This piece may be of great help to students and especially those at the university discourse. A student of the university discourse community must have a fair knowledge of the academic essay and the fictional essay. In most university institutions in the world, graduation sometimes depends on the final project the final year student submits and that is the academic essay. You will know more about the academic essay by the end of this article.
As students or learners who chance on this article would automatically be introduced to academic essays and fictional essays. You will get to know what an academic essay means and the need to acquire these academic essay skills. Moreover, the distinction between an academic essay and the fictional essay would be emphasized. There is more when you read more and so don’t give up on your reading.
What is an Academic Essay?
The term academic essay contains two words that are used in the same discourse community. The Oxford Dictionary defines or explains Academic as education or scholarship. The keyword here is education, Other translations have it that academic means a scholar or teacher at a higher educational level.
Writing on the other hand according to the Longman Dictionary defines that it is a short piece of writing about a particular subject by a student as part of a course of study. So any writing by a student or scholar about a special subject or field of study can be termed an essay.
What is an Academic Essay?
Academic is now known, an essay has been explained, and the easier we can explain an academic essay. Before that, you have to know these things; The academic essay is one of the genres used in the academic discourse communities like the universities, junior high schools, and any other formal institution that makes use of an academic essay. It is mostly used by the student of universities since most of the research there needs an academic essay as a means of submission.
An academic essay is simply an idea written down by a scholar or student to either persuade or inform the readers. Other definitions also have it that, an academic essay is a piece of writing which answers a question and shows an understanding of a topic. They are ideas brought together to analyze a topic and bring out a result. As it was stated earlier, it is mostly written down.
Since the general aim of an academic essay is to answer questions, it is always supported with facts and pieces of evidence. Whatever argument you make in an academic essay, there should always be a claim or evidence to support it.
Structure of an Academic Essay
Since it is mostly done in institutions, it has a general pattern as well. The academic word does qualify the essay indicating that there might be other essays elsewhere yet in the academic discourse communities, it has special requirements and patterns.
Just like normal essays, it usually begins with an introduction, the body, and finally the conclusion. The first part thus the introduction reveals the argument or topic in the essay, explains it, and states the purpose as well. The body then discusses in detail the argument raised in the introduction part. After every successful academic essay is the conclusion and this is where the main points are summarized which is the re-statement of the thesis. (Thesis is an argument or proposition, which may be opposed by an antithesis; or a scholarly essay defending some proposition, usually a dissertation submitted for an academic degree from the oxford dictionary)
The academic essay aims to improve on the critical and analytical thinking of a scholar or a student. The givers of academic essays are mostly lectures and in some cases, teachers. Academic essays being remarkable indicates that they are written to explain a concept, synthesize previous studies, and report the investigations or findings of project works.
The Fictional Essay
The fictional essay originated from the literature word, fiction. The Oxford dictionary defines fiction as a type of literature that describes imaginary people and events, not real ones. Fictional works are mainly based on imagination which is why most fictional stories contain fantasies, supernatural acts, and other events which are totally out of this world.
It is the same thing in the case of fictional essays. These essays are mainly based on imagination and not facts. It does not argue or makes a claim. A writer of a fictional story does not need any evidence to support his or her write-up. These writings are not encouraged at the tertiary levels of education however, it is accepted and mainly used in senior high and junior high schools. Tutors use this kind of essay to test the writing skills of students. Some of these fictional essays are the letter to a friend, letters to a brother, and any kind of informal essays.
What Differentiates a Fictional Essay from an Academic Essay
There are a lot of differences between these two essays. From the explanations above, one could generate about three(3) differences between these two essays.
Whiles an academic essay is mainly based on theories and facts, fictional essays are mainly on imagination.
Academic essays describe events based on concepts but fictional essays on the other though describe events yet these events are not true.
There is the use of official or formal language in an academic essay but in the case of fictional essays, it uses creative language.
Features of an Academic Essay
There are many features of academic essays and a few would be discussed here.
It has a defined structure: When an academic essay is said to have a defined structure then it means it is well organized. What organization is required in an academic essay? That is arranging your information from the introduction, the body, and finally the conclusion.
Sources are needed: Since it is for academic purposes, it is required to have pieces of evidence and this is why you must make a thorough research before concluding an academic essay and publishing it.
Language tone is formal: Every academic essay must possess a formal language tone. Informal tones are not accepted like the use of jargon, mnemonics, and any form of unofficial language.
An academic and fictional essay has been discussed thoroughly in this article. You can add your questions in the comment sections.
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