Distinguishing a Report From an Essay

Do you know how to write comprehensive reports? What about essays? Do you know the difference between the two? Lots of people get confused with these two written works, especially students who are usually asked to write both kinds of papers during their academic years. Some workers and professionals are asked to submit them too. In order for you to write or produce complete, clear, and effective reports and essays, you need to know the mechanics or writing one. What are some important points that you need to take note of?

Reports Versus Essays

Reports are informative written works that may be produced or required of both workers and students. One of the main aims or objectives of reports is to examine, explore, analyze, and then show or present sets of data. They are usually done or accomplished in order to suggest or propose a solution to a particular problem. For example, you may have heard of annual or even quarterly financial reports that are presented by the finance team or department of a certain company. They draft these presentations in order to show the management their observations and recommendations about the latest trend in their group’s finance concerns. 

The writing style used in producing reports should be objective. Data gathered is presented in sections with headings or sometimes even sub-headings as deemed necessary. It is also advisable to place bullet points so as to properly and clearly present plans of actions or solutions. Graphs, charts, and other visual tools are also included as necessary. The audience or readers of reports are usually strictly targeted and specific which means either the supervisor or manager for workers and the teachers or instructors for students.

On the other hand, essays primarily are written works produced in response to a certain question, inquiry, or issue. The questions or topics used as basis for writing essays are usually of the practical or empirical kind. Essays are usually asked in college entrance exams, job applications, and the like. A well-written essay is composed of a clear and well-phrased or properly presented arguments or response to the topic to be discussed. 

Unlike that of reports’, the writing style for essay is more of subjective and free flow in nature. It is composed of short and long paragraphs without sections, headings, or sub-headings. Visual tools are not required. The readers of essays are usually the professor or instructor in the case of student essays or the evaluator or examiner in the case of job applicants. 

Now that you know the difference and main characteristics of reports and essays, you’ll be able to write comprehensive, clear, and substantial works from now on. The trick lies in the way you present, evaluate, and describe data or information that you have gathered. Apply the rules of clear and effective writing because this will greatly help you accomplish your writing task. Are you ready to be put to the report or essay-writing test?

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: essay

Tips on Accurate Proofreading

While many students use the words interchangeably, proofreading and editing are two different steps of the revision procedure. Each demands careful and close reading, however they concentrate on different elements of your writing and utilize different techniques. The following are some tips that apply to both proofreading and editing.

Do Not Rush Things

Take some time away from the text. It is difficult to proofread or edit an essay you have just written. It is still too familiar, and you will be prone to miss many of the mistakes. Place the essay to one side for a period of time. Visit the beach. Go for a jog. Clear your mind of everything you have written, and come back to your essay with a fresh pair of eyes that will be able read the text as it really is. Better yet, give your essay to a buddy, as this distances you from the process even more. A person who reads your essay for the first time will be able to offer a completely objective assessment.

Comfortable Studying for Greater Productivity

Choose the medium that you find most conducive for accurate proofreading. Some students prefer to work sat at their computers, whilst others prefer to sit down with a printout that they can write the corrections on as they are reading. Try to change the appearance of your essay. Adjusting the spacing, size, style or color of the text might trick your mind into believing that it is reading a completely new essay. This will help you to gain a new perspective on what you have written.

Find a peaceful place to work. Do not attempt to carry out your editing whilst watching television, or whilst you are working out on the treadmill. Locate somewhere you can focus clearly and avoid any distractions. Preferably, carry out your proofreading and editing in a few short time blocks, as opposed to trying to finish it all in one go. Otherwise, you will be more likely to lose concentration.

If you are nearing a deadline, you might want to prioritize your proofreading and editing tasks to ensure that the most essential tasks get completed first.

Other Tactics and Concerns

Of course, one straightforward way of proofreading your text is to use the standard spellchecker that every word processor has. This will allow you to detect repeated words, grammatical errors, and misspelled words in many cases. Also, it is a good idea to read your essay out loud, or ask a buddy to read it out loud instead. Doing this will enable you to hear a mistake or error that you may not have noticed on the paper or screen. If you can get a printout of your essay, you should review each line individually. Scour the document for errors and make sure you highlight them.

