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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?

One of the most important things that children learn when they are in their late elementary and junior high school years, perfecting it during high school, is how to write a good persuasive essay. It can also be one of the most challenging. How does one write an essay that not only does its job— effectively expressing the views that it was meant to — but also captures the reader’s attention and makes him or her want to come back for more? That is the purpose of this article, which will outline five aspects of an intriguing essay.

1. The depth of the topic

In a well-written essay the topic should be carefully chosen—it should not be too general to allow for elaboration nor too restricted that there is not much that can be said about it. For example, if the topic is firefighting, you should not choose a general statement like “Firefighting is an interesting job,” but rather a more limited one like “Firefighting requires tremendous strength and endurance.”

2. Good grammar and vocabulary

In everyday speech we often make grammatical errors of various sorts, such as don’t for doesn’t, double negatives, inappropriate forms of pronouns and so forth. All of these errors are to be shunned like the plague when you write an essay; they are marks of poor, effortless thinking. The tone of your essay should always be such that you sound as though you have put a great deal of thought into deciding not only what to say but how to say it.

The vocabulary that you use is every bit as important as your grammar. Do not attempt to show off by using too many difficult words. 

3. Structure and format

Every good essay needs to have structure to it. There should be:

• an introduction in which you state clearly what you are going to try and prove in your work. Your thesis statement should be given here.

• a main body in which you set out to explain in detail why you think the way you do. If necessary you should also refute any arguments that seem to contradict your views.

• a conclusion in which you sum up what you have been discussing and attempt to go beyond it. In this section you can also include quotes and proverbs, which really have a way of giving the conclusion a kind of "style."

The structure of your paragraphs should be as formal as that of the paper itself. No paragraph should appear to “begin nowhere and end nowhere.” Instead, each paragraph should either begin with a topic sentence that states its purpose or end with a clincher sentence that does the same. Optionally you may include both.

4. Flow

When we talk about the "flow" of an essay, what we mean is how well each of the paragraphs seems to follow naturally from the one that comes immediately before it and to lead into the one that comes immediately after it. There should not be any suggestion of abruptness anywhere. For that reason you should have your points organized before you begin to do the actual writing itself. First jot them all down, one by one, on a piece of paper. Next, arrange them in an order that makes sense according to what you are writing about. All the while keep the title of your essay in mind - everything else that you do with regard to the assignment should revolve around it.

5. The effectiveness of your argumentation

The final aspect of an intriguing essay is how well you argue your points. It is never enough simply to say, "This way of thinking of or doing things is bad or inferior" - you have to give concrete, specific examples in support of your point and make sure that they can be verified.

An intriguing essay will not only bring you good grades. It can also serve as your ticket to success in higher education and maybe even at finding a job- for the best essay writers are well paid, sometimes $100 or more for one project. 

Joe Johnson is a writing habit researcher and avid blogger who shares his knowledge on a number of publications on a range of topics from: writing formats, researching, study habits, and student behavior. Click here to learn more about available MBA programs and new essay formatting techniques.

Do you remember the last time you visited a circus? If you do, you should for sure remember deft juggler holding five, seven, or even eleven balls in the air without letting them down. Do you believe it's so easy as it seems? Not in the least! The earnest of his success is well-tried succession of movements, control over each of the balls, and total concentration on the activity he performs. And now imagine that the juggler on the arena is you, the balls he juggles are different spheres of your life. Do you manage to combine all of them as successfully as he manages to juggle colorful balls?

Though it may seem strange, but one of the ways to cope with different activities is to learn to "juggle" them. And the more you master this skill the better results you have. It's not that you should change them all the time or close the account with your right hand and write an essay research paper or thesis with the left. It's all about the ability to maintain them so that not a single one runs away. It becomes possible when you can organize your schedule in the best possible way, pay proper attention to each activity, and concentrate upon the one you do at the moment. As a lot of other young people, you are to cope with three main activities: studies in college, work, and leisure. Let's look how this method works!

• The first idea is an efficient schedule, or in other words time management. Like a juggler has chosen the best succession of movements to keep the balls up and control them, you should organize your activities the way you find it the most comfortable. For instance, you can't influence your schedule in the university, but you are free to choose working hours. Then try to put one after another, long breaks are often spent on roaming around. If you can't avoid that, fill such breaks with something useful, like sports or self-development.

• The second piece of advice concerns attention distribution. There is one important thing that needs to be stressed: although these activities are of different value in your eyes, make sure to pay SOME attention to each of them. Otherwise, the ball you've lost from your field of view will inevitably fall down. Another question is to decide, how much time and efforts to devote to each sphere. To do this, you are to establish priorities. Do you find studies to be of primarily importance? Then two working hours a day are enough to get some first experience. Or maybe this job is extremely challenging and exactly what you were dreaming about? You may devote more time to it if all the necessary papers for your classes are ready and you feel prepared for the final test. Anyway after so many intensive activities, don't forget to relax in a good company or to return to your hobbies.

• Finally, form a habit to concentrate as much as possible on the task you perform and not to divert your attention on other things. Very often when overloaded with affairs, we can't stop worrying about it; therefore, whatever we do, we are reproducing the same thought: "There are too many things to do. I can't cope with all of them." Thus, we are worrying instead of acting and in the long run we really fail to succeed. On the other hand, if concentrated on the task, we manage to do it better and quicker, so you we have more time for the next activities.

Tip: Never despond if something goes wrong; try to analyze the problem, correct a mistake, or begin all over again. Be flexible and open to changes!

