It was two years ago when the infamous trio of ‘persuasive, discursive and creative texts’ entered the NSW syllabus. Discursive texts were unfamiliar and foreign to many then and also now. To this day, because of its high degree of creative flexibility, many still find themselves puzzling over how exactly to write a good discursive. However, it is not only Year 12s who have to write discursives. School assessments that require discursive writing appear even from Year 7, which is why it is very important to understand how to approach this form.

What is a ‘discursive’?

NESA defines discursive writing as

“Discursive texts explore an idea or a variety of topics. These texts involve the discussion of an idea(s) or opinion(s) without the direct intention of persuading the reader, listener or viewer to adopt any single point of view. Discursive texts can be humorous or serious in tone and can have a formal or informal register.”

In simpler terms, discursive writing

• Explores more than one perspective
• Encourages the audience to adopt their own viewpoint
• Has a high degree of flexibility in terms of style and tone

What types of discursive texts will I have to write?

 

Type 1: Discursive writing in response to an idea about metafiction or the value of literature, usually presented in the form of a quote.

These questions are more commonly given in exams, especially in the trials. Whilst they are more commonly presented in the form of a quote, the stimulus could also be an image, picture or long excerpt.”

E.g. “Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighbourhood can stand for everything.”

Use this quote as a stimulus for a piece of discursive writing in which you explore how good writing can open our minds.

Type 2: Discursive writing in response to a prescribed text.

These are more common in school assignment tasks where students can complete the discursive writing piece at their own leisurely pace.

E.g. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” – Charlotte Bronte. Use this quote as a stimulus for a piece of discursive writing that expresses your perspective about a significant concern or idea that you have engaged with The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

And others…

There are many more types of questions that might appear. These two are the most common and it’s best to be well acquainted with them before going into an exam.  At JP English, we help students prepare for curve ball exam questions by scheduling time in lessons to unpack past HSC questions and also our own questions written by state ranking tutors.

How to approach discursive writing tasks

Let’s take the first question as an example.

E.g. “Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighbourhood can stand for everything.”

Use this quote as a stimulus for a piece of discursive writing in which you explore how good writing can open our minds.

Step 1: Analyse the question

For these types of questions, the best way to approach it is to first identify what the metafictive idea is. Pinpoint it in your own words. Here, students are asked to explore how literature provides an impetus for internal reflection on our perception of the world.

Next, take notice of any metaphors or symbolism used. In this particular example, there is the symbolism of the overturned tricycle which represents how although seemingly meaningless on its own, words can have meaning if put into the right context by both the reader and composer.

Step 2: Introduction

Module C is unique in that it requires your honest perspective on the stimulus. What better way to do that than a personal anecdote? Make sure it is unique, captivating and original. Perhaps end your introduction with a series of thought-provoking rhetorical questions that could become the basis for your arguments.

Here’s an example of a personal anecdote which is intimate and personal but not too colloquial:

“My first hours with the spiky words of T.S. Eliot’s ‘‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’’ are fixed in a precise location: the cluttered space of my teenage bedroom floor. It’s 1982. The light is low. The parquet tiles are coming unglued. Album covers — Talking Heads, David Bowie, the Clash — fan out around me, and an array of paperbacks sprawl among a week’s discarded clothes. I begin to read…’’

(From The New York Times Magazine, August 2015 edition)

Not only is it engaging, it is also packed with powerful language techniques (which you can then analyse in your reflection task). The varying sentence lengths, the allusions to popular culture and the quirky description of Eliot’s poetry as ‘spiky’ create the sense of introspection and intimacy – laying down the perfect undertone to explore ‘how good writing can open our minds’.

Just to illustrate how discursive texts can vary in style and tone, here’s an introduction that is more light-hearted but still extensively interrogates the value of literature.

“What if somebody’s heart has been broken one time too many? What if this person – it could be me, or it might just as well be you – has being stupid with sadness? What if she can’t sit still or concentrate for more than twenty seconds at a stretch? What if the part of her mind that used to grasp structure and form has suddenly lost its grip? What if the whole world of literature looks like a burnt-out landscape? What use to such a person is the mighty cataract of books that’s forever crashing down, blotting out the sunlight and choking the universe? Is there anything she can salvage from what she’s read in the past that will be of any use to her whatsoever?”.

(From Helen Garner’s ‘Looking for something to read’)

Notice how the cumulation of rhetorical questions evolves from a seemingly irrelevant opening to a reflection of why literature should be valued. This mirrors the overturned tricycle in the stimulus – seemingly irrelevant but once put into the right context ‘can stand for everything’.

Step 4: Developing Arguments and Perspectives

For the body of your discursive, examine two to three different perspectives. Common perspectives you could explore relating to the value of literature include:

• A Personal Perspective: You’ve all probably heard of this one – literature offers individuals an escape out of reality. This is a very overused perspective, but you can make it more nuanced (e.g., by saying that its uncanny semblance to reality actually shakes us out of our disillusionment sometimes.). Whatever you do, make sure you develop your own opinions about the value of literature and answer the stimulus.

• A Social Perspective: Whilst it is doubtless that literature can resonate deeply with a reader’s emotions, what more can they achieve? Industrialism still pervaded despite numerous critiques on it in the modernist era. It took a whole set of social variables to be fulfilled (technological advancements, government policies) to change social discourse. So, the question is, to what extent does literature influence society and does it actually alter the course it takes?
• A Literary Perspective: The postmodern perspective that meaning is primarily derived from the reader’s interpretation of a text. Thus, the value of literature lies not in the composer’s intentions, but how it resonates with the reader’s experiences and context.

Which techniques should I use?

The short answer is ‘as many as possible’. In fact, all our tutoring students are given an extensive technique booklet upon enrolling to make this process smoother. Some that you should definitely consider include:

• Personal anecdotes – to show personal understanding and introspection
• Allusions to popular culture – relevance to contemporary society and how the stimulus/prescribed text is relevant beyond the context in which it was written/said
• Rhetorical questions – challenges the audience about their assumptions and also to show introspection
• Irony, sarcasm and humour – for entertainment
• A cyclical structure – to depict growth, maturation and continuous reflection

Popular mistakes made by students

• Waffling without proper ideas or points.
• Informal doesn’t mean unsophisticated. You can be relevant/personal and sophisticated at the same time. Don’t overuse teenage slangs or language that is too colloquial.
• Writing a persuasive instead of a discursive. Don’t just explore one side of the topic. Navigate the subject matter from a variety of perspectives.
• Writing an essay instead of a discursive. Students achieve this by being too rigid with their structure and inflexible with their language.
• Not answering the question. Flexibility doesn’t mean you can talk about any topic you desire. Make sure you address the contents of the question. 

At JP English Specialist Tuition, our tutors make sure that students are well equipped with the knowledge of how to write discursives starting from Year 7.