Academic writing is a key skill required of the student pursuing higher education. A good writer can influence their audience better and will have substantially better chances of excelling in academia than people with weak writing skills. Academic writing is an art that comes naturally to some students, whereas others may struggle. However, there is no such thing as impossible to human, with little effort and reading into it, you can polish your skills to a professional level.
For developing a deeper understanding of academic writing, one must know the difference between different forms of documentation in academia. How is a thesis different from a dissertation? What is the difference between a report and an essay? Let's see the primary variances between these significant types of documentation.
Dissertation
A dissertation is written at the doctoral level in support of PhD candidature. It is a scholarly article of a research study into a specific topic, also a broader study that covers every aspect of the research methodology. It discusses the problem encountered in the research study in a highly detailed manner. A dissertation is marked with an extensive review of already literature and builds upon the ambiguity or unanswered questions previously. The dissertation is a lengthy document and is written as partial fulfilment of the doctoral degree, so if you are a PhD candidate, gear up for writing a dissertation.
Thesis
A thesis implies that original research is conducted, and the scholarly document that came into being, as a result, engulfs all the aspects of the proposed study, including the method of research and detailed answer to the research question. The thesis is written at the undergraduate or master's level degree. A thesis is typically 1000 pages in length. So, a thesis implies that original research is involved and is written for a master's degree.
Report
A report is an evidence-based document that is written to convey specified information to the audience. Reports are written according to the requirements of the reader, providing information in an organized format. The primary purpose of written reports is to understand what you have understood from reading, research, or experience and to impart an essential skill in you that is the general requirement of a modern-day workplace.
Essay
The significant difference between a report and an essay is that a report is just a fact-based study of a situation formally. In contrast, an essay conveys the opinion of an author in forms of arguments on an assigned topic. Essays are basically nonfiction forms of writing. Essays are assigned to the student at different stages of an academic career with varying difficulties. The major purpose of essay writing is to enhance the writing skills of students and help them develop their own opinion about any given topic. Essays start with introductory paragraph tailing with argumentative paragraphs both in support and against the title statement. These clauses are then concluded by the author, where he offers his/her own opinion on the topic.
There are several other forms of academic documents like dissertation proposal, synopsis, research proposal, etc. These types of documents can be found here.