Proofreading and editing are not just restricted to correcting grammar. They involve checking the accuracy of the facts, figures, and other data that you have mentioned in your essay. Take great care with this information, particularly with statistics and names. This is factual information and not opinion, so it must be entirely true and accurate.

It is a grave error to submit your essay without editing and proofreading it first. If your essay has any misspellings, grammatical errors or any other mistakes, it will certainly impact your grade. Additionally, the grader may feel negatively about the essay if they catch even just a single error. Thus, it is extremely important to edit your essay, or get it edited by someone else before handing it in to your college professor. Remember, if you fail to carry out these simple checks, you could be jeopardizing both your education, and your future job prospects.

Ryan Ayers is a writer who creates informative articles in relation to education. In this article, he offers a few tips on proofreading and editing and aims to encourage further study with an education master’s degree online.

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: tips on proofreading, proofreading tips

How to Incorporate Quotes in an Essay - 7 Rules

Quotations is a tricky thing. They can either add flavor to an essay you are writing, or if you are not careful, the quotation used can detract from everything that you are trying to establish. Below, there are some rules on how to incorporate quotes in an essay.

Rule #1

The first rule of thumb when making a decision whether to incorporate a quotation into your essay or not is to ensure that you do not drown out your own voice, opinion or message with the voice of others. 

Rule #2

You should also make every effort to ensure that the quotation is inserted at the correct point in your writings in order to enhance or back up specific arguments. It is illogical to insert quotations randomly into your essay if there is no context for the quotation to be there. If the quotation is especially long, then you may want to consider paraphrasing it rather than quoting it in full, as this can be misleading or even distracting from the work that you are trying to present.

Rule #3

Choose your quotations wisely. When making the choice, consider it in the context of what the quotation says and whether it is relevant to your essay; who said this phrase and whether you want to be associated with this person; and the context in which the quotation was made.

Rule #4

Also, always remember to provide the correct attributes for the quotation. This will obviously include the name of the person making the quotation, if possible the year and the source i.e. when he said it. Even if you opt to paraphrase a particular quotation, you should stick to this rule of providing attribution so that the quality of your essay is not called into question.

Rule #5

If you are not sure how to cite quotations, the Internet provides a powerful means of discovery. Just type, for example, “quotations on education” and you will gain access to an endless stream of sites that you can explore, that provide literally thousands of choices. Sieving through them will be difficult but if you already have a good idea about what you are looking for, this process can be fairly straightforward. You can even source for quotations by the name of person, for example, “quotations by John F Kennedy” and you will be inundated with a variety of choices.

Rule #6

To place a quote properly into your paper, you will have to prepare for the quotation to be inserted and you will have to evaluate how you are going to come out of the quotation. Ideally, you should write one sentence introducing the quote and the context in which you are bringing it in. Once you have provided the quotation, then you should complete the structure by commenting on how the quotation is important to the context of your essay.

Rule #7

If you are choosing to present an edited version of the quotation, use what are known as ellipses. These indicate that words have been left out .

If you need some credible resources to find a specific quotation for your essay, please check out the following:

Bartleby (http://www.bartleby.com/quotations/
ThinkExist (http://www.thinkexist.com/
EssayTask (http://www.essaytask.com/quotes/)

Have you used quotations when writing essays? Did you find this difficult to do? Go ahead and share your both positive as well as negative experience, and even tips on how to do this better. 

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: how to incorporate quotes in an essay

See How Easily You Can Write a Thesis

If you need to develop a successful thesis, you might as well consider some important tips. Below, we describe easy steps in order to write the best thesis ever. Do not fall for low quality guidance. The best is yet to come! Discover a fascinating approach. 

Defining the issue

The definition of the research essay topic is certainly the most important decision in the entire process that culminates with the presentation of the thesis. Many often pose issues, and this appears to be a difficult problem. The main reason is because you have to circumscribe enough to make it manageable, and this is not always easy. In addition, you must choose a field of reflection that can motivate student interest for several months. Therefore, the choice of thesis topic is very important! The student must find an area of research that appears attractive. 

