What Are The Main Differences Between Essays And Research Papers?

It is incredible when you think about the number of people who cannot really tell the difference between these two kinds of work. An essay and a research paper are two different things. Most students actually use the terms interchangeably while they are different from one another. Bearing that in mind there are some similarities and differences that these two study areas share. We will look into some of them in a bid to ensure that we can tell them apart very easily and not get carried away by the discussions from time to time.

• The need for in-depth research


• Time for preparation


• Need for a proposal

The need for in-depth research

Both of these papers require a lot of work done in terms of research. You have to take your time and figure out the area of study that you are interested in, and most importantly how you can go about this.

You need to reveal the discussion points carefully so that you can present a strong paper that will leave the reader convinced.

Time for preparation

One thing that you will notice about these papers is that they take a different amount of time to prepare. An essay is a paper that you can basically write in a matter of hours, or days depending on how long it is required and how huge the task at hand is.

A research paper on the other hand takes longer. It takes weeks or months. This is because the student is expected to take some time off their studies to conduct some research. They need to study the subject properly and come up with recommendations based on the study that they have just undertaken.

Need for a proposal

When you are working on an essay, there is no need for you to hand in a proposal for your work. You will only need to get the instructions necessary and then work on your paper from there. For a research paper on the other hand things are different.

First off you have to present a strong proposal to your teachers. Once the proposal has been accepted, you can then go on and write the paper. If your proposal is not accepted by your teacher or your institution, you have to go back to the drawing board and work on it based on the instructions and comments that you have received from them.