Here are resources on how to write a discursive essay.
In a discursive essay, you may not be discussing texts, but rather ideas or things – for instance, an advertisement, political system, or a type of sneaker. This means that some paragraphs will need to be longer than others, depending on the idea you’re discussing.
Many students get confused by these terms because they share many overlaps. Simply put, discursive essays and argumentative essays fall under the umbrella term, or the genre, of expository essays. An expository is a genre of writing that presents an analysis on a topic and provides sound evidence to support the writer’s ideas. In addition, because a discursive essay will want you to discuss things from an objective point of view, but also include your anecdotal experiences, you may find that your anecdotes are shorter than your discussion of ideas. There should only be one main concept discussed in each paragraph. This will give the essay focus and direction throughout. Additionally, being succinct makes one’s audience easier to read. It is crucial to remember that every paragraph in the essay’s body must logically relate to the thesis statement in the introduction. The thesis statement will be directly supported in some paragraphs by research-based data. It is crucial to clarify how and why the evidence backs up the theory (warrant). In recent years, “What is your opinion?” and “What are your views?” are common signposts used to indicate a discursive essay topic. However, there are also instances where such questions are not used. Consider: Argumentative: you are required to take an explicit stand on the issue. Your essay is structured in a manner that argues towards this stand. When writing an argumentative essay, your goal is to persuade, to convince the reader to be in support of your stand. Argumentative essays, however, should also consider and clarify various viewpoints on the subject. Students should devote one or two paragraphs of an argumentative essay, depending on the length of the assignment, to discussing opposing views on the subject. Students could indicate how opinions that do not agree with their thesis might not be well-informed or might be outdated rather than stating how they are categorically incorrect.
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To support the thesis statement and consider alternative points of view, the argumentative essay needs content that has been thoroughly researched, accurate, precise, and current. The argument should be supported by empirical, rational, statistical, or anecdotal evidence. However, when gathering evidence, students must take into account other viewpoints. A successful and well-rounded argumentative essay will also examine views that conflict with the thesis, as mentioned in the paragraph above. Excluding data that might not support the argument is immoral. The student’s role is to illustrate how other perspectives might not be knowledgeable or current on the subject, not to demonstrate how they are flat-out incorrect.
that discursive essays can also include the following features:
You’re almost done with your writing, I suppose. You should now concentrate on the final segment. If you continue reading, you will discover how to create a conclusion for a discursive essay.
You’ll find examples of discursive writing in publications like:
When you write a persuasive essay, you are given a specific question. With a discursive essay, you may not have a question at all. Instead, your discursive tasks might come in different forms:
Some effective ways to start discursive essays are:
Because of the nature of discursive essays, you won’t be analysing and unpacking a question like you would for a persuasive essay. Instead, you’ll need to research and explore different ideas or subjects.
What do I do once I’ve got a second draft of my discursive essay?
Discursive essays discuss a problem, a point of contention, or a current issue. This essay can be written in an informal or formal style, but it’s usually written that way. This kind of essay requires writing material for many schools and institutions to assess applicants’ and students’ writing, conceptualization, and analytical abilities.