During academic tenure, students learn many things. Their teachers and professors assign them different assignments. Successfully completion of their tasks may help them qualify courses, and get degrees on respective subjects. Different research works are assigned for many different purposes. Working on them may help them developing their skills and broadening their knowledge base. For these reasons, thesis and research paper writing are two major and recommended practices of the academic career. Though both assignments are research-based, they differ with each other in many areas. They are different from each other from the beginning to the end, their nature and range. Therefore, we bring a contrasting piece of writing to help students and professionals to understand the difference between thesis and research paper.

1.    Difference of Definitions

The thesis is a student work done as a vital requirement of their academic course. It aims to acquire an academic degree or qualification.

On the other hand, research paper is a part of academic writing and researches prepared by utilizing independent research.

2.    Difference of Purposes

Despite several intertwined features, the difference of purpose, format, style, and target set thesis and research paper apart. In essence, thesis writing plays a role in degree completion or qualification. It involves in its purpose the exploration of ideas, established beliefs, and thoughts. Whether it approves them or not its purpose is to bring forth new and genuine thoughts of students about the chosen topic.

In contrast, research paper writing focuses mainly on providing detailed and expanded insights into the thesis statement. Moreover, for its purpose, the research paper highlights and discusses the thesis statement in all possible perspectives. For this reason, the question, What is a research paper? is answered after one is well-aware of the concepts of a thesis statement.

3.    The Difference Between the Basic Elements

Basic Elements of Thesis Writing

The specifications of the thesis may vary from topic to topic, but the main elements constitute it are mostly the same that are as follow:

1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Methodology

Basic Elements of Research Paper Writing

On the other hand, a research paper may consist of the following elements:

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Methods
4. Results
5. Discussions
6. Conclusion
7. Reference list

4.    The Difference of Subject Matter

In the research paper writing, the subject matter requires the research to follow a single subject-oriented path. The researcher has to keep pace with the predefined parameters in research methodologies and approaches he/she follows. He/she is not free to go off to this predefined path. It is because the reader already knows the set targets of the research paper.

On the other hand, in thesis writing, following a predefined path for research is not always the mandatory prerequisite.

5.    The Difference in Author’s Point of View

Since the researcher explores different sources of knowledge and information, he builds a personal viewpoint on the subject matter. For this reason, his observation and insights are worth mentioning in the report. So, the research paper always has a section in its format that includes what the author observes personally about the subject matter.

In contrast, in thesis writing, no such observation of the author is considered as a part of the content.

Conclusion

Academic writing and learning are greatly influenced by thesis writing and research paper writing. Though both assignments are juxtaposed with each other in many aspects, their aims, targets, methodologies, formats, and purposes are different in many aspects.