Organizing Ideas in Discursive Writing

Poll

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Ch. 3.2 Exploring issues through Discursive Writing​ Lesson D p. 147-153

Organizing Ideas

Open Ended

How do you organize your ideas when you write en essay?

​Handling Perspectives

• ​A discursive essay present reasons which represent a variety of different perspectives.

• ​Challenge in Organizing Ideas: how to share multiple points of view without being contradictory or indecisive

​Strategies for organizing the discursive body

• ​X - benefits / advantage

• ​Y - drawbacks/ disadvantage

• ​XY, XY - used to weigh one opposing view against another in a single paragraph

  • ​use transitions to show connections between sentences

  • ​separate reasons (perspectives) into larger categories or themes to demonstrate clearer distinction between points

​Example for XY,XY strategy

• ​used topic sentence to set up a debate of ideas within the same paragraph

• ​mentioned the thoughts of 'supporters' and 'opponents' rather than the writer's own views

• used ​transitions to signal change of direction

​Importance of Topic Sentence

• ​THESIS - key to an essay

• ​TOPIC SENTENCE - gives clear shape to the essay's structure, signalling where the discussion will go next.

• ​Use transitions to direct perspectives

Multiple Choice

Effective use of topic sentences helps you avoid discussions that sound confused or indecisive.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

XYXY pattern positions two opposing viewpoints against one another in two paragraphs.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

To use XYXY pattern effectively, a writer must split-up perspectives into broader themes to make clearer distinctive points.

• True

• False

​Strategies for organizing the discursive body

• ​X,X,Y,Y

• ​X,Y,X,Y

• ​ideas are developed in separate paragraphs

• ​these strategies depends on your ability to create seamless transitions between paragraphs

• ​there is no set formula for discursive essay - you can use a combination of these strategies

• ​You can have as many ideas in favour or against an issue.

• ​Points on each side DO NOT need to be balanced.

• ​An unbalanced essay is NOT necessarily weak.

• ​Give objective consideration to a range of perspectives.

• ​The following would either be acceptable:

  • ​three reasons in favour, two against

  • ​five reasons in favour, one against

Multiple Choice

Using word count limits in essays as an indication of length is better than focusing on the number of paragraphs.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Not all essays require you to give the benefits and drawbacks.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

You have to use the same number of ideas on each side of an issue.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Variables X and Y provide greater cohesion by making it more explicit or signaling how ideas relate to one another.

• True

• False