What Is Discursive Writing? Discursive Essay Types & Techniques

In this blog, we will discuss features, goals, genres, purposes, and techniques of discursive writing. We will also discuss how you can write winning discursive essays for your course and the suggested structure.

Discursive writing tends to explore a topic and provide information in favour and against the argument but does not try to convince the reader of a particular point of view. The purpose of this style of writing is to develop critical thinking skills in students, which is the main goal of many educational institutes these days.

Writing a discursive essay is a demanding task that requires full dedication and effort from the students. In addition, there is a very thin line between discursive essays and argumentative or discussion essays, so writing such essays requires particular focus and skills from the students.

If you are facing issues with focusing on your discursive essay and need to focus on other academic and personal tasks as well. In that case, The Academic Papers UK can save your day by providing essay writing services.

Now, let us start with our topic under discussion by understanding what discursive writing is.

What Is Discursive Writing?

Discursive writing is a genre whose primary focus is to examine an idea, collect and evaluate the evidence, and discuss different opinions without trying to persuade or convince the audience.

Features of Discursive Writing

Here are some key features of discursive writing:

1. Different Tones: According to NESA, discursive writing can have both a serious and humorous tone and a formal and casual/informal register (some sources might contradict, but facts are facts).
2. Based On Facts: It demands evidence, data, and original research to back the argument.
3. Acknowledges the Different Perspectives: Discursive writing discusses the counterarguments as well, which enhances its credibility.
4. Critically Analyse the Evidence: It thoroughly and critically examines the proofs to strengthen the argument.

Objectives of Discursive Writing

The primary aim of discursive writing is to provide evidence-based information to the reader and allow them to draw their own conclusions instead of convincing them of your perspective.

Here are some secondary aims of discursive writing:

1. Investigating a topic
2. Discussing the opposite perspectives
3. Developing a balanced approach
4. Enhancing critical thinking skills

Note: The objectives of discursive writing also depend on the genre or types of the writing.

Genres/Types of Discursive Writing

Here are some of the most common types of discursive texts:

1. Editorials
2. Essays
3. Op-eds
4. Feature articles
5. Columns
6. Reviews
7. Policy papers
8. Position papers
9. Research papers
10. Discussion papers

All these types aim to share factual information and explore counter-arguments but leave the conclusions to the audience.

What Is a Discursive Essay?

A discursive essay is a formal piece of writing where we discuss multiple ideas or perspectives, providing counter-arguments both FOR and AGAINST the idea, without the intention of convincing or persuading the audience.

Types of Discursive Essays

There is a common misconception among the students about types of discursive essays. To clarify this, there are three preliminary types of discursive essays and two types of essays that can be written in discursive style. Still confused? Let’s categorise them:

Primary Types of Discursive Essays

Here are the three main types of discursive essays given below:

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1. For and Against Discursive Essays

In this type of essay, a specific topic is assigned to the students, who are asked to provide supporting and opposing ideas. In other words, the students have to write about the positive and negative aspects of this topic. Writing this kind of academic paper requires hard work and practice from the students, especially when you cannot give a biased perspective and only talk through the facts.

The structure of all discursive essays remains the same. The introduction describes the topic's significance, and the body states the opposing and supporting perspectives about it. Last but not least, the conclusion part is responsible for summarising the topic ideas.

2. Opinion Discursive Essays

The most famous type of discursive essay is the opinion essay. An opinion essay is a formal academic paper where you clearly state your opinion on the topic. You also provide different arguments, perspectives, and reasons for your opinion and support them with evidence or examples. The process looks like this:

You decide on a topic, present your opinion, provide evidence to support your arguments, and then, before you conclude, you present the counter-argument on the topic. You can use opinion words like “in my opinion”, “I believe”, etc., only in conclusions.

The structure of the opinion essay also remains the same: the introduction, body, and conclusion. However, the role of the body and conclusion changes a bit compared to the for-and-against essay; the body carries the opinion and supporting materials, while the conclusion provides the counterargument and summary of the essay.

3. Essays Suggesting Solutions to Problems

Essays that present solutions for particular problems basically examine issues related to the problem, propose potential solutions, and inform readers of expected outcomes.  The personal opinion of the student should also be mentioned in the conclusion or even in the introduction section.

While writing the suggested solutions to problems type of essays, make sure to mention the issue and its causes first, then state the solutions and results which can be expected. The core structure of the essay remains the same with an introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs, but the logical hierarchy will be changed.

Your introduction will state the problem you are going to discuss, its consequences, or, in other words, how this issue is worth discussing. The body paragraphs will carry the solutions to that problem; you can only discuss one solution in each paragraph and its expected outcomes. Last but not least, the conclusion section will summarise ideas discussed in your essay and your personal opinion.

Type of Essays Which Can Be Discursive

Well, these are two types of essays which can be discursive and are misunderstood as the type of discursive essays. Remember, these are separate essay types that can be written in a discursive writing style.

Argumentative Essays

Just like discursive essays, argumentative essays also provide information and evidence for both sides of the topic, the supporting and the counter side. But in an argumentative essay, you build an argument and try to convince the reader of your opinion by using rhetorical techniques like the Toulmin and Rogerian models.

