How to do Discursive and Persuasive Writing

Discursive Writing presents: 

• Both sides of the argument- you’re not trying to convince your reader 

Persuasive writing presents: 

• One side of an argument where you are trying to convince the reader to agree with you

Key writing techniques for Discursive and Persuasive writing: 

Writers may, for example, use: 

• Point of view (eg first person, third person limited, third person omniscient) 
• Contrast 
• Juxtaposition 
• Choice of diction 
• Choice of imagery 
• Anecdotes (personal stories that engage the listener)
• Language patterns 
• Rhythm 
• Order of words/ideas etc 
• Euphemism (a mild or indirect word used to substitute a harsher one)
• Humour 
• Tone eg. satirical, passionate, inspirational, disillusioned

Distinguishing between Low Modality and High Modality

Modality is the selection of words used to express how definite we are about something. We can be uncertain about something (low modality), or extremely certain about something (high modality). It is used when we are discussing points of views, perspectives, or opinions. 

For discursive writing, we use low modality as we are:

• • Providing multiple perspectives

• Not trying to convince the reader

E.g. “Perhaps I shall anger some poets by implying that the poem is proud. The poem, too, can include everything, they will tell me… I really don’t think poems should be all that chaste. I would, I think, even concede a toothbrush, if the poem was a real one.” (Sylvia Plath, A Comparison, 1962)

For persuasive writing, we use high modality as we are:

• Providing a singular perspective
• Trying to convince the reader

E.g. “I speak to you today out of necessity. We are all here today not because we want to be here, but because we have to be here.” (Britanny Higgins speech at the Women’s March, 2021)

1. Write a sentence using low modality:

1. Write a sentence using high modality:

Discursive & Persuasive Writing: Exercises

1. Determine if any examples are found in a discursive or persuasive piece. Why? (Tip: Consider modality for discursive and persuasive writing.)
2. Create your own example for a discursive and persuasive text.

Anecdote is a personal story that is short, amusing or interesting. It is mainly used to engage a reader and to provide information on the author’s background and realistic examples of the topic of choice.

• Example 1: “I find it very hard to read my books after they’re published. I’ve never read White Teeth. Five years ago I tried; I got about ten sentences in before I was overwhelmed with nausea.” (Zadie Smith, That Crafty Feeling, 2008)

• Example 2: “If you’d come across me in the autumn of 1979, you might have had some difficulty placing me, socially or even racially. I was then 24 years old. My features would have looked Japanese, but unlike most Japanese men seen in Britain in those days, I had hair down to my shoulders, and a drooping bandit-style moustache.” (Kazuo Ishiguro, My Twentieth Century Evening – and Other Small Breakthroughs, 2017)

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.

• Example 1: “Land rights would have been dead, there would never have been a Mabo case in 1992, there would have been no Native Title Act under Prime Minister Keating in 1993.” (Noel Pearson, Eulogy for Gough Whitlam, 2014)

• Example 2: “So you honor the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into orbit. You honor, once again, Chief Lutuli of South Africa, whose struggles with and for his people, are still met with the most brutal expression of man’s inhumanity to man. You honor the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth.” (Martin Luther King Jr, Acceptance Speech, 1964)

Hypophora consists of raising one or more questions and then proceeding to answer them, usually at some length. A common usage is to ask the question at the beginning of a paragraph and then use that paragraph to answer it: 

• Example 1: “Thirty-one cakes, dampened with whiskey, bask on window sills and shelves. Who are they for? Friends. Not necessarily neighbor friends: indeed, the larger share is intended for persons we’ve met maybe once, perhaps not at all. People who’ve struck our fancy. Like President Roosevelt.” (Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory)
• Example 2: “There is a striking and basic difference between a man’s ability to imagine something and an animal’s failure… Where is it that the animal falls short? We get a clue to the answer, I think, when Hunter tells us…” Jacob Bronowski

Tricolon is a rhetorical term that consists of three parallel clauses, phrases, or words, which happen to come in quick succession without any interruption. It provides rhythm, balance and engagement for the reader.

• Example 1: “And when the night grows dark, when injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, when our best-laid plans seem beyond our reach” (Barack Obama speaks in Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela, December, 10, 2013) 

• Example 2: “Sally is decent, Sally is cool, Sally knows the score” (‘What time is it now where you are’ Colum McCann)

Other effective techniques for discursive and persuasive writing

Parallelism is recurrent syntactical similarity. Several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed similarly to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance. Parallelism also adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence.

Antithesis the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences (as in “action, not words” or “they promised freedom and provided slavery”). Adds balance and rhythm and, most importantly, clarity to the sentence in conveying a contradictory idea.

Asyndeton consists of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items, asyndeton gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous rather than a labored account:

• On his return he received medals, honours, treasures, titles, fame.

Polysyndeton is the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus structurally the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton, however, often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up.

• They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.

(Additional Notes on rhetorical devices references from https://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm)

HSC Marker Tip: 

See if you can do a discursive or persuasive piece on the process of writing itself, the nature of art, or the importance of stories. 

Here is an example mentioned above from ‘Explained’

• “! To exclamation point or to not exclamation point?” https://www.netflix.com/watch/80243761?trackId=200257859 

• Article “The linguistics of mass persuasion”  https://daily.jstor.org/the-linguistics-of-mass-persuasion-how-politicians-make-fetch-happen/ 

Before you start to write:

Checklist to follow in your planning time:

1. What issue are you addressing- have a CLEAR idea of what you’re arguing or responding to.
2. What are your two sides (for discursive) or subjective side (for persuasive).
3. How does it link back to your set text?
4. How does it link back the given stimulus?