Higher English

Writing Task 3: Writing which is broadly discursive

In both persuasive and discursive writing you choose a topic (often a ‘hot topic’) to research and write about. Many features of persuasive and discursive writing are similar but in simple terms the difference is that in persuasive writing your line of thought can be heavily towards one side of the argument whereas in discursive writing you should attempt to pay attention to opposite points of view and to ‘balance’ the points you are making.

The BBC Bitesize website summarises this up very well in the new National 5 area:

Print off the word bank on page 4 and make use of it.

Stage 1: Choosing your topic

A common complaint from students is that they can think of nothing to write about. However students have to take into account that the more thought which is put into the topic and the more a student genuinely owns the point of view they are expressing chances are the better the writing will be. In other words, if you don’t really care about animal rights then don’t write about it! However if you are genuinely concerned about high tuition fees, youth unemployment, immigration, benefit scrounging, size 0 models then choose to write about those topics.

Make use of the internet here. A simple Google of ‘hot topics’ begins to create lists. However the SQA has worked with some schools to share ideas. Look these up:

Hint: make sure that you take a careful note of web pages, or pages from books you have used. You must save the exact web page. A really useful website is For example if you decide to write about whether all Primary 1 – 3 students should get free school meals then you can not write into your sources, instead you should list the exact page:

One of the requirements of the task is that you should be able to find appropriate sources and use them in your essay either by referring to them or by quoting from them exactly. Sources should be inserted into the body of your writing and then listed at the end.

Stage 2: Planning a structure

Mind map:

My Suggested Structure

1. Interesting and engaging introduction

-Questions (rule of three) then a statement.

-Statistics

-Anecdote

2. Clear statement of intent (the thesis)

3. Supporting point 1 (with evidence and / or illustration)

4. Supporting point 2

5. Supporting point 3

6. Supporting point 4 (unless you are already at 1,000 words)

7. Summary conclusion

Sources

Technical Accuracy

As you have access to the use of ICT, online dictionaries and spell checkers the SQA expects your work to be free of technical errors. You will be penalised (even to the point of an automatic fail) if there are too many errors.