The subject should be as precise and limited as possible. A proposed monographic treatment of topics may enable the deepening of the analysis and formulation of conclusions, new and purposeful. The research process should not be a lonely job. It requires constant monitoring and supervising of one or more advisers.

Assumptions and procedure                                              

Once the topic is chosen, it is important to establish a working hypothesis to propose an interpretation or explanation of the problem was identified in the definition of the subject. This sets the target of the investigation and responds to question: what will you do? It is also important to identify the reasons why it is important to carry out the work that is, pointing out the relevance of the problem linked to the social world. Thus, you must establish how the actors are affected, involved in social problem, and how they will benefit from the investigation. This establishes the justification for the research and answers the question why you are actually doing this.

Finally, consider how you will address the problem selected. There are different approaches and thus, they require different methodological activities and skills. You should therefore discuss with your counselor and supervisor about the best way to address the problem, prove or disprove the hypothesis, and that are suitable for student profile and interests. This establishes the methodology of work and answers the question how you can carry out the work. What follows is gathering the information, which is necessary for the completion of the thesis. Following is proper and detailed guidance on how to achieve it.

Information Collection

The first type of source that offers information is books and magazines. For this reason, the first places to look for information are libraries. You can browse catalogs and sources online, too. Consider finding databases and access to the leading universities in the city. 

As you can tell, this is not so hard! Yet, do not settle for poor quality data. Only the best sources will help you get the best approach. A rich thesis will be achieved!

Are you ready to follow the above steps and thesis tips? Have you ever been in trouble when writing a thesis? Share your comments today!

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: write a thesis

What You Need to Know About Descriptive Essay Writing

When it comes to writing a descriptive essay, you need to be creative. Share with art originality, intensity and beauty of expression. In a descriptive essay, there is definitely a specific style, but the writing depends on the author’s nature. But there is an important condition that we should all meet: the expression has to be clear, this transparency can give the reader a better idea whether the thoughts embodied by the test are authentic or not. 

What are the characteristics of a descriptive essay: 

  • Free standing structure 
  • Summarizes and relatively short extension 
  • Variety of topics 
  • Careful and elegant style 
  • Varied tone, corresponding to the particular way so the author sees and interprets the world. 

What are the steps to writing an essay? 

Reading: this should be done in work attitude, is a reading of study. It is imperative to locate the main ideas of the authors.

Analysis: is the classification of information, in order and in a readable way.

Facts

The essay of a literary descriptive genre may be linked to fiction or poetry. We can identify a descriptive essay because it is written briefly and it analyzes, interprets or evaluates a particular topic. Typically, the title shows what it's all about and even serves as a central question that is the backbone of the writing. 

It has certain features that make it identifiable: it is usually descriptive and it is oriented to an audience that does not have any prior knowledge on the subject, the content is relevant and well documented and the author shows his knowledge about the subject. 

Before writing a descriptive essay

Before writing a descriptive essay, you must choose a theme. Once we have this documented and studied in depth the issue (look what it is, its development, history, authors, trivia, quotes known, images, bibliography ...). Finally, turn once to define the issue before you display all the information, for example, and a question that underpins the essay.

Essay samples

You can always find essay samples online. Remember that these examples are for guidance, ask your teacher about the best direction for your essay. You can easily get inspired by looking at descriptive essay topic ideas. Yet, try not to copy ideas since this will be plagiarism. Online platforms abound, you can reach interesting papers without a doubt.

Ordering a descriptive essay online

If you happen to feel overwhelmed, you can ask for guidance. If this is not enough, you might want to find a reputable custom writing company. Ordering a descriptive essay might not be the best idea but you can get a few benefits. Forget about delivering a paper late and get prepared to increase your grades! Experts recommend putting into practice the above tips to write the best descriptive essay ever. You can make it happen so don’t limit your capabilities.

