essay writing personal pronouns (Example: I) should be avoided.

Both need to be clear- whatever you are writing it is important that you make your writing clear. In both reports and essays an introduction will be included to show the purpose of the piece of work, and a conclusion to sum up the key points. The main body of both texts should be written in a logical well ordered way.

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