hsc discursive essay examples

How to Write a Band 6 Discursive Writing Piece for HSC English Module C

Just heard about the term discursive writing from HSC English for Module C?

Whether you’re an expert or beginner at discursive writing, we’re here to help secure a Band 6 for Module C! We’ll break down exactly what discursive writing involves and how to produce a Band 6 discursive writing piece.

Keen to know more? Then keep scrolling!

What is Discursive Writing? What’s in a HSC Discursive Writing Question? How to Write a Discursive Text How to Structure Your Discursive Writing Tips for Discursive Writing Features Should You Memorise Your Discursive Writing Piece for Module C? Discursive Writing Examples Discursive Writing Example Prompt

Click to download your own copy of our Discursive Writing guide!

What is Discursive Writing?

Discursive writing definition.

NESA defines discursive writing as including: Texts whose primary focus is to explore an idea or variety of topics. These texts involve the discussion of an idea(s) or opinion(s) without the direct intention of persuading the reader, listener or viewer to adopt any single point of view. Discursive texts can be humorous or serious in tone and can have a formal or informal register.

In this article, we’ll be giving you the lowdown on all types of discursive writing.  

This encompasses forms such as creative non-fiction, travel blogs, discussion essays, speeches, personal essays and much more!

Discursive Writing for HSC

The purpose behind discursive writing is for you to engage in a deeply relatable, thought-provoking discussion by exploring multiple perspectives on a topic. It is not argumentative nor is it imaginative.

One style of writing you may not be so familiar with in HSC English Module C: The Craft of writing is  discursive writing.

Common to both Advanced and Standard English, this module assesses a student’s ability to craft effective pieces of writing in relation to a given audience and purpose.

Unlike the other modules, the focus here is not as much on what you’ve written but more so a combination of what you’ve written and how you’ve written it.

The module takes up approximately 20 hours of course time. It will be assessed in one section in English Paper 2 in the HSC external examination block held in October, through one question containing up to two parts.

Discursive Writing is a new text type to appear on the syllabus in Module C. Let’s take a quick look at a part of the rubric for this module:

Excerpt of Module C in HSC English Syllabus from NESA

Modes of Writing

From this, we can see that within this module, you will be required to write in four different text types:

Imaginative: This type of writing often takes the form of a narrative and requires you to combine plot, setting and character to craft a short story.

Discursive:  We’ll be diving into what exactly this style of writing entails in this guide!

Persuasive: This writing style aims for you to convince the reader of a particular argument or idea. It can be written in the form of an academic essay, personal essay or speech.

Informative:  When writing an informative piece, you’ll be informing the reader of a particular topic — these are most commonly written as reports, explanations or descriptions.

For more on the different text types explored in Module C, check out our article !

What’s in a HSC Discursive Writing Question?

Here’s an example from NESA’s HSC English 2019 sample paper of a discursive writing question:

As you can see, Section III of the HSC exam paper focusses upon Module C: The Craft of Writing.

The question may ask you to write a persuasive, discursive or imaginative writing piece about a significant idea you have explored in your prescribed text whilst also using a stimulus.

Let’s take a look at another discursive writing question:

The exam question for this section may also be split into part (a) and part (b) — but don’t freak out!

Part (a) will require you to write an imaginative, discursive or persuasive writing piece using the stimulus provided, as well as one technique or stylistic feature used in your prescribed text.

Part (b) involves a reflective statement which will require you to explain how your prescribed text influenced your imaginative, discursive or persuasive writing piece in part (a).

In part (b) you may also be required to explain the literary or stylistic devices you employed in your writing.

Differences Between A Regular Persuasive Essay and Discursive Writing

Scratching your head at what you should do differently for your discursive writing, check out the key differences below!

Pros and Cons of Discursive Writing

To get some extra knowledge on the form, here is a good list of the pros and cons for discursive writing!

At Art of Smart Education our expert English Tutors can support you with Discursive Writing with tailored tutoring in your home or online.

How to Write a Discursive Text

While there is no single formula or “quick fix” to get a Band 6, there are certain steps you can take to increase your chances!

That said, you won’t jump from a Band 2 to a Band 6 overnight so be prepared to invest time and effort to achieve a Band 6-level result, or as close to it as you can get.