Are you feeling tired of your many essay assignments? Do you believe writing a descriptive essay is difficult? Do you think essay samples available online may help you develop a quality paper? Are you looking for quotes to come up with the best essay? 

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: descriptive essay writing

Advantages of Using Quotes in an Essay

Writing an essay not only requires good grammar and right spelling to capture the readers’ approval. You also need to know how to catch their attention and interest. And you can only do that by adding some spice to your essay. Leave something your readers will surely not forget. You may raise questions or use quotations. But what are the advantages of using quotes in an essay?

Advantages of Using Quotes in an Essay

  • Using quotes in an essay provides authenticity to the paper.
  • It signifies that the arguments raised in the essay are based on facts from a reputable author’s idea.
  • It ensures that the essay is of good quality.
  • It clearly validates a point.
  • It contains great ideas which you may use as the basis as you expand the arguments of the essay.
  • It sets an idea on how your essay will flow.
  • It gives influence and integrity to your essay statement.
  • It is a simple yet efficient way of making a claim.
  • It elaborates the essay’s significance and purpose.
  • It speaks about the author’s own points and opinions.
  • It gives impact.
  • It is the right way of persuading readers.
  • It prevents readers from getting bored while going through the rest of the essay.
  • It adds more interest.
  • It leaves readers with something to ponder.

It is evident that using quotes in an easy is helpful enough to connect the main points of the whole paper. However, inserting quotes in an essay is not that easy. There are specific things to remember before integrating them with your essay.

How to Use Quotes in an Essay?

  1. Remember that when you choose a quote for your essay, it shouldn’t contradict with what you are supposed to say.
  2. You also have to explain the significance of the quote in relevance to the content of the essay.
  3. What you are trying to point out should coincide with the quotation.
  4. Don’t just insert quotes in your essay. Blend them with your own ideas.
  5. Make sure that the readers will understand the quotes you cited.
  6. Explain the relevance of the quotes to your essay.
  7. Don’t use quotes like you just plagiarized the essay. Illustrate the quotes using your own words.
  8. Acknowledge the author of the quote you used to verify that it is authentic.

Don’t limit yourself to the traditional way of writing that you have been so familiar with. Sometimes, it is better to put some twist and add some spice to what you are writing to prevent your readers from having tedious moments while reading. And after knowing all the advantages of using quotes in an essay, you then need to use them in the right way. It is not just simply inserting quotes to your paragraphs. There are certain rules that you have to follow. So avoid committing errors when it comes to writing.

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How to Write a Synthesis Essay

What is a natural gender essay and when does it begin to form as a literary genre? As one of the four natural-other genres: poetry, fiction, essays dramatically represent the mode of communication: persuasive communication by using reflection. What happens when you need to write a synthesis essay? This may get a bit complex for some so let’s take a look at a few aspects. 

Historical point of view

As a historical literary genre, the essay appears as thinking without a precise rhetoric, that is, without a series of formal characteristics that limit. In this sense we can go back to classical Greece and talk about the essays by Plato in his dialogues, or essays by Seneca in what he called Epistles. Both writers set the historical principles of the new literary genre. When writing a synthesis essay, you need to keep that in mind. You cannot forget about the specific structure and the proper outline. Yet, you will need to organize your ideas correctly. 

What are the characteristics of the synthesis essay from the perspective of the author? 

When a writer decides to communicate his or her ideas through a synthesis essay, he or she also implicitly communicates according to certain principles of the rhetoric of the essay: 

- The essayist seeks to influence the reader's opinion, but it does give ideas made (as in a treaty or in didactic works). The essayist wants the reader to adopt his way of thinking (or understand it as a possible way of thinking). 

- The essayist externalized subjectivity in the essay; this is like an intellectual confession of the author, to express a form of thinking in a brief way. The author is projected in the text, so it is common to use the first person. 

- The essayist reflects on a topic, not exhaustive, just wants to delve into any aspect of the subject.

- The essayist writes for the majority of cults. That is, he does not write for a professional, he uses very few technical terms and when used, does so in a context so the general reader can understand that. You don’t need to go for details. 

