Just Another Spaz

I am not "just" a cashier! I am the watcher of the front. The first line of defence. I am a guard and a secretary. I am a pool of knowledge. I am a map and a catalogue. I am the trader of goods and information. I am a timetable and the sorter of money. I am a representation of my company and a displayer products. I am price machine and operator of tags. Don't you dare look down your nose at me. I am not "just" of anything and I'll have you remember that. I am needed. I am valued. I am earning my money. Think again next time you say someone is "just" a cashier!

Okay so in high school there's not much difference to be honest. The difference really relies on your teachers and their preferences. In university, however, there is a huge difference between a report and an essay and not knowing the difference could mean not achieving that high distinction you want. Here's the short of it. A report is technical; An essay is creative. That may seem far fetched and a bit wrong to those who attend university but that's basically it. A report is a summary of a mass of collected data. This means that nothing you say is original and everything and every sentence must be backed up, cited and referenced. For a report, you collect data from various sources and collate it within one document to support all the facts. A report will almost always have two sides to it, pros and cons, and will probably be dry reading. An essay, however, leaves more opportunity to be creative with how it is presented. An essay is an argument and thus will present one view over another. Essays tend to have more bias in them and not every sentence is required to be cited (citation and referencing do still apply though). You are trying to convince a reader of your point of view. An essay needs to have charisma and a 'voice'. It needs to be persuasive. Where an report deals with all the facts and includes both sides, an essay may be selective with the detail and facts it provides. You are trying to sell an idea or viewpoint in an essay. You still need to back up your claims with sources and reference intermittently. To sum up, reports are boring, dry and full of facts all cited and referenced and essays are fun, full of character and carefully selected facts that are cited and referenced. Hope this helps!