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Discursive Writing | Another Look

CJ — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:51:09 +0000

To understand discursive writing, think about why we write in the first place. It is a method of communication and manipulation. When one writes, one hopes to convince the reader of a concept. The aim is to educate the reader.

Mental skills are necessary for understanding concepts. In order to write so your reader understands, you must deliver information in a way they can use those mental facilities—observational, analytical, analogous, etcetera.—so your reader can then classify and remember the information. That is successfully accomplished using discursive writing.

It is interesting how the word “discourse” (from whence we get “discursive”) comes to us. Traced back from the Latin to French, it means, literally, “to run back and forth.” Which, in the case of writing, means to give your readers a thorough look at both sides of an idea, primarily by stating one side, then the other and back to the original premise.

Thus, you can organize your article in three ways: extolling the “pro” side, the “con” side, or both pro’s and con’s of your subject in a balanced way.

To write discursively means to give valid points for the education of your reader. There are 4 types of discursive writing:

Explanation – This type of article is designed to tell the “why” or “what happened” of the subject.
Argument –An attempt to convince the reader about the subject.
Description – Answers the questions, “how is it what is it?” Gives qualities or properties indemic to the subject.
Definition – Announces the nature of the subject. Answers “what it is?”

Planning To Write The Discursive Article

Write an interesting introduction that clearly indicates your stance (are you ‘for’ or ‘against’ ?).
Give your first point, with supporting evidence, followed by second, third and any subsequent points.
Tell the “other side of the story,” delivering points in such a fashion as to indicate what others believe, i.e., “Some would have you believe…” “Moreover, others feel that…” etcetera.
Restate your position, reiterating your points (without repeating them verbatim).
Draw to a conclusion and end your article.

With these points in mind, it should be easier for you to understand what you need to deliver to your reader in order to convince them that your point is valid, and ultimately lead them to the action you wish to produce in them, whether to read further, or to purchase a product, or believe a certain way. Keep these points in mind when planning to write your next article and you will be successful.

Articles in English Grammar–Do You Know When To Use Them?

CJ — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:28:48 +0000

In English grammar, an article is a non-descriptive, limiting word. It cannot be used alone, but is always joined to a substantive word to denote a particular thing, or a group or class of things, or any individual of a group or class. Articles are either definite or indefinite.

The is a definite article, since it points out a particular individual, or group, or class.
An or a is the indefinite article, because it refers to any one of a group or class of things.

An and a are different forms of the same word. Ordinarily an is used before vowel sounds, and a before consonant sounds.

Remember that a vowel sound does not necessarily mean beginning with a vowel, nor does consonant sound mean beginning with a consonant, because English spelling does not coincide closely with the sound of words.

Some examples:
a house—one among many. As opposed to the house, which indicates a particular house.
an orange
a European
an honor
a yelling crowd

Many writers use an before h, even when not silent, when the word is not accented on the first syllable:
An historian
An heroic act.
an hereditary disposition.
An habitual liar.

The 4 Choices of Discursive Writing

CJ — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:52:05 +0000

When beginning a writing project, one of the steps in your process might be to decide just what “voice” to use in your next post/article/missive. And in this case, by “voice” I mean in terms of what the article is meant to do. Is it an explanation? Is it a definition piece? Do you have a strong case for, or against, something and want to convince your reader?

While it is not critical to know which voice you want to write from, sometimes–when you are “stuck”–it is helpful to go back to basics. Start your writing process from a simpler level by asking yourself what kind of article am I writing? What am I trying to say and how do I want to say it?

There are 4 choices of direction from which your article can be written:

Argument: An attempt to convince someone about a subject. Answers “why”
Explanation: Gives the reason of subject. Answers “what happened”
Definition: Gives the nature of the subject. Answers “what”
Description: Gives the nature/qualities of subject. Answers “what is”

Argument: This type of writing is meant to convince the reader FOR the case being stated. It is about convincing someone that a stated proposition is correct. You are attempting to persuade someone to believe that your conclusion is the correct one and to take the further action you suggest, whether to make a decision about a subject, make a purchase or believing a certain way about something. In order to succeed, you should present more than one reason for asking your readers to believe what you are saying.

Explanation: What this is should be fairly obvious. An explanation tells why something you are writing about is what you are saying it is. By giving examples, or the sequence of events leading up to your proposition, or, why “this” instead of “that,” you are leading your reader to come to an informed decision.

There are 3 parts to an explanation:
1. Identify the subject you are explaining.
2. Tell what could have happened leading up to your conclusion.
3. Describe how the outcome came to be, and not some other outcome.

Definition: identifies meaning.
There are 2 parts to a definition: the concept being defined and propositions you are setting forth that do the defining.
Writing a definition article can be done in a couple of different ways.
1. Using words and concepts.
2. By giving a name to something you can point to or describe.
3. Define something indirectly, by giving examples.

