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Imagine flipping through your favourite entertainment magazine or your local newspaper, only to find a collection of essays. How long would you keep that subscription if your fun reading material suddenly felt like homework?
Essay vs. Article
While articles can be informative, they aren’t always entertaining. However, magazines are more likely to feature engaging articles rather than essays.
Tone
The most distinctive difference between an essay and an article is the tone. Essays are traditionally subjective pieces of formal writing that analyse a specific topic. An essay writer investigates research, forms a fact-based opinion, informs others about their discoveries, and often gives verdicts based on their findings.
Articles, on the other hand, are normally objective. Writing an article doesn’t always require forming or expressing an opinion, nor does it demand an in-depth analysis of the information presented.
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Structure
Take a look at Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, or today’s newspaper, and you’ll see that articles can be structured in various ways. Some have headings, subheadings, and photos to help readers form their thoughts and opinions about the subject.
Essays, however, follow stricter rules and guidelines depending on the type of essay. Usually, essays have an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, body paragraphs with topic sentences that expand on the thesis, and a conclusion that wraps up the author’s take on the information.
Entertainment Factor
While narrative essays can tell entertaining stories, it’s usually articles that magazines and newspapers use to keep their readers engaged.
The writer of an article decides what message they want to convey—sometimes it’s informative, sometimes it’s humorous. For an essay writer, it’s about thoroughly exploring a topic, forming an opinion, and explaining how they arrived at that opinion and why it matters.
Conclusion:
You’re not likely to find essays in entertainment magazines. If you’re seeking in-depth information on a subject, you’ll turn to an essay. But if you’re looking for a light, entertaining read that lets you draw your conclusions, you’ll reach for an article.
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