Essays and reports may seem similar, but they are different in purpose, structure, and style. Essays are aimed at building arguments through critical analysis, while reports focus on presenting findings with headings, data, and recommendations listed in a formal sequence.
There are also many more differences between essays and reports that you need to understand for writing solutions meeting varying academic and professional requirements.
This article lists the most notable differences between a report and an essay, so whenever you are unsure about which form of writing is the most suitable, you will know exactly what decision is right or wrong.
Difference Between Essays and Reports – Purpose
Purpose of a Report
Typically, you will be asked to write a report to present findings and recommendations for decision-making. All reports start with the topic background, research aim, and objectives to provide details of what your work will examine.
You may also include a hypothesis in your report if you are testing a proposition with your research. Depending on your topic’s nature and the report writing guidelines laid out by your tutor, you may also have to include a separate section for future recommendations in your report.
Purpose of an Essay
On the other hand, Essays find answers to a question or address problem statements using the researcher’s own critical evaluation of the existing theories. An essay does not directly include any practical research because it only uses existing literature material.
Difference Between Essays and Reports – Content
The report starts with introducing the topic and lists the aim and objectives that your practical research will address.
It quickly moves to report chronological actions such as gathering data and presenting findings from primary research activities and laboratory experiments before the writer finally provides an assessment of the results in the conclusion and recommendations for future sections.
The content of an essay depends on the essay question you need to answer. Whether your essay must be evaluative, argumentative, narrative, discursive, or descriptive will be determined by the nature of your essay question.
However, in general, all essays involve a synthesis of knowledge obtained from existing literature on the given question and the writer’s personal arguments and opinions based on the evidence collected during research.
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What’s the IMRaD Structure of Reports?
Most students and even working professionals use the IMRaD structure to present scientific findings and even business analytics for crucial decision-making. Here’s the exact format that you can follow while devising reports of any type.
- Table of Contents: A table containing a list of every heading, subheading, or even title or page number of sections mentioned in the report.
- Abstract or Executive Summary: A precise, bite-sized summary of the key ideas discussed in the report.
- Introduction: Like any research paper or essay, it addresses why and how of conducting the specific study.
- Literature Review: The presentation of relevant data available across the sources used to draw conclusions. As the literature review is written in dissertations or papers.
- Research Methodology: Discussion of data collection methods used for conducting data analysis.
- Findings or Results: Presentations of results found from the available data.
- Discussion, Analysis, or Interpretation: Analysis or interpretation of the results found to enhance the report’s credibility.
- Conclusion: Summary of the whole report and aims or research objectives discussed throughout.
- Recommendations: Practical tips or suggestions from the author who has conducted the report for improvement or solving specific problems.
- Appendices: Includes data in its raw form that you are using for the report writing. Researchers often present this data in charts, diagrams, figures and tables, according to the requirement for better understanding.
Difference Between an Abstract and an Executive Summary
- Abstract: An overview of a research study for orientation or display, not for decision making.
- Executive Summary: A precise summary of the report containing findings and recommendations can be used for decision-making.
What’s the Common Essay Structure to Follow?
Students, whether of college or post-graduate studies, usually structure an essay using the 5-paragraph technique. One of introduction, three of the main body, and one of conclusion to clearly present their ideas in a logical sequence. You can also follow the same number of paragraphs, and even according to your requirement, by keeping the structure the same.
- Introduction: The overview of the topic, thesis statement or background information is required to provide the context to the reader.
- Body: It contains the arguments or counterarguments used to solidify your idea in a sequence of paragraphs, one complementing another.
- Conclusion: Summary of the whole discussion presented in the introduction and body. Don’t introduce any new ideas in this section to give it a good closure.
Difference Between Essays and Reports – Formatting
A report and an essay format are similar in that both include an introduction, main body, and conclusion sections. Reports include methodology and analysis in the main body and have a fixed structure.
It is recommended to check your school’s formatting guidelines if you are unsure how to format your report. Further, you can get our professional report writing service that will help you achieve your desired grades.
If you are writing an essay, the essay question’s critical evaluation will determine the structure you must follow in your essay.
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Difference Between Essays and Reports in a Table
| Reports | Essays |
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| Reports are written with a specific purpose and audience in mind. | Essays are written to demonstrate that the author fully understands the research question and can answer it with research. |
| All reports start with a purpose but also include details of events/results of research. As a researcher, you will be expected to describe the findings and events and critically analyze them to propose future work recommendations. | You will be required to base your essay on arguments, counter-arguments, opinions, and evidence. |
| Reports may also have separate conclusions and recommendations chapters. | An essay will usually end with a conclusion section, but it may also have an additional recommendations section in some cases. |
Frequently Asked Questions
An essay is a concise piece of writing that presents an argument, opinion, or analysis with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. A report is a structured document that conveys information, often including data, findings, and recommendations, typically with headings, sections, and sometimes visual aids.
No, it is not usually required, but you can add one if you want to in your academic essays or even research papers as well.
It totally depends on you and the type of essay you are dealing with. For example, sometimes problem-solution essays are better understood with headings and subheadings.
