International students often face difficulties in choosing between academic papers. This guide explains in detail the three common dissertation formats – Essay, Paper and Dissertation – and their characteristics. Knowing this information will help you to understand the relationship between the three and to better focus your dissertation writing.
International students are often at a loss when it comes to writing academic essays, especially when faced with the complexity of the task. In order to help them master the necessary writing skills, this tutorial will clearly explain the differences between Essay, Paper and Dissertation.
1. Essay: Essay is the more basic form of essay, usually consisting of a few thousand words, and is mainly used for undergraduate coursework or examination projects. Its content focuses on a single topic and does not require in-depth exploration of independent data. In a study abroad setting, Essays are often used to write small essays or course papers of a few thousand words, covering mainly literature review and critical analysis. If data support is required, it may be abbreviated. In addition, failure to provide full references or literature is acceptable. It is important to note that in American English, ‘essay’ is more common, whereas in British English, the term often refers to an undergraduate thesis.
2. Paper: The scope of application of paper is relatively broad, including articles published in various academic journals, but not including bachelor’s theses. It is widely used in both the United Kingdom and the United States, especially at the undergraduate level. Compared with Essay, the word count of Paper may be increased according to the requirements of journals, but it is usually not more than 20,000 words. The purpose of this is to emphasise the wide range of applications and the types of papers they cover.
3. Dissertation: A dissertation is a paper that is more than 10,000 words in length and requires specific research methods and in-depth data analysis. In comparison, Dissertation is more difficult to write as it requires more professional knowledge and practical ability from the writer. As a Master’s thesis, the Dissertation is similar to the final research of a PhD graduate in that it is an important document in the academic world.
Although ‘essay’ is the most commonly used term in the study abroad community, it is actually only one of many types of research papers. Depending on the needs and purposes of the research, there are different types and specifications of academic papers, such as Paper and Dissertation. Despite the similarities between these papers and the Essay described in this paper, there are significant differences in the norms and areas of application.