What are the characteristics that allow us to recognize the synthesis essay? 

The shape of a poem or a story is usually enough to recognize it. To differentiate an article in an essay published in the same newspaper, we need to read and understand the characteristics of the essay and the article. When it comes to an essay, it is important to consider reflections in the article - we are interested in data, straight to the point. 

Generalities

The essay is usually written in prose of moderate length (rarely more than 30 pages long). Why we talk about books of essays, that is, books that gather several essays that can be read independently. 

Length 

Essay length and objectives of treating only one aspect of the subject does not mean that the test is a fragment. A fragment is a part of a whole (a chapter of a treaty, for example). The essay is a way of thinking, a way of presenting a different perspective, and as this is its objective.

Are you ready to write the best synthesis essay? Do you feel overwhelmed by the many essay parts? We woudl like to hear your opinion...

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: how to write a synthesis essay, synthesis essays

How to Ace the GMAT AWA Essay

The best known sections of the GMAT are the verbal and quantitative sections, but that doesn’t mean you can escape the business school admissions test without writing. The GMAT has four components: A quantitative section, a verbal section, a new "integrated reasoning" section, and the "Analytical Writing Assessment" AWA the GMAT essay. While all four aspects are required, only the quantitative and verbal sections of the GMAT count to your score of 800 - the score business schools use to evaluate you as part of your application. 

Even though the essay doesn't count toward your score of 800, you still need to complete it, and complete it prior to starting on your verbal and quant sections. Here's the point of the essay: Admissions wants to make sure you can write legible, understandable English. That's it!  The essay is scored from 0-6, with 90 percent of test-takers scoring a 3 or above. An admissions committee from a top business will be thrilled with a 6, happy with a 4.5-5.5 and satisfied with a 4. In other words, don't stress about the essay - just follow the steps below to make sure you get a decent score, and save your energy for the harder - and more important - verbal and quant sections. 

1. Read and evaluate the argument

The prompt for the AWA essay will be a few sentences. Your job is to read it, to evaluate it, and to determine what pieces of evidence are missing and where the argument could be strengthened. You should do this in less than 5 minutes.

2. Outline

Take a few minutes (no more than 5) to outline your essay. Most essays will look like this:

P1: Introduction - what the author is trying to say, and why the statement isn't as strong as it could be. 

P2: Your first supporting paragraph. Your first strongest point in evaluating the argument.

P3. Your second supporting paragraph. Your second strongest point in evaluating the argument. 

P4. Your third supporting paragraph. Your third strongest point in evaluating the argument. 

P5. Conclusion - tell the reader what you just proved. 

Make sure you break your supporting paragraphs up into more than one paragraph. Even if the paragraphs are super short, each piece of evidence you site should have its own paragraph. 

3. Write

Start writing. The good news is, you can keep it really simple and really straightforward. Say what your point is, list out the evidence that would strengthen your point, and then move on to your next sentence. For example, here's how your first supporting paragraph could start:

"First, the argument made by the author X could be strengthened by mentioning Y. One piece of evidence the author could cite that would make the argument stronger is Z." 

Spend about 15-20 minutes writing (you can spend more if you took less time with reading and evaluating the prompt and writing your essay). 

4. Edit

Give yourself 3-5 minutes to read over your essay and make sure there's no silly grammar or spelling mistakes. Each GMAT essay is read and evaluated by a computer and by an actual person, so if there are mistakes, they'll definitely be spotted. 

When you take the GMAT, your goal should be to finish the AWA essay with little stress. Just follow the plan above to save your brainpower for the verbal and quant sections.

Laura Oppenheimer works in San Francisco for an online physics tutoring company.

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: AWA essay, GMAT essay

Ways to Approach Your Research Paper

A research paper is somehow like a dialogue. More precise, an imaginary dialogue between worlds where there is marvelous communication with the writer's body of knowledge and the readers. The most important research questions are exposed. It is about developments and surprises that can recover the living ideas of human beings through the time and space. 

