Discursive Writing

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Discursive Writing
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Task

• Choose a topic you find interesting. Research
  this topic and write a discursive essay which
  presents a range of arguments on this topic.

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Step 1 Persuasive or argumentative?

• Persuasive
• Where you give your personal opinion on a topic
  or issue, and endeavour to persuade the reader to
  your way of thinking. Works best if you are
  genuinely committed to the issue.

• Argumentative
• Allows you to consider, in a balanced way, the
  pros and cons of a particular topic or issue.
  Useful if you feel there are strong arguments on
  a least two sides of the issue or topic.

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Step 2 Choosing your topic.

• Pick something relevant to you.
• You are going to have to demonstrate knowledge
  and understanding of your issues, as well as do
  extended reading and research, so it is best if
  you choose something in which you have a genuine
  interest and on which you have a genuine opinion.

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Possible Tasks

• Choose something that matters to you e.g.
• A local environmental issue
• A charity you want people to support
• Supporting your local high street
• Or
  consider national issues e.g.
• - 16 and 17
  year olds having the vote
• - Scottish
  independence
• - The
  Commonwealth Games
• Or consider broader issues e.g.
• Global Warming
• Cruelty to animals (fox hunting cosmetic
  testing
  battery hens etc.)
• Mobile Phones

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Creating a Task

• Question or Statement?
• Have people have become overly dependent on
  technology?
• Is marriage still important?
• Both parents should assume equal responsibility
  in raising a child.
• Participating in team sports helps to develop
  good character.
• The production and sale of cigarettes should be
  made illegal.
• To encourage healthy eating, higher taxes should
  be
  imposed on soft drinks and junk food.
• Zoos are cruel places for animals and
  
  should be shut down.

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Step 3 Sourcing relevant and reliable information

• How do you find the information you need from
  books, articles in journals, magazines and
  newspapers, to begin research for a discursive
  essay?
• RELEVANCE
• What information do you want from the source?
• Look initially at the title of the book or
  article, the contents page and the index if they
  are present. Do they indicate that the
  information you are looking for is here? If so
  your next step is to skim-read the information to
  see if it is useful. If it seems to be, read
  over it again carefully.

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• RELIABILITY
• When you are first presented with a written
  source of information about the topic how you
  should consider whether the information is-
• Accurate
• Biased or balanced
• Relevant
• Reliable
• Supported by evidence
• Up to date

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• I n t e r n e t R e s e a r c h
• The above is particularly important to ensure the
  reliability of internet sources.
• Always check the information on more than one
  site.
• Access RELIABLE websites e.g. newspapers BBC,
  Government web pages etc.
• Use KEY WORDS to focus on relevant and reliable
  information and narrow your search.
• Remember, to research both sides of the debate.
  Look at sites that contain arguments both for and
  against.

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Step 4 Recording your sources

• It is essential that you give credit to
  information and ideas from other sources. At the
  end of your essay you must provide a
  bibliography, or a list of sources you have
  consulted during your research.
• Make sure you keep this record as you go you
  may find it very difficult to go back and find
  sources later.

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Step 5 Note-taking WRITING Skills

• You MUST NOT copy chunks of information from any
  text, nor can you copy or paste from a source to
  a word document.
• This is Plagiarism taking ideas/ passages /
  sentences from someone elses work and presenting
  them as your own.
• Instead you must
• Summarise sum up the key points, in your own
  words
• Paraphrase write down someone elses ideas in
  your own words.
• Quote making sure you reference the material,
  either with a footnote or in brackets after the
  actual quotation.
• Also, ensure you lay out the quotation correctly.
• An article in the Scotsman newspaper suggests
  that some bar owners allow young people to buy
  alcohol. However, one owner said, "it is
  difficult to tell if young people are over 18.
• Do make the quotation part of a sentence and not
  stuck out on its own!

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Step 6 Planning the essay!

