Summary LO IEB Discursive Essay Notes

DISCURSIVE ESSAY NOTES
[300 to 400 words]

- Argue for and against the topic- balanced view
- Essentially a debate
- Bold – essay topic

FORMAL STYLE
- Formal and Impersonal Style (Third Person, Present tense, Avoid
Pronouns)
- No emotion
- Write without bias NB!
- No contractions, no contradicting (Like you are speaking on behalf
of a group of people)
- Be specific (No ‘thing’, ‘stuff’, ‘people’ etc) – specific, brief and give
a generous amount of information
- Sound credible (No ‘seem to be’, ‘possible problems’, ‘a bunch’,
‘perhaps’ etc)
- Avoid redundancy, get to the point – precise writing (Quality over
quantity)

PLANNING

FOR AGAINST

TOPIC

INTRODUCTION (4 marks)
How does this statement affect society?
What is the importance of taking this into regard?

- Adopt a clear position in your essay, STANCE!
To a greater extent… (which would be the side I agree with)
However, to a lesser extent…
- Introduce the topic to the reader- brief overview
- Make sure the marker knows you understand the statement/topic
- Prepares the reader for what is going to happen in the essay

BODY
E.g., Source A (for and against)
Source B (for and against)
Source C (for and against)
*3 sources = 3 paragraphs
- Focus on the themes in sources which will guide arguments
- One main idea and its opposing point = 1 paragraph (Each source =
New Paragraph)