However, in some cases, students are asked to write an argumentative essay using a discursive writing method, which is called an argumentative discursive essay.

Persuasive Essay

Similar to the discursive and argumentative essay, the goal of persuasive essay writing is also to provide information for and against the argument. Still, the persuasive essay tends to persuade and convince the reader of the writer’s opinion. So, the fundamental difference between discursive writing and persuasive essays is the purpose behind writing them.

Because of the resemblance in the structuring and styling of both, students confuse them. But if you observe the purpose and writing style of both, you can easily differentiate. A persuasive essay is considered the most difficult type of essay to write; you need to incorporate rhetorical devices and persuasion techniques to make it impressive. If you lack persuasion skills, get essay writing help from professional writers of The Academic Papers UK because persuasiveness is not something you can learn in hours or even days.

How to Write a Discursive Essay?

Here comes the most critical section of our guide, where we will discuss how you can write a practical discursive essay step by step. Let’s find out:

Introduction

The introduction section of essays is the most important section, but at the same time, the most underestimated one too. The introduction not only sets the tone of the writing but also helps to engage the reader and give them reasons to continue reading the entire paper.

We have compiled some introduction best practices for you, let’s have a look:

1. Hold your reader's attention with an interesting hook.
2. Use rhetorical questions or quotations to make it engaging.
3. So, now you have the attention of your reader, state the problem/topic you will be discussing in your essay.
4. State both sides of the issue for which you are going to provide arguments.
5. Sum up with an intriguing fact or question.

Note: Where you are putting so much effort into making your writing compelling, avoiding generalisations and stereotypes can also help.

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs section of any essay is equally essential and most challenging to write part of an essay. You need to build your argument and provide supporting and opposing perspectives and evidence to that point of view.

This is where the fortune of your essay lies. The introduction section will only compel the readers to read your entire paper, but it is the body section that convinces the examiners to give you good grades. So, you need to be very careful and think critically.

We have gathered best practices of the body section as well to help you write a winning discursive essay. Here they are:

1. You must stay unbiased and objective while writing the supporting and counter-arguments about the issue.
2. Don't indulge your personal opinions or feelings.
3. Write separate paragraphs for each of your arguments.
4. Provide the evidence in the same paragraph in which you are writing your perspective.
5. Use the alternate approach while writing your essay, like writing one paragraph supporting the statement and the next one opposing the idea to keep the coherence of the arguments and remain neutral.
6. To start each paragraph, writing the synopsis of the ideas you will discuss will enhance the reader's understanding.
7. Keep the flow of the text and avoid abruption.

Remember, you need to provide evidence of each claim so it does not seem like you are making up the facts.

Conclusion Paragraph

The section is of the same importance as the introduction paragraph. A concluding paragraph will help you emphasise the solutions you provided and leave an impact on the reader. Your reader will remember the whole essay based on how well you conclude your writing. You need to summarise the main ideas and arguments of the essay and ask the reader to draw their own conclusions.

When you ask the reader to think of the conclusion, they begin to think about your essay, and that’s a win for you as a student. Here are the best things to do in this section:

1. Summarise the arguments effectively.
2. Hold back yourself from giving your opinion (it's difficult, though)
3. Remember to paraphrase the ideas and avoid repeating the same wording.
4. Ask rhetorical questions to make the reader judge your arguments.

Remembering and using these practices in your discursive essay will help you write an interesting one and enhance your chances of getting good marks.

What Is the Suggested Structure of a Discursive Essay?

We have discussed the essay's structure throughout this article. It should start with an introduction, provide supporting and opposing arguments in the body paragraphs, and then summarise the paper in the conclusion paragraph. Here is a visual representation of the suggested structure according to best practices.

What Techniques Are Used in Discursive Writing?

Here are some particular techniques suggested to use in discursive writing and to make it engaging and connect with the reader.

Here are some advanced techniques to win the examiner's attention:

1. Logical Reasoning: It’s the most effective technique to build a convincing and coherent argument.
2. Emotional and Empathic Appeal: Building an emotional connection and discussing shared feelings to win empathy is another technique that sounds familiar to the audience.
3. Rhetorical Devices: While you cannot emphasise a certain side of the argument, you can use rhetorical devices like metaphors and analogies to make it appealing to the reader.
4. Testimonies and Quotes: This will help you prove both supporting and counter-arguments, and you will not sound like making up things yourself.

These are the most crucial strategies, and we hope they will help you achieve your goals.

Conclusion

To conclude the discussions, we can say discursive writing is quite a new type of writing as compared to other types, which makes it hard for the students to get a true understanding and information about it. This guide will help you understand discursive writing and how you can write your winning discursive essays.

Through this guide, we also tried to clear the misconceptions about discursive writing caused by many online sources. We have also covered the main objective, features, and genres of discursive writing and the types of discursive essays. Following the best practices discussed above for writing each section can make your audience emotionally connected to your discursive essay. This emotional connection can end up making your paper impress the examiners. However, if you are looking for utmost perfection, that can be availed only if you hire professional essay help online.

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