WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REPORTS AND ESSAYS?A report is a piece of informative writing that describes a set of actions and analyses any results in response to aspecific brief. A quick definition might be: “This is what I did and this is what it means.”You may also have assignments which are not called reports but which are still pieces of informative writing; forinstance, some dissertations and project write-ups fall into this category.A good way to understand the key features of reports is to see how they differ from essays as a type of academicwriting.Reports are… Essays are… Formally structured Informative and fact-based Written with a specific purpose and reader inmind Written in a style appropriate to each section Always include section headings Sometimes use bullet points Often include tables or graphs Offer recommendations for action Semi-structured Argumentative and idea-based Not written with a specific reader in mind Written in single narrative style throughout Usually do not include sub-headings Usually do not include bullet points Rarely include tables or graphs Offer conclusions about a question
