If you are a college or a university student, you must encounter academic coursework and assignment challenges.
Generally, you are assigned to write an essay or a research paper in your college time. But several students get confused between the two. There is some misunderstanding regarding their differentiation.
Essay Vs. Research Paper is a common problem that many students face. These two papers share several common features too.
It is vital to have knowledge of the difference between an essay and a research paper. Thus, in the blog, we discuss the difference between an Essay and Research Paper.
But, initially, we discuss the overview of both the Essay and Research Paper.
ESSAY
Essays are the most common form of academic paper. From school to college, you have been required to write an Essay. Teachers are often asked by students to write an essay. This helps them to evaluate their understanding of a certain topic before and after the topic.
Essays are short compositions. Generally, essays have five or more paragraphs. Writing an essay will check a student’s reading, writing, and comprehension skills. There are different kinds of essays that are mentioned below;
- Academic Essay
- Descriptive Essays
- Narrative Essay
- Comparison Essay
- Philosophical Essay
RESEARCH PAPER
A research paper is described as a piece of plagiarism-free writing of research. Research Paper focuses more on organizing logic and information from supplementary studies and material to discuss a particular topic. This paper has three majors:
- Thesis Statement
- Evidence of Research
- Original Discussion
However, now we know about the concept of Essay and Research Paper. Let’s discuss Essay Vs. Research Paper.
Why is Essay and Research Paper important for Students?
Well, writing is a skill that is not only used in essays. There are a lot of other writing assignments that require a good writing ability. Such as research papers, course work, homework, dissertation, and many more. All these assignments need excellent writing skills to complete them successfully. One can only improve these skills by writing essays and practicing.
On the other hand, a Research Paper will help you to develop and improve your reading skills. It allows you to enhance your reasoning ability as you read articles and books to collect information about your Research Paper. By writing a research paper, you can improve your writing skills as well.
You Should Know
There are some similarities that both share, such as:
- Both have a strict outline;
- Both need a study on the subject;
- Essay and Research Paper analysis the students’ writing and analytical skills;
- Both have distinct lengths requirements;
- Both papers deal with citation format (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.);
- Each has citations and a bibliography.
ESSAY VS RESEARCH PAPER
Following is the comparative table of Essay VS Research Paper that underlines 12 main differences between both.
| ESSAY | RESEARCH PAPER |
| It is shorter. Usually, an essay has 5 paragraphs. | It is shorter and takes at least 8 pages. |
| Any type of essay deals with the writer’s perception, and the sources and information support this perspective. | It presents other scientist’s as well as writer’s perceptions. |
| Not required deep research on the topic. | It requires deep analysis and proper research on the topic. |
| The main goal is to improve one’s writing abilities and capabilities to give an opinion. | The main goal is to provide deep knowledge of the subject, analyze data, and conclude. |
| Any type of essay may or may not require familiarity with main sources on the subject. | It always required familiarity with the main source of the issue. |
| Essays also deal with the reader’s perception. | It should be logically organized and academically formulated. |
| It presents the writer’s opinion. | It presents research facts and viewpoints in a particular order and delivers the writer’s conclusion. |
| Types of an essay: persuasive essay, argumentative essay, literature essay, philosophical, etc. | There are different research papers: argumentative, analytical, subject-based, cause and effect, etc. |
| Essays usually have 5 parts; Introduction, main body (3 paragraphs), Conclusion. | The Research Paper includes different parts that are the title page, abstract (summary). Introduction, literature review, the main body (methodology, discussion, results), conclusion, acknowledgments, references. |
| It does not require any methodology. | A special methodology should be used in order to perform results. |
| It helps the writer in developing the writing skills and aids the reader to know about the topic. | It helps the reader in building knowledge about the topic and the writer to develop his skills. |
| The writer sets their writing abilities by presenting their thoughts logically and coherently. | The writer examines several pieces of information on a topic and then delivers an aggregate summary of the findings. |
Conclusion
Writing skills matter a lot. Consequently, while you pass through your academic life, it is important to know Essay VS, Research Paper. Whether you are composing an essay or a research paper, the important point to keep in mind is the objective and style of your writing. This will help you to meet all the academic requirements and get the best possible results.