Discursive writing can be tricky. Our tutors here at Art of Smart can help you boost your marks with expert tips and tricks! Check out the K-12 English support we can provide in Parramatta , and all across Sydney!

Use the Discursive Writing Syllabus to Your Advantage

Let’s start by revisiting the marking criteria for Module C: The Craft of Writing:

• Craft language to address the demands of the question.
• Use language appropriate to audience, purpose and context to deliberately shape meaning.

So, how might these criteria apply to a discursive piece of writing?

How to Start Your Discursive Piece

This will ultimately depend on the question so ensure you read it carefully.

Likely, you will be asked to explore a key idea or concern from one of your prescribed texts — either from Module C or another module.

You may take this literally, exploring the idea as it is presented in the prescribed text or instead, you can think laterally and consider how this idea applies to the real world, occasionally bringing in the text — or a related text — as examples.

Note that many of the key ideas and concerns encountered in your prescribed texts are quite broad and malleable , so you can twist them in any way you want.

Tip: Manipulate the Question As the focus here is on unleashing your own personal voice as a writer, it helps to be writing about something you a) are genuinely interested in and b) know a bit about. Manipulate the question as is necessary. Example You might decide to write about power — as it is a key concern in the prescribed text for the Common Module, Nineteen Eighty Four (Orwell) . Power lends itself quite easily to politics but what if you don’t want to talk about politics? Instead, you might write about the psychological power of manipulation or the importance of individual empowerment. As the marking criteria for Module C explicitly ask for language crafted to “address the demands of the question” , it is imperative that whatever you do end up writing about is something that can be related to the question — by both yourself and your marker.

Discursive Writing Examples

Here are some of our favourite pieces of discursive writing!

• Immigrating to English by Ocean Vuong
• Slouching Towards Bethelehem by Joan Didion
• Just Kids by Patti Smith
• Upstream by Mary Oliver

You can also trawl through newspapers, magazines and blogs for great examples of discursive writing:

• The Economist
• Time Magazine
• National Geographic
• The Conversation
• The Atlantic

Tip : Also check out TED talks , many of which take on a discursive style and all of which are available to view online for free . Most talks uploaded on TED’s official site also have a transcript so you can not only follow along, but also take note of how the speaker uses language to create meaning. Check out the 20 Most-Watched TED Talks !

How to Structure Your Discursive Writing

While discursive writing is not wedded to a formal structure, it helps to plan things out before you start writing. This can help to avoid confusion or a lack of clarity in your writing.

You’ll want to follow a logical, sequential structure:

Introduction – Catch your reader’s attention and introduce them to your topic – whether explicitly or implicitly.

Body – Several paragraphs in which you explore your topic in greater detail. These can be of varying lengths and the number of paragraphs is up to you.

Conclusion – Sum up your discussion and end on a reflective, thought-provoking note.

Planning your response beforehand — even if it’s some dot points crammed into the corner of the page — allows you to think deeply about how to best organise and present your ideas. For each paragraph, plan what its focus will be and which pieces of evidence you will include.

What Can You Include As Evidence in Discursive Writing?

Evidence is crucial in a discursive response as it adds legitimacy to your discussion and helps to build authenticity.

You may include, but are not limited to, the following types of evidence:

• Textual examples from prescribed texts
• Textual examples from related texts
• Personal anecdotes
• Historical events (careful not to write a history essay though!)
• References to popular culture

Do I Have to Analyse the Textual Evidence?

You can but you are not required to. This entirely depends on the nature of the question and how you prefer to answer it.

If you want your response to be focussed on texts, then some analysis may be helpful.

If you’re focussing on broader ideas or phenomena however, perhaps ease up on the techniques for now.

Tips for Discursive Writing Features

You might be thinking: Module C seems all a bit… unstructured ?

Ironically, if you think that, you’re on the right train of thought! You’ve actually understood the form excellently. It’s natural to find discursive writing a little unfamiliar, considering you’re much more used to writing in a highly-structured essay style.

Discursive writing is deliberately exploratory and personal in nature. Great discursive writer Annie Dillard sums up the form well, noting that discursive writing has “ a structure that arises from the materials and best contains them ”. The discursive writing style is highly personal and effectively you can dictate your own structure.

However, don’t let this freak you out! You can in fact use the vagueness of this form to your advantage.

