Because reports and essays both deal with information, they may seem, except for their formats, to be pretty much the same. But remember that the word report comes from a Latin word meaning "to carry back." As a reporter, you gather the "news" about a topic and bring it to waiting, interested readers. The word essay, on the other hand, comes from a French word meaning "a test, a trial, an attempt" and is related to the chemical term assay, referring to an analysis.

When you write an essay, you take a subject and break it down, examine it to see what it's made of, and then explain your findings. Your aim is not only to collect information but to develop and convey your understanding. For example, if you write a report on air pollution in US national parks, you focus on facts and figures about pollution and present them to readers. If you write an essay about that pollution, however, you focus not only on facts and figures but also on your opinions about that pollution.

Assignments: Three options

The thesis-support essay. In various forms, the thesis-support essay is one of the most frequent academic writing assignments, one you may already be familiar with as the "five-paragraph theme" written in high school. When you write a thesis-support essay, you aim to understand a topic, determine what's true or plausible about it, and convey your opinions to readers in an appealing way. In form, the thesis-support essay consists of the two parts of its name: a thesis--a point or assertion about a topic--and the support for that thesis, consisting of information, explanation, or proof. Several versions of the thesis-support essay are illustrated throughout The Ready Reference Handbook:

• The expository essay explains an opinion in support of a topic. (See the essay on bicycle commuting in The Ready Reference Handbook, 4f.)

• The argumentative essay is a more formal expository essay, aiming to prove the truth or plausibility of an assertion. (See The Ready Reference Handbook, Chaps. 58 and 59, and the argumentative and persuasive essay in 59f.)

• The literary essay supports a reader/writer's opinion about a literary work--a poem, novel, short story, drama, or movie. (See The Ready Reference Handbook, Chap. 60 and the sample essay in 60g.)

• The research paper assigned in liberal arts courses tends to be a thesis-support essay in which the writer gathers information from sources to understand a topic and to develop a position on that topic summed up in the thesis. (See The Ready Reference Handbook, Chaps. 47-51 and the example in Chap. 54.)

• The essay exam. (See The Ready Reference Handbook, Chap. 61.)

The personal essay. The personal essay, also referred to as the informal essay, contains a strong autobiographical component that makes it similar in form and style to the personal experience essay and the memoir. In it, a writer focuses on a topic outside him- or herself but aims to present this topic in personal terms, as he or she experiences and understands it. Personal essays are unified not so much by a thesis as by a main idea, dominant impression, or overall mood.

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