• Content
• Quality ideas
• Development of ideas
• Supporting evidence
• Fact and opinion

• Style
• Persuasive or argumentative?
• Formal
• Present tense
• Rhetoric
• Emotive Language

• Structure
• Introduction
• Arguments counter arguments
• Conclusion
• LINKING connectives and topic
  sentences

Make a Plan!
Try a paragraph plan or a table (for and
against), or a mind map.
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Possible Structures
Persuasive
Argumentative

• Opening statement giving OPINION
• Series of paragraphs
• Argument 1
• Counter-argument
• Rebuttal (refuting)
• Argument 2
• Counter-argument
• Rebuttal (refuting)
• Argument 3...
• Summary/Conclusion
• Restating opinion

• Opening statement introducing topic and range of
  arguments
• Series of paragraphs
• Argument 1
• For
• Against
• Argument 2
• For
• Against
• Argument 3...
• Summary / Conclusion
• Restating key arguments

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Step 6 Writing the essay!

• Key features
• Tone
• Language
• Connectives
• Putting forward for arguments
• Reformulating your ideas
• Presenting against arguments
• Introducing evidence and examples

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Tone in a discursive essay

• Do
• Write in proper, complete sentences
• Use complete words and expressions
• Use proper, standard English

• Do not
• Use abbreviations (i.e./e.g./etc./UK/)
  Contractions (isn't/don't/won't)
• Slang (e.g. bloke/geezer etc) 
• Colloquial language (mate/bolshy etc.)

You should also try to make sure that you use a
decent standard of vocabulary In particular, try
to avoid weak vocabulary such as 'get', 'got' and
'getting'. Relying on this level of vocabulary
too often suggests that your power of expression
is weak. Build up your word power!
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Useful Language Features

• First Person
• Present Tense
• Phrases to give own opinion
• Rhetorical Questions to pose the issue and
  involve readers
• Similes / Metaphors
• Exclamations - to make dramatic point
• Connectives (linking words and phrases see
  SIGNAL WORDS sheet)
• Topic Sentences
• Emotive language

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Joined-up thinking Connectives

• WHY?
• 1. To give sequence /structure to whole text
• e.g. firstly secondly, thirdly etc
• 2. To connect CAUSE and EFFECT, linking points
  within paragraphs
• e.g consequently, as a result, therefore
• 3. To COMPARE and LINK DIFFERENT arguments
• e.g. however, on the other hand, but

HOW?
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SIGNAL WORDS

• GO
• And
• First, second
• Next
• Furthermore
• In addition
• Similarly
• Moreover
• Also
• At the same time

• CAUTION
• Thus
• So
• Therefore
• Consequently
• Accordingly
• In retrospect
• In brief
• As a result
• To conclude

• STOP
• Without question
• Significantly
• Without doubt
• Unquestionably
• Absolutely
• Undoubtedly
• Ultimately
• Finally
• Crucially

• TURN
• Yet
• Despite
• However
• Conversely
• Although
• Otherwise
• Nevertheless
• On the contrary
• On the other hand

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Putting forward for arguments

• People in favour of topic
• Supporters of topic believe that...
• Advocates of topic
  maintain that...
• Campaigners of topic claim that...
• Proponents of topic feel that...
• Those who support topic suggest that...
• Pressure groups in favour of topic agree
  that...
• Believers in topic argue that...
• Followers of topic
• Users of topic

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Reformulating Ideas

• OR is used when you want to put two different
  ideas together or reformulate what you have
  stated earlier, some alternatives are
  
  
• In other words...
• To put it more simply...
• It would be better to say...
• Alternatively... To put it
  straightforwardly ...

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Putting forward a contrasting argument

• BUT appears when you need to contrast one
  statement with another
• However... In contrast... Nevertheless ... O
  n the other hand... nonetheless... Despite the
  fact that... Yet... All the same...
• In spite of that...

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Putting forward against arguments

• People against topic argue that...
• Critics of topic believe that...
• Opponents of topic maintain
  that...
• Challengers of topic claim that...
• Campaigners against topic feel that...
• Those opposed to topic suggest that...
• Pressure groups against topic agree that...

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Introducing Evidence and Examples

• This clearly demonstrates that...
• This illustrates how
• There is some/clear evidence that
• There is mounting evidence that
• A recent study found that
• Research tells us that

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Refuting the counter argument

• Whilst in an argumentative essay you will present
  an evenly balanced view of the different sides of
  an issue, when writing persuasively you will need
  to imply the key skill of rebuttal, as follows
• 1. Give an opinion which goes against your
  argument
• Some people believe...
• It has been said that...
• There are those who say...

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• 2. Make a statement say the opinion given is
  WRONG!
• However this is not the case...
• This is far from true...
• Clearly this is unfounded...
• 3. Restate your own opinion (counter-argument)
• In actual fact...
• In my opinion...
• The truth is that...
• In my view...
• I believe / I feel...
• I am convinced...

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Writing a Conclusion

• Sum up your main points
• State your point of view
• Give your reason for this
• Offer a solution if you have one

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Expressing Opinion in the Conclusion

• I agree/ disagree with the above statement
  (that...)
• In my opinion...
• I believe that...
• I am in favour of...
• I am against the idea of...
• It seems to me that...
• I sympathise with...

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CONCLUSION WORD BANK

• To sum up/ altogether
• On this basis, I can conclude that...
• Given this, it can be concluded that...
• Having proved this, I would like to...
• In conclusion, I would like to stress that
• All in all, I believe that...
• Ultimately,...
• Finally I would conclude that
• As outlined previously/earlier
• As previously stated
• We could conclude that..

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Methods of Opening a Discursive Essay

• The following methods are suggestions. It is up
  to you to decide which style suits your writing
  best.
• Provocative
• e.g."It is difficult to see how anyone can
  approve of fox hunting."
• Balanced
• e.g."Fox hunting is a subject about which people
  hold strongly contrasting views."
• Quotation
• e.g."Oscar Wilde once described fox hunting as
  'The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.'."
• Illustration
• e.g."On a glorious autumn morning a terrified,
  exhausted animal is savaged to death by a pack of
  baying dogs while a group of expensively dressed
  humans encourage the dogs in their bloody work."
• Anecdote
• e.g."I have always detested fox hunting since I
  was almost physically sick while watching a
  television film of the kill at the end of a hunt."

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Exemplification!
TOWN vs. COUNTRY
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Cities versus the Countryside

• Introduction
• Section 1
• FOR Cities Argument 1
• Argument 2
• Argument 3
• Section 2
• AGAINST Cities Argument 1
• Argument 2
• Argument 3

• Section 3
• FOR the Countryside Argument 1
• Argument 2
• Argument 3
• Section 4
• AGAINST the Countryside Argument 1
• Argument 2
• Argument 3
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• My essay is going to be about living in the town
  and the country. In this essay I will look at
  both sides of the argument.
• Deciding whether to live in the town(city) or the
  countryside can be difficult, as there are many
  reasons why both locations might be attractive.
  However both choices also offer a number of
  disadvantages which can put people off.
• City life bright, exciting, challenging. Rural
  life peaceful, idyllic, relaxing. How do you
  choose between two such different locations when
  making the crucial decision of where to live?

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Some topic sentences

• The first advantage of living in the city is
• Another reason people might find living in the
  city a positive experience..
• As well as this, cities also
• In addition, cities offer
• However, in many cities
• But not all cities
• Nevertheless not everybody wants to live in the
  city because
• Another problem with living in the city is

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Some more topic sentences

• Given the choice, many people prefer to live in
  the country. One reason for this is
• The countryside also
• Furthermore, living in the country also
• Additionally, country living means that
• On the other hand , many people feel that country
  living
• But rural life is not always
• However not everybody agrees that living in the
  country is Another problem with living in the
  country is

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Conclusion

• To finish my essay I am going to sum up my ideas
  for and against living in the town and living in
  the country.
• In conclusion there are many good reasons to live
  in the town, but there are also many good reasons
  to live in the country. I think I would prefer to
  live in the town.
• To conclude, deciding whether to live in the town
  or the country is a very personal decision.
  Whilst some people adore the hustle and bustle of
  the city, other much prefer the tranquil world of
  the countryside. Having lived in both, I can
  honestly say that the many amenities and the
  bight lights of the city are what appeal to me
  most. I definitely prefer living in the city.

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• Now choose your topic and get started!