Tip #1: Make your Personal Voice Engaging

Authors use literary techniques for a reason. They provide an interesting, more meaningful way of getting ideas across than just stating things outright.

Consider this example from our old mate, William Shakespeare:

“I will speak daggers to her but use none”  (Hamlet, Hamlet , Act 3 Scene 2) Cool, right? Shakespeare uses a great metaphor of daggers to convey the sharp hostility Hamlet plans to convey in speaking to his mother. Can’t get enough of it. Let’s consider the same line without any techniques : I’ll speak rudely to her but I won’t actually do anything to physically harm her.

Look, it gets the meaning across and it’s nice and direct but let’s be real — it’s boring. The daggers metaphor captures our imagination and gets us thinking whereas the rewritten, metaphor-less line simply tells us what Hamlet is planning to do, no more.

Slightly random Hamlet analysis aside, techniques such as metaphors will help bring your writing voice to life — and will sure as heck engage your reader, if used correctly.

Tip #2: Use Good Techniques in Discursive Writing

When reading your prescribed texts, take note of techniques you personally find meaningful. Not just the techniques your teacher tells you to find meaningful but ones that you actually like yourself.

Experiment with these techniques in your own writing. Loved the dagger metaphor we learnt about from Hamlet just now? Have a go at writing your own metaphor to describe the way someone speaks to another . And so on, and so forth.

Don’t just focus on your prescribed texts either. If you’re keen on a Band 6 for HSC English, you should already be engaging in regular wide reading. As you do this, take note of any cool techniques you happen upon, and have a go at creating your own.

Here’s the absolute minimum set of techniques you should be including your discursive writing: Varying sentence structure: write like you’re a human, not a robot! Tone : depending on the formality or informality of the piece, the ultimate aim is to get them so immersed that they don’t feel like they’re reading at all! Nuance:  Add in some information that goes against your argument, then disprove it — this actually makes the reader trust your opinion! Here are some fancier techniques you can include to secure that Band 6: A running symbol: especially in more creative pieces, this reminds the reader of your point of view. The symbol should evolve as your point of view evolves Hero’s Journey:  to get your reader rooting for your side, implement the hero’s journey. Write your piece as if you’re telling a story: add a call to adventure, challenges and a transformation in your discursive writing! Imagery : Want your reader to feel like they’re not reading? Get them imagining the physical surroundings of your discursive text!

You’ll likely already be doing something similar to this in your classwork for Module C.

If you don’t know your techniques well, check out our handy dandy glossary !

Tip #3: Writing in First Person is Recommended 

You can write in first or third person for discursive writing however first person is recommended as it allows you to craft a much more authentic and engaging personal voice.

Think of discursive writing almost as an extended, slightly-more-structured stream of consciousness. You’re exploring and bouncing between your thoughts on a particular topic, and doing so through a voice that is inherently and unashamedly yours.

While third person is not necessarily wrong , it runs the risk of your discursive writing reading more like a persuasive essay.

Tip #4: Get Personalised Feedback on Your Work 

Even if you’re following the best advice on how to write a piece of discursive writing, it’s likely that you’ll struggle to accurately reflect on the quality of your work. You’ve probably heard this before: “HSC English is super subjective.”  To a certain extent, this is true!

That’s why we recommend getting personalised guidance from an HSC English tutor who knows the syllabus inside and out. They can point you in the right direction and decipher your teacher’s feedback with you! That way, you’ll be able to move forward knowing that you’re doing the right things.

Should You Memorise Your Discursive Writing Piece for Module C?

In previous HSC exams, it was common practice for students to write and perfect a creative writing story, memorise that story word for word, and use it in the exam — adapting when necessary — in the hopes of a Band 6.

It seems to be heading this way with the imaginative writing component of Craft of Writing, with many students already writing and revising a story to be kept as their “safety net”.

While this can have benefits for imaginative writing, it might not play out so well for discursive writing.

The fluidity of discursive writing means that your structure and content are likely to depend almost entirely on what’s asked in the question. As you can’t predict the question, logically it is also difficult to pre-prepare a response.

Rather than rote-learning a discursive piece, it is much wiser to instead practise a range of different Module C questions using a discursive form. Have your teacher — or a tutor — read over your discursive writings and either rewrite them using their feedback, or write new responses, keeping the feedback in mind (or you can also do both).