Description: A description gives information about the subject of your article. Sentences in your description will describe events, state of being or other some such propostions about your subject and then ascribe a property, or element, to that subject.

The shape of the subject in question, or the current standards of the subject, even down to its unary properties—color, taste, etcetera. (pertaining to a function whose domain is a given set and whose range is contained in that set – http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unary) are all ways of describing your subject.

This is just a rough outline, but, when you are beginning a writing project, sometimes “back to the basics” is the best first step. HOW do you want to say whatever it is you want to say? Choose one from the list above and move to the next step in your process.

You might also want to read this post >> About Discursive Writing.

Writing The Succesful Article

CJ — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:24:47 +0000

What’s the trick to writing good, quality articles? Sure, you can spell and you might even be good at grammar, but what does it take to write well AND capture your reader’s attention?

I assure you, one does not necessarily infer the other. Just because you’ve written something and you feel you have done a good job, does NOT automatically mean it will capture and hold your reader’s attention.

Besides good content, here are some shortcuts and simple tricks to getting and holding your readers’ attention:

The Headline
1. The first thing you need to do is capture the reader’s attention with a headline that will make the reader do a double take. Check this post for more on writing an attention-grabbing headline.

Quality Content
2. There is an order to writing:

First comes the introduction paragraph, where you will sum up what your article is promising to deliver.
Second, the main body of the article is where all the pertinent information is presented.
Third, your final paragraph should summarize what your article just told your reader.

The Resource Box
3. And finally, at the end of your article, you should write a little about yourself or cite your sources. Whatever you type there, be sure to include a “Call To Action” along with your link to induce your readers to visit your web space.

But There’s More!
If your reader clicks on your article to read it and is immediately greeted with one huge paragraph, they will click away without even reading. I guarantee it.

Use lots of White Space. Break up your article into as many, much smaller chunks–paragraphs of about 2 or 3, maybe 4 sentences. Positively not much more than that.

Also, consider using bullet points in your article. Readers LOVE to skim. If you can give them the information they want in small chucks they can easily read and ingest, they will be very likely to go back and read a little closer.

Sub-Headers Are Golden
Since you’re going to divide your article into smaller paragraphs anyway, use a sub-header (in bold). It provides the scanning reader a little more to scan and ingest.

The bottom line is, today’s readers are in a hurry. Make it as easy for them to scan your article, find bits of information they want, thereby being hooked and following through by reading your article in full, at which point they may be induced to visit your website.

That’s how writing a good article for the purpose of article marketing is accomplished. Take a look at this blog post, for instance. Scan it, as though you just arrived (perhaps that’s exactly what you did when you got here?). Do you see how the use of white space, short, bulleted and sub-headlined paragraphs made this post easier to read? If you scanned, did you pick up enough information to make you want to read a little deeper? That is your goal.

What You Almost Learned In School – 2

CJ — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:58:24 +0000

Words you need to know

Here’s the thing, we all would like to make good money by writing. There are as many different ways to write for the Internet as there are people doing it. Assuming you are involved in some kind of Internet marketing, you are going to have to do at least a little bit of free text copy writing or, more personal, blog posts.

Whatever your reason for being here, if you need to write for the Internet, then you are trying to attract readers. Readers appreciate not having to stumble over your words to gain your meaning, so make your writing flow as smoothly as possible, for their/there/they’re sakes.
(Homework: Which one should I have used?) -(Thanks, Jo! You are right, of course! I missed this!)

I have seen more newbies fail at the task of looking professional than I care to mention, and the first place (after bad graphics) that exposes their “freshness” is their copy. More, they might actually know the difference, but in their haste to finish the work, may have easily overlooked the there–their–they’re mistake in the proofreading (it’s amazing how easy it is to overlook a misused antonym).

So, do whatever it takes to remember the difference in these words and when they can properly be used.

Definitions:

They’re – Contraction of two words, they and are.
Their – Indicates possession. “Their hard drive is filled to the last gigabyte with free ebooks.”
There – Indicates position. “The batteries are over there.”

Accept or Except! Do or Do not, there is no try.

1. Except for major blunders, most readers will accept a few misused words, but the expectation is that you express excellence in everything you offer them, else how can they build a trusting relationship with you?

2. Accept for major blunders, most readers will except a few misused words, but the expectation is that you express excellence in everything you offer them, else how can they build a trusting relationship with you?

(Homework: Which sentence above is correct?)

Definitions:

Except – Exclusion. Except for major blunders, readers will accept…
Accept – To take or receive, to regard as normal, suitable, or usual.

And, finally, its versus it’s.

This one is extremely easy to remember.

It’s is a contraction of the 2 words, “it” and “is.” “It’s raining again!”