Always read your written assignment carefully and consider what it asks you to do. Here are some questions that you may ask yourself before you begin to write your assignment:
Always read your written assignment carefully and consider what it asks you to do.
If you cannot answer all of these questions by reading the assignment description, go back to your professor to clarify the requirements.
The most common written assignments given to students are essays, research papers, and reports.
An essay is defined as "an analytic or interpretative literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view" (Merriam Webster Online). Essays usually express the author's outlook on the subject.
A useful model that is often used in composition classes is a five-paragraph essay.
The Structure of a Classic Five-Paragraph Essay:
An essay is "an analytic or interpretive literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view."
A research paper is a term harder to define because expectations and guidelines may vary depending on your area of study. A research paper usually requires gathering research materials, interpreting, and documenting them in the paper. It is based the author's interpretation of the facts gathered from research and it, therefore, requires good critical thinking skills on the part of the author.
A research paper needs to be logically organized with a clearly stated purpose and thesis which have to be supported throughout the main body of the paper. Research information can be presented in the form of quotations, paraphrases, or summaries.
A research paper needs to be logically organized with a clearly stated purpose and thesis which are supported throughout the main body of the paper.
(Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 10-29)
While essays and research papers are more typical in the humanities, much writing in the sciences and social sciences is in the form of a report. A report presents factual information, and its main purpose is to inform. It contains examples and provides an analysis of the subject.
The structure and organization of a report should reflect its main purpose and audience. There are several possible organization patterns. Below are two of the most common ones:
(Hult & Huckin, The New Century Handbook, 378)
A report presents factual information, and its main purpose is to inform. It contains examples and provides an analysis of the subject.
(Sealy, Oxford Guide to Effective Writing and Speaking, 70)