After all, you might not even be asked to write discursively in the exam! All that time spent memorising for nothing… (same goes for imaginative writing, just sayin’…)

If you’ve already been on the lookout for practice questions, you can find a bunch in this article !

Discursive Writing Example Prompt

Now that you’re a little more familiar with discursive writing, here’s a practice question:

“I pay no attention to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings” — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Use this quote as a stimulus for a piece of discursive writing that expresses your perspective about a significant concern or idea that you have engaged with in ONE of your prescribed texts from Module C.

Have a go at this question and get feedback from your HSC English teacher and/or tutor.

And in the meantime — you can have a look at our monster list of Module C practice questions so you can practise your discursive writing!

Looking for some extra help with discursive writing in Module C for HSC English?

We have an incredible team of hsc english tutors and mentors who are current hsc syllabus experts.

We can help you master discursive writing and ace your upcoming HSC English assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home, online or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!

Feel confident tackling Module C with personalised tutoring support in Mosman   or HSC English support in Hurstville !

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• Topics: ✏️ English , ✍️ Learn

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Exemplar HSC Paper 2 Discursive Essay and Reflection – Carmen Zhou

The HSC Paper 2 Module C question can require you to write a discursive response and a reflection statement. In this post, we share Year 12 student Carmen Zhou's exemplary discursive essay and reflection so that you can see what you need to produce to attain a Band 6 result.

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• How to write a Band 6 Discursive
• Exemplar discursive and reflection
• Exemplar Band 6 Discursive Essay
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Vce english units 3 & 4, hsc paper 2 discursive essay and reflection – carmen zhou.

For Paper 2 in the HSC, you’ll possibly need to do more than just write a discursive essay. You’ll also have to write a reflection statement or rationale to accompany it. This adds an additional layer of complexity to Paper 2. After all, you only have 40 minutes and you need to produce an essay and reflection. But what are they meant to look like? How are you supposed to write that on the spot?  Below we’ve shared an exemplary HSC paper 2 discursive essay and reflection to an HSC Module C style question.

What sort of question requires an essay and rational?

In the new syllabus, the Module C HSC question can have multiple components. The sample paper provided by NESA includes the following question:

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Example C (20 marks)

“Then, although it was still the end of the story, I put it at the beginning of the novel, as if I needed to tell the end first in order to go on and tell the rest.”

Lydia Davis, The End of the Story: A Novel Collected Stories by Lydia Davis © Lydia Davis (Penguin, London)

Use this sentence as a stimulus for the opening of an imaginative, discursive or persuasive piece of writing that begins with the end.

In your response, you must include at least ONE literary device or stylistic feature that you have explored during your study of a prescribed text in Module C. (10 marks)

(b) Explain how at least ONE of your prescribed texts from Module C has influenced your writing style in part (a). In your response, focus on ONE literary device or stylistic feature that you have used in part (a). (10 marks)

As you can see, this question requires an imaginative, discursive, or persuasive response and a rationale. This kind of question poses a few different problems to students:

• You can’t preprepare a response
• You must produce a response of a reasonable length to an unseen question
• You need to produce two related responses: the piece of writing AND the reflection
• These need to connect to the Module and one of the texts you’ve studied

So, how do you prepare for something like this?

These kinds of questions and responses require you to be comfortable and confident in writing in a variety of modes. The sample question above offers you the option of responding in different modes. However, you can be asked to respond in a particular mode: for example, a discursive essay.

So, to get confident with writing in these modes, you need to write practice responses to practice questions. You should do these to a time limit, so you can be sure you know how to plan your time and produce a response in the time limit.

For the Year 11 Module C term course, Matrix students face a mock HSC Paper 2 question. This helps them practice and develop their skills before they sit exams in school.

To help you understand how to approach a discursive essay we’ve put together some resources for you:

• This detailed article from our Year 12 Study Guide that unpacks Module C for the new HSC syllabus
• This step-by-step blog post on how to write a discursive response

Let’s take a look at a question and an exemplary response written under exam conditions.

Need more help writing Discursives?

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Discursive Essay Task

Instructions

• You must complete both questions
• You have 5 minutes reading time
• You have 40 minutes writing time (45 minutes total)
• craft language to the demands of the question
• use language appropriate to audience, purpose, and context to deliberately shape meaning.

