Kinds of academic work
Introduction to Academic Research
Academic work comes in families. Essays build an argument from existing sources. Empirical studies collect and analyse new data. Reviews synthesise what is already published. Reports apply analysis to a practical problem. Theses combine several of these over a long project.
Each family has its own structure and its own idea of good evidence. Knowing which one you are writing tells you what your reader expects before you write a word.
Example
A literature review answers “what is known?”. An empirical study answers “what did we find?”. A policy paper answers “what should be done?”.
Exercise
Check that the document type in your project settings matches your brief. Change it if not.