| The Report | The Essay |
| A form of professional writing. Its aim: to maximize the ease of retrieval of information by the reader. |
A more literary form of writing. Its aim: to develop a linear argument. |
| Often skimmed or selectively read | Must be read from beginning to end. |
| Should be designed so that a reader does not have to read an entire report to extract the necessary information. Heavily formatted. | No next formatting, i.e., no headings, subheadings, bold-facing, bullet-points, etc. |
| Its information should be presented in the order in which the reader finds easiest to assess: overview and outcome first, followed by the justification | The material is presented as a linear argument, with the climax often appearing at the end. |