Use the image above to write an imaginative or discursive piece of writing.  (12 marks)

(B)  Explain the decisions that you have made in your writing in part (a).               (8 marks)

Now let’s take a look at an exemplary response from a Year 12 Kingsgrove North student, Carmen Zhou. You can download the essay with a reflection and annotations after her response.

Carmen Zhou’s exemplary discursive response

The best thing about technology is the worst thing about technology. The ability to connect with the rest of the world has a sense of awe that is bigger than any individual. However, the inability to truly connect with people is what is destroying us. We have been constantly following trends, celebrities and hundreds of our “friends” but how much do we really know about them? The sense of scale of the internet is overwhelmingly interesting, but it can be a cruel place. It can provide support from strangers and the joy of constant stimulation, but it can be addicting. it is a network of people, but not everyone is good. All this available from the tap of our phones. It’s great but someone can get lost if they don’t have a map to travel through the great maze that is the internet, shattering their self-image in the process.

Phones are a form of technology that has no age restriction and are highly addictive. What’s the difference between phones when you compare them to alcohol or drugs or tobacco? These all have restrictions. And there is a reason why these have restrictions: they can ruin shatter a person’s sense of self and ruin their lives as they fall into addiction. So, why don’t phones have an age restriction? Why should we let our youth, our friends and peers, ourselves, be consumed by a device that has proven links to depression and suicide? Addiction. Addiction. Addiction. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to stop because it’s so hard to change course, it’s so much easier to give up. And yet, in the face of this, kids as young as ten are still allowed to own these things.

The internet is a chaotic mess, you can think of it as the aftermath of a ball thrown through a window and scattering broken glass across the floor. We all want to look out that window, but getting to see the view is dangerous, nobody wants to clear up the sharp mess on the floor. Sometimes the mess isn’t too bad, the glass doesn’t always cut but reflects light into all sorts of places you never knew existed before. People can learn about and try to connect through movements – gay rights, feminism, pay equality. The internet can be a place where people can get truly inspired and join a cause that is important to them. In this sense, the internet builds self-image and self-worth. Yet, the bad is just as prevalent as the good. Sexual predators, catfishers, trolls. The bad exists. Unfortunately, it does. It’s there, and as far as I can tell, it will always be there. People are more cruel when hiding behind a screen, it’s a fact of nature: we talk behind people’s backs and gossip. It’s a normal, if unfortunate, part of humanity. And, so, if we are ill-equipped to deal with these situations… well the internet isn’t so great, is it?

The rise and fall of trends, the changing faces of celebrities, these are filters we use to make our self-image. We may not like to admit it but, yes, we craft our self-image out of these things. Not our actions. Not our words. Not our ability to converse with people. It becomes about how good the filter is, how good our conformity, how many likes we can get and how many “friends we have.” It’s a constantly changing place and everyone is just going with the flow, never finding stability in how they perceive themselves.

The key to resolving this situation is finding a balance. We call the internet our “virtual reality”. And, as with reality, there is both the good and the bad. The key is learning how to balance the use of our phones, of social media, and all the wonderfully horrible things that are so easily accessed with just a tap on the screen. Whether I like it or not, the internet is now an important part of the world and whether you like it or not it, the internet is now an important part of how you perceive yourself. What do you do? Find your balance. Does this mean fifty-fifty? Probably not, everybody is different. The internet is a huge place, but if you don’t want to get crushed by the weight that is the internet, you will find a way to get balance. Because the best thing about the internet is the worst thing.

Written by Guest Author

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Can anyone help with my discursive essay? (1 Viewer)

• Thread starter Kurrison
• Start date Jun 1, 2021

Active Member

Hey guys, I swore to god, this is my fourth draft and I am very struggling with understand what the heck to create an essay looks discursive. Can anyone please help with me with it? -_-  

Well-Known Member

Kurrison said: Hey guys, I swore to god, this is my fourth draft and I am very struggling with understand what the heck to create an essay looks discursive. Can anyone please help with me with it? -_- Click to expand...

Solid guide attached. See examples on p.12 (obviously beyond HSC standard but you'll get the gist of it). Remember, discursive writing is of limited congruence to essay writing. It is an anecdote; a discussion, not the quote | technique | analysis style