School and college life revolves around different types of writing, including opinion articles, review articles, research papers, and essays. Each of these has a different length, structure, and level of research.
You can write articles on various topics and niches if you gather enough information. It is possible to format an interview into an article so that it can be published in a magazine or online publication.
A paper, on the other hand, is longer than an essay or article, and one must follow a specific sequence. There is an abstract at the beginning, followed by a paragraph, a conclusion, and citations at the end.
There are a few paragraphs in the essay, all of which should be transitioned smoothly. The purpose of the essay is to persuade the reader through your logic and ideas. Different types of essays require different thoughts and writing processes.
This article is all about differentiating between an article, paper, and essay, so if it interests you, stick around while we explore these topics. Let’s get into it.
What Is An Article?
Articles are read by thousands of people around the globe and are generally written to educate people about something they’re unaware of. They are either published on an online website, magazine, or newspaper.
In the article, the writer expresses his or her perspective on a certain topic. The articles, mainly, are written to make people aware of a particular topic.
| Types of Articles | |
| Instructional | Instructional articles include “how-to topics”. Interestingly, Google is crowded with this type of content. Look at these examples: How to make apple pie at home? How frequently should I change my car’s engine? How to prepare for the exams without getting exhausted? |
| Persuasive | The objective of this type of article is to convince the reader. |
| Informative | Educating the reader is the main reason for generating these articles. These types of articles mostly help readers solve a specific problem. |
| Review articles | The components of a review article are similar to the research paper. Both start with an abstract, and an introduction and are always winded up on a conclusion. |
What Is A Paper?
The purpose of writing a research paper is to fill the gaps other authors left while writing on a similar topic.
There’s a structure that one must follow while writing a paper. Before writing a paper, make sure you’ve read the relevant papers.
Another important step is knowing your audience. It’s worth noting that the papers have a different outline of the paper than the essay or article.
Structure of the Paper
- Title page
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Literature review
- Methodology
- Findings
- Conclusion
- References
Steps To Write A Paper
- First of all, you need to pick a topic that you’re interested in. Choosing a topic you’re not interested in is never a good idea.
- Read at least five relevant papers. There’s no need to read the papers thoroughly; you should only go through the abstract part, the introduction paragraph, and the conclusion.
- Write down the findings and gaps that you can work on. Most of your writing covers areas that other papers do not cover.
- The paper always starts with an introduction. Your thesis statement also goes here.
- Since the body part of a paper is almost 8 to 12 pages, you can add as many paragraphs as you want.
- In the end, you conclude your findings and give references to the sources.
What Is An Essay?
The word essay originates from the Latin word ‘exagium’ which refers to the presentation of the case.
An essay is all about giving a verdict on the issue after looking at all sides of the topic with an open mind. However, you need to consider all the evidence.
Essay writing comes with tremendous benefits. It builds a habit of looking at topics from various angles. Additionally, you get an opportunity to express your opinion after thorough research.
There are three parts to the essay: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion.
Introduction
One has to catch the reader’s attention from the first line of the introduction. The purpose of this is to arouse curiosity, which then leads your readers to read more.
In the introduction section, you give a little bit of an overview of the topic you’re writing about. It gives readers an insight into what’s coming next.
This would prevent most people from reading the bottom of your essay. Therefore, it’s really important to keep your audience hooked and curious.
Starting the introduction with some statistics or research findings is the best way to accomplish this. The most important thing to write in the introduction is the thesis statement.
Body
When writing a paragraph in the body section, it’s important to keep sentences linked with each other. They must be coherent.
There should also be backing to your ideas from some relevant studies or sources. The best way to do this is by citing quotations, statistics, and research papers.
Additionally, you should never include irrelevant data in your essay.
Conclusion
The conclusion part includes a summary of the whole essay. You also write your findings or main points in this section of the essay.
Is the Article Different From The Essay?
There is always a thesis statement in an essay, along with reliable sources supporting the argument whereas an article solely represents your idea or opinion.
You’ll see very few articles that are written to persuade someone, while essays are only meant to persuade the readers.
The tone and the structure of the article are indeed different from the essay. The articles are written in simple English, so users of all ages will be able to understand them.
The length of both pieces of writing also differs. There is no limit to the word count when writing an article. An essay can be as long as a page or as short as a paragraph.
It is recommended that an essay be between 1500 and 2000 words in length.
Articles, Papers, and Essays: Differences and Similarities
| Article | Paper | Essay | |
| Length | It can be as short as a paragraph and as long as an essay. | The length of a paper is between 8 to 15 pages. | The word count of an essay falls between 1500 to 2000 words. |
| Tone | The tone of the article depends on the niche you’re writing in. It can either be formal or informal. | The tone of the paper is scholarly. | Like other academic writings, the tone of the essay is formal unless you’re writing with humor. |
Conclusion
- Articles, papers, and essays have different purposes in academic and professional writing.
- Articles inform readers on diverse topics. They engagingly present the author’s viewpoint. They’re often found in magazines or online platforms.
- Research papers have sections like abstracts, introductions, reviews, methodologies, findings, and conclusions. They aim to fill gaps in the literature.
- Essays look at different sides of a topic. They give a conclusion backed by facts and careful thinking.
- Articles can be long or short and can be written in many different ways. Papers need a lot of research and must sound serious and smart. Essays use smart arguments to convince people.
- These are different types of writing with different lengths, tones, and reasons for writing. Essays try to convince people of something. Papers are written to share information. Articles give people information that’s easy to understand.
- Knowing these differences is crucial. It helps you communicate well especially when you’re doing school or college work.
- There are different types of academic writing. Each type has its purpose. They each have different ways to make things easy to understand.
- When you get the little details of these types of writing, it makes it easier to understand how they work. This helps both in school and at work.