Many ways

Obviously, there are different ways to approach the development of a research paper. A dialogue is established and it is supposed to be devoted to a conversation, another is the learner who is in a stage of initiation. In both cases the spirit that should prevail is the communication of knowledge in an open and participatory exercise, this is crucial!

Coding system

For an essay we consider we are dealing with the written language of science, so it is necessary to use a coding system according to the rules of communication of the scientific discourse. As you may know, the development of an essay is a task that we face when we inform readers about the partial results of the research we are doing. In this sense, the research questions that guide this work are: 

  • What is a scientific research trial?
  • What are its main features?
  • What are the basic elements for its development?

Purpose

These unresolved issues pretty much form the basic structure of this document which presents a set of guiding criteria. Remember that the purpose is to present a basic methodological guide that allows analyzing the key points. This is also good to properly evaluate the production of essays considering scientific research, the fundamental rules and codes that dictate the production of knowledge!

Developing a guide

Considering that at present time one of the most significant works in science is the construction of knowledge through a detailed development of tests, a guide to the development of research papers, must be fully understood. This will serve to give you the elementary principles of scientific communication code. 

Definition Test 

It is always relevant in the first instance to generate paths on the meaning of words. Within this framework of ideas, it should be noted that the analysis comprises two main parts: 

  • The first time we drive on the diachronic sense of the word 
  • The other time we make a reference to the meaning of the so called term synchronic. 

This methodology gives us an overview for reflection on how we can actually conceive the word trial from the perspective of historical development. 

Word Analysis Test 

Words such as humans are located in their own history. Given this starting point, it should be noted that words cannot be understood in its fullness without reviewing their evolutionary step; the meaning of words gives the reader a proper biography and displays the different uses. By following this line and by applying the elements that give the respective character in terms of research, will help you develop the top paper! For instance, the word essay comes from the verb that actually means trying to test. It is all about a way of expression.

Do you enjoy writing research papers? Get ready to write the best paper ever! Feel free to share your knowledge today!

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: research papers

How to Write an Essay in MLA Format

MLA or Modern Language Association style is the major documentation and writing format, especially for humanities and literature. And if you are tasked to do an essay in the said fields or in English, it is then referred to as an MLA essay. You will usually encounter this term in your writing classes, so you have to be familiar with the said writing formant in order to meet the requirements. So here are the tips on how to write an essay in MLA format.

Writing an Essay in MLA Format

• Font style should be Times New Roman.

• Font size should be 12 points.

• All around margins should be 1 inch.

• Double space all through the body, with no space in between paragraphs.

• Tab for each new paragraph is ½ inch.

• For header and pagination, the last name and page number must be set in the right hand corner.

• Student identification and other information required by the professor must be at the left margin.

• Title must be correctly punctuated and capitalized, and should be situated at the center.

• With an in-text citation of sources and separated Works Cited page for the bibliography in alphabetical order.

• The authors you have mentioned in the body of your essay should also be listed on the Works Cited page. In the same manner as all sources on the Works cited page should also appear in your essay. In other words, no sources or authors must be in the Works Cited page if they were not mentioned in your in-text citation, and vice versa.

• Only use quotation that will make a mark in the readers’ memories. Avoid using dry phrases that will only make your essay dull. Instead, paraphrase the lines and just enclose the author’s name or article title in parenthesis. And if you quote something, make it as short as possible.

• Avoid relying on the same source or author. If you have five quotations, get it from different authors. In this manner, you will not compromise your own views.

• Expand the quotations that you used. Don’t just insert a quote and let the readers understand your purpose of using the said quotations without even trying to explain the relevance of the said quotes to your essay.

• Introduce each quotation using a signal phrase. It is a clause used before the quotation as a way of identifying the author. In this way, you will easily collaborate your own ideas and those of the said author. And avoid using the article title as a signal phrase.

When copying ideas and words from other writers, the sources must be properly cited in the essay to avoid being accused of plagiarism. It is then called an in-text citation. While the page that contains the list of sources at the end of your essay is referred to as the Works Cited page. The basic style given will guide you on how to write an essay in MLA format.

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: how to write an essay in MLA format