Essay writing is an essential skill that helps students communicate their thoughts and persuade their audience. These skills extend beyond academic requirements. To polish these skills, students must write different types of essays, including discursive and persuasive ones.
Mastering discursive essays is crucial because this type of essay is not just an academic exercise but also helps students build their analytical and persuasive skills by examining a subject from all angles.
However, discursive essays can be intricate, and students should know how to craft compelling essays that provide insight.
What is a Discursive Essay?
A discursive essay is a type of essay that discusses topics from various viewpoints, hence the name. The essay aims to provide a balanced analysis by exploring different points of view and opinions. The purpose of discursive essays is to foster critical thinking in the student.
There are different types of essays, such as opinion essays proposing solutions to problems and for and against essays. For the student, it’s important to understand the purpose of the discursive essay in the English class to better understand the approach they should take.
Types of Discursive Essays
There are three preliminary types of discursive essays. However, some essays can also be written in discursive style but are not necessarily discursive in nature.
The primary types of discursive include the following:
For and Against Discursive Essays
With this type of discursive essay, students are assigned a topic and asked to provide support and opposing opinions and ideas. The student has to write about the topic’s positive and negative aspects. This type of writing requires extra effort from the student and may take more practice, especially because the student cannot be biased and must only address the topic through facts.
Opinion Discursive Essays
This is the most common type of discursive essay. It is a formal academic paper requiring students to clearly state their opinions on a topic. The student also provides different arguments, perspectives, and reasons for their opinions and supports them with evidence and examples.
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The process of this essay might be slightly different. It starts with the student picking a topic and presenting their opinion, providing evidence to support their arguments, and then, before concluding, presenting the counterargument on the topic. In this type of essay, the student is allowed to use words like “In my opinion,” “I believe,” and other similar statements in the conclusion.
Essays Suggesting Solutions to Problems
Essays that present solutions for particular problems examine the issues related to the problem, propose possible solutions, and inform the reader of the expected outcomes. The student’s personal opinion should also be mentioned in the conclusion or even in the introduction section.
When writing this type of essay, the student must mention the issue and its causes first and then state the solutions and results which can be expected. The core structure of the essay is largely the same, but the logical hierarchy changes.
Discursive Essay Structure
While there are different types of discursive essays, they all follow a similar structure. The structure is straightforward but essential. It should include a quick, captivating introduction, body, and cohesive conclusion.
The introduction should set the tone for the topic and clearly state your stance or indicate a balanced view, depending on the type of discursive essay you are required to write.
The body is the core of the essay. The paragraphs in the body build and highlight the arguments, with each paragraph dedicated to a specific aspect of the topic.
The conclusion should summarise the key points and state your final position. This structure ensures the clarity and coherence of the essay.
Writing An Introduction for a Discursive Essay
The introduction is your opportunity to captivate the reader and trigger their interest in the rest of the essay.
The best introductions avoid generalisations and cliches and instead have a thought-provoking opening. A question, surprising statistic, or relevant quote are some of the best ways to make your introduction captivating.
The ideal introduction will depend on the topic of the essay. However, you should clearly state your intention to present a balanced view representing both sides of the topic.
Writing the Body of a Discursive Essay
The essay’s body is your opportunity to build and explain your points. It is where the arguments unfold.
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The body should be divided into paragraphs, and each paragraph should be focused on a specific point. Every claim you make should be supported by evidence from reputable sources. While each paragraph should focus on a specific point, you should also maintain a smooth transition between paragraphs.
You can achieve this by using connectives like ‘similarly’, ‘equally’, or ‘on the contrary’. Clever use of conjunctions can also help you introduce new points and perspectives within the essay’s body.
When writing the body, there are a few points you should remember:
- With a discursive essay, you should stay unprejudiced. You should assess an issue’s aspects, leaving your feelings out of the essay.
- If your essay has several arguments, present them in separate paragraphs. Separating the points into different paragraphs will keep your essay comprehensible and distinct. Ensure you attach supporting evidence to each argument.
- To create that balanced opinion in your discursive essay, you must write in an alternate manner. If your first paragraph supports the paper’s argument, the second should provide an opposite opinion. This combination of supporting and opposing paragraphs will make the essay look unbiased and well-researched. It will also help you remain neutral.
- The essay should also include topic sentences and evidence. A summary of the argument should be written at the beginning of each paragraph. This will give the reader insight and help them understand the paragraph. The evidence provided shows that you’re not making up facts.
Discursive Essay Writing Tips
A few essay writing tips can improve your writing flow and make your paragraphs easier to understand. Some of the top essay writing tips you should use when writing discursive essays include the following:
- Utilise connectives: Words like however, in contrast, although and conversely, among other similar connectives, can create smooth transitions between opposing viewpoints.
- Formal language: You should maintain a formal tone throughout the essay. Avoid colloquial expressions and instead maintain academic language. Words such as “kids” should be replaced with “children.”
- Persuasive techniques: Try various persuasive techniques to sway the reader. Use vivid imagery to evoke a strong visual impact and appeal to the reader’s emotions.
Conclusion
The conclusion is equally important in the discursive essay and demands as much focus as the intro and the body.
The conclusion should summarise the article and highlight the main points in the body paragraphs. It should also logically express your opinion and resonate with your evidence in the body paragraphs. You shouldn’t repeat findings. Instead, just summarise them.
The conclusion should be short and sweet, no more than one paragraph, but packed with information.
Closing Remarks
When writing discursive essays, you should keep several important facts in mind. For instance, you shouldn’t use short forms like I’m. You should also avoid informal and colloquial language, emotional language and over-generalisations. You should also refrain from expressing your opinion too insistently, refer to statistics without proper referencing, and don’t use personal examples. These should be reserved for a personal experience essay.