Most college essays are so full of crap you could plant a forest in them. Write an essay that reads, write and rings true. For this purpose you will need:

• Time to think and write
• Writing material (a pen, paper or computer)
• Somebody you trust

Follow the steps outlined below in order to write a good application essay:

1. Think of something that makes you unique and pick a subject that no other applicant could possible write about. It could be your background (maybe you grew up as the only child of two magicians or it could be a personal experience – the more unusual, the better).
2. Ask your friends and relatives what makes you special. This could be embarrassing especially if they don't respond, but it could also help you identify something you hadn't considered.
3. Once you've picked the subject write the first draft of your essay. Don’t worry about making it perfect, just get your thoughts on paper. You should avoid gimmicks. Admission officers have seen them all. For example, don't write your essay from a perspective of your pet.
4. Read over your essay. Then read it again, aloud. Does it sound like you? Cut out unnecessary sentences, paragraphs and adverbs.
5. Find a couple of good editors – English teachers, relatives or anyone whose opinion you trust and who will be honest what does and does not work.
6. Make the revisions you’ve agreed with and when you are done review your essay carefully for spelling and grammar mistakes. Otherwise, a perfect essay can be ruined by sloppy typos.

Send it off and relax. Nobody will be planting a forest in your crap.

If you study in high-school or university you should be able to write effectively. If you want to write about something specific one of the best ways of doing it is to ask a question. By asking a question it gives you a clear picture in your head of what you want to know. By asking a question there has to be an answer. The reader wants an answer to this question. By asking a question it helps to get very specific in your focus. There should be a focus on your target.

Writing an effective essay includes several parts:

1. Writing a question.

When you figure out the answer to the question, write it down. But it’s not just an answer, in English it becomes your thesis. The thesis is what you should focus on. That's why you should ask a question.

2. Thesis.

It is the answer to your question. Your thesis should be strongly and clearly stated. You can't say "maybe", maybe yes or maybe no. It's not a thesis.

3. Introduction.

In the introduction you add your thesis to some nice words to introduce it. People reading an essay should be able to identify your thesis.

4. The Body

In the body you should prove your thesis. You should have at least three main reasons (ideas) that make the thesis true. You should also look for other things that will support these main ideas.

5. Conclusion

In the conclusion you should go back to your three main ideas and since each one of them is true the conclusion must be true.

If you follow the above steps you will become an effective writer.

A cause and effect essay is a little different than a literary analysis paper or an opinion paper. In cause and effect essay you should get all of your facts straight. Since you will compare and contrast in this type of essay it's recommended to write down all of your causes and effects of whatever topic you choose.

Then you should think how to organize your paragraphs around these things. In each paragraph you should have one detail followed by either a good or bad effect what you are writing about. Each paragraph should sort of illuminate a new part of an argument. So, by the time you get to the end of your paragraph you’ve either persuaded someone to want to perpetuate an activity or to stop it.

More information on cause and effect essay.

You should be well-prepared to write a personal statement and approach it with great responsibility since this is your chance to get into the graduation school.

There are some things that you should consider when writing your personal statement. You should add a little of your personality in there. You may talk about your life and everything that you do, how great you are, but what it is important to add a little bit of yourself into your letter. Don’t feel that you have to make it professional and perfect that you can’t tell them who you are or what you are about. You should describe what you plan to do with your education at this particular school. This also requires you knowing about the program you are applying to, what kind of things they do, what kind of people they produce and what you think you might do afterwards. You should be able to answer a question “Why are going to go to graduation school?” You should be very honest with the people you are writing to.

Finally, if you are sitting down writing your personal statement and just can’t figure out why you want to go to school there, what you are going to do, then maybe you should take a little break from school for a while. Think about grad school, what you want to do with it and save yourself some time and money from applying to lots of schools that you are not really sure you want to go to.

In order to really compete for some top scholarships you should make sure you follow all the guidelines and pour yourself into this essay. Usually, you will be given a pretty broad topic to write on and you are going to be able to put a lot of yourself into it because people who will be reading this essay want to know who you are and what you plan to do with your life.

Of course, first of all you should have a plan. Second of all, implement that plan whenever you are writing your scholarship essay. In the scholarship essay you should present all your dreams and mold your essay around yourself so it itself will make you shine and you will be more attractive to that particular school. Don’t worry about going over the top in a sense, but do worry about keeping your integrity, make sure you are not writing the essay just to impress, but that you really do stand behind the things you are writing in it.

A 5 paragraph essay is probably one of the most important and at the same time easiest types of essay to know how to write because when you are writing for a test, you will be most likely writing five paragraphs or three paragraphs in some cases to constitute an essay that is handwritten on a test.

The following guidelines will not only help you construct an essay on a test very quickly, but also very easily, very efficiently and to get the most out of it.

Writing a five paragraph essay is just like writing any other kind of essay or even writing a paragraph. Each paragraph should have a beginning, middle and an end. In a 5 paragraph essay you should always start off with your first paragraph as your intro where you should provide your actual ideas. The introduction is followed by three paragraphs as your body where you illustrate all the details. Each body paragraph out of these three should be about a different detail. There should be three different details that are very strong, supporting your introduction. The last paragraph is your conclusion.

More information on five paragraph essay.

Pay attention to punctuation rules when writing an essay

You should never start an essay with such words as because, if. It will be an adverb clause and won’t have a complete thought. You should watch your fragments and ensure they have a subject verb and a completed thought.

Another thing that many students make a mistake of is run-ons. Run-ons are two sentences that run together without proper punctuation. Proper punctuation is putting a comma (,) after and, but, for, nor, yet, or. If you have two sentences running together and you just use a comma, it’s a run-on. You must only use a comma after and, but, for, nor, yet, or. Or you may use a semicolon (;) with such as however, therefore, nevertheless, etc. Many high-school teachers and college professors will give you an “F” if you have one run-on sentence. Therefore, make sure and check that. Sometimes it won’t work on your speller or grammar check on your computer. You need to learn how to do this yourself or ask a professional to assist you.