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Title: HOW TO WRITE A DISCURSIVE ESSAY
Starter:
Think. Pair. Share.
•Define ‘discursive.’
L. Lenihan 2015
Homework
• Research
• Find 6 facts or statistics to support your chosen topic.
• Find two quotes you could use to enhance a point you will make.
L. Lenihan 2015
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.
Task 1
• Exam Papers
• Pairs: Look at titles from
– 2014
– 2013
– 2012
– 2010
– 2009...
• Persuasive?
• Argumentative?
L. Lenihan 2015
Step 2: Choosing your topic.
• Pick something relevant to you.
• You are going to have to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of your issues so it is best if you choose something in which you have a genuine interest and on which you have a genuine opinion.
Task 2
• Exam Papers
• Pairs: Look at titles from
– 2014
• Choose a title.
• Essays to be submitted 1 week from now.
Paragraph
50 words explaining why you have chosen this topic.
Consider:
Why is it important to you?
L. Lenihan 2015
Homework
• Research
• Find 6 facts or statistics to support your chosen topic.
• Find two quotes you could use to enhance a point you will make.
L. Lenihan 2015
Title: HOW TO PLAN A DISCURSIVE ESSAY
L. Lenihan 2015
Starter: Question or Statement?
1. Have people have become overly dependent on technology?
2. Is marriage still important?
3. Both parents should assume equal responsibility in raising a child.
4. Participating in team sports helps to develop good character.
5. The production and sale of cigarettes should be made illegal.
6. To encourage healthy eating, higher taxes should be imposed on soft drinks and junk food.
7. Zoos are cruel places for animals and should be shut down.
Homework Check
• Research
• Find 6 facts or statistics to support your chosen topic.
• Find two quotes you could use to enhance a point you will make.
• Check
1. Have you stated the source?
2. Is the source reliable?
3. How realistic is your chosen evidence?
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Homework
• Edit the draft of your introduction
• Be prepared to read aloud
• Remember – the discursive essay is often in the form of a speech!
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Step 2: Planning the essay!
• Structure
• Introduction
• Arguments & counter arguments
• Conclusion
• LINKING: connectives and topic sentences
• Content
• Quality ideas
• Development of ideas
• Supporting evidence
• Fact and opinion
• Style
• Persuasive or
argumentative?
• Formal
• Present tense
• Rhetoric
• Emotive Language
Make a Plan!
Try a paragraph plan or a table (for and against), or a mind map.
Task 1: Planning the essay! 5 minutes
Insert name of
chosen topic
Try a paragraph plan or a table (for and against), or a mind map.
Share and feedbac.
Possible Structures
• 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
Persuasive Argumentative
Task 2: INTRODUCTION – what to do
1. State what you are writing about
2. Give a reason why you are writing about this
3. State what you are going to do
L. Lenihan 2015
Introduction: samples
• 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?
L. Lenihan 2015
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."
Homework
• Edit the draft of your introduction
• Be prepared to read aloud
• Remember – the discursive essay is often in the form of a speech!
L. Lenihan 2015
Title: Language Features of the Discursive Essay
Starter:
Working with the person next to you – make a list of dos and don’ts for the discursive essay.
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Homework
• Write one body paragraph of your discursive essay.
• Use a signal word from today.
• Use 1 feature mentioned today.
• Be prepared to read aloud
• Remember – the discursive essay is often in the form of a speech!
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Task 1. Tone in a discursive essay?
1. 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/boi 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!
Task 2. Useful Language Features?
2. 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
Task 3: Give Examples of SIGNAL WORDS
Use 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
Homework
• Write one body paragraph of your discursive essay.
• Use a signal word from today.
• Use 1 feature mentioned today.
• Be prepared to read aloud
• Remember – the discursive essay is often in the form of a speech!
L. Lenihan 2015
Title: Topic sentences for the Discursive Essay
Starter:
Define ‘topic sentence.’
Share and feedback.
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Homework Check - Swap
• Circle a signal word from yesterday’s class.
• Label 1 feature used by your partner mentioned yesterday.
• Share and feedback
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Homework
• Write another paragraph using the title you have chosen.
• Then edit that paragraph and any others.
• Try to add 3 recommended sentences using a different coloured pen.
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Argumentative Task: City vs. Country?
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Get started! 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…
Time to get a different
coloured pen.
L. Lenihan 2015
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…
Which did you
add? How did they improve your
work?
L. Lenihan 2015
Homework
• Write another paragraph using the title you have chosen.
• Then edit that paragraph and any others.
• Try to add 3 recommended sentences using a different coloured pen.
L. Lenihan 2015
Title: How to put forward your argument for the Discursive Essay
Starter:
In debating, we use the term rebuttal or to refute, what do these terms mean?
Try to explain in your own words using an example to support.
L. Lenihan 2015
Homework Check
• Write another paragraph using the title you have chosen.
• Then edit that paragraph and any others.
• Try to add 3 recommended sentences using a different coloured pen.
Peer Assessment?
1. Evidence of editing?
2. Is the work clear and coherent?
3. What did you enjoy most/least about your partner’s work?
L. Lenihan 2015
Reading Homework
• Pages 95-97.
• Label the features of discursive writing that you find.
L. Lenihan 2015
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...
HOW TO PUT FORWARD YOUR FOR ARGUMENTS
• People in favour of + topic argue that
• 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 + agree that
• Believers in + topic
• Followers of + topic
• Users of + topic
L. Lenihan 2015
Which did you
add? How did they improve your
work?
L. Lenihan 2015
Reading Homework
• Pages 95-97.
• Label the features of discursive writing that you find.
L. Lenihan 2015
Title: How to use connectives in the Discursive Essay
Starter:
Think of your comparative course.
We use connectives to show similarities and differences.
Can you list ten of them?
L. Lenihan 2015
Reading Homework Check
• Pages 95-97.
• Label the features of discursive writing that you find.
Share and Feedback
• Imagine you could change this piece.
• What would you do?
• Why would you do it?
L. Lenihan 2015
HOW TO ADD FURTHER INFORMATION TO SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENT
• AND is used when you want to join two similar ideas, some alternatives are:
therefore moreover also
apart from that as a result accordingly
on top of that consequently in addition
thus furthermore
hence what is more
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Extension How many did you use
in this week’s work? Circle them.
REFORMULATING YOUR IDEAS • OR is used when you want to put two different ideas
together or reformulate what you have stated earlier, some alternatives are:
1. in other words
2. to put it more simply
3. it would be better to say
4. alternatively
5. to put it straightforwardly
L. Lenihan 2015
Extension Add 1 to today’s work? Can your partner find
it?
PUTTING FORWARD A CONTRASTING ARGUMENT
• BUT appears when you need to contrast one statement with another:
However, in contrast nevertheless, on the other hand, nonetheless, despite the fact that yet, all the same, in spite of that,
L. Lenihan 2015
Extension Which ones will you
use tonight? Add them to your plan.
Title: The last tips – evidence, consequences and conclusion.
Starter:
1. Label the connectives you have used in your essay so far ‘C’.
2. How many did you and your partner use?
3. Check the differences between your work.
4. Try to add one now that you haven’t used.
L. Lenihan 2015
HOW TO INTRODUCE 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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Challenge Add one to your
partner’s draft of their essay
HOW TO EXPLAIN CONSEQUENCES
………………..happened ……..
• because of due to
• as a result of as a consequence of
• on account of in response to
• owing to following on from
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Challenge Add one to work who
you haven’t read
YOUR 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 YOUR 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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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.
