Back to: Pedagogy of English- Unit 5
Report writing and essay writing are one of the most popular forms of writing. These are written to provide an information about one particular topic in more elaborated way with description and examples to support it.
A report refers to written material produced for a clear purpose and is directed to a particular audience. A report contains specific information and evidence which is presented, analyzed, and applied to the concerned problem. Reports are always written in the order of the occurrence of the events in a sequential manner. Essays, on the other hand, are a short piece of writing on a particular subject. Every essay has an introduction, body, and a conclusion. There are several differences that exist between an essay and a report which are as follows.
The key differences between report writing and essay writing include the following:
- 1. Reports include a table of contents whereas essays do not have a table of contents.
- 2. Reports are categorized into headed and numbered sections and they are sometimes subdivided into subsections whereas essays are not divided into any such sections.
- 3. Reports are generally related to the workfront rather than the academic field whereas essays usually originated from the academic setting.
- 4. Reports are used to present all the findings and data you have collected whereas essays generally focus on the analysis and evaluation of theories, past researches performed by others, and ideas.
- 5. A report may contain content such as charts, diagrams, and tables whereas essays do not have to necessarily include the methods you have incorporated to arrive at conclusions.
Difference between report and essay writing
| Report Writing | Essay Writing |
| 1. Reports include table of contents | Reports do not include table of contents |
| 2. Reports are categorized into various subheads and headers | Essays are not divided into such sections |
| 3. Reports are related to the workplace | Essays are related to an academic setting |
| 4. Reports present findings and data | Essays contain analysis and evaluation of theories |
| 5. Reports contain charts, diagrams, and tables | Essays do not contain charts, diagrams, and tables |
| Difference | Report Writing | Essay Writing |
| Length | The length of the report writing is ranged between 180 to 215. It is comparatively shorter than essay in word limit. | The word limit of essay is more than report writing and it falls between 250 to 290. |
| Structure | The reports usually contains 3 paragraphs with introduction, overall and body paragraph. | The essay contains almost 5 to 6 paragraphs with introduction and conclusion included into it. |
| Outlining | The reports always contain headings to clarify the specific objective of each paragraph. | The essays do not have headings for outlining the main arguments of the paragraphs. |
| Quotes and Sayings | The reports do not contain the quotes and sayings in the writing. | The essays can be written with quotes and sayings of the famous personalities. |
| Highlighting | Only important lines are being highlighted in the report writing for clarification. | Essay is highlighted and underlined with only important points than lines in which introduction and conclusion lines are not included. |
| Recommendations | While writing reports, never give opinions and suggestions as it is not opinion based. | While writing essays, it is recommended to provide suggestions and opinions. |
| Introduction | The introduction should contain the answers of What, When, Where and who with relevant variables in only 2 to 3 lines. | In essay writing, try to provide general statement with elaborated explanation to the background of the topic. It is comparatively longer to 4 to 5 lines. |
| Conclusion | The conclusion includes the opinion and perspective of other people in articles. | The essay writing contains the conclusion with own opinion and point of views. |
| Grammatical Structures | The structures should be included with complex structures with clear ideas. | The structures should be included with complex structures with clear ideas. |
These are the various features that differentiate report writing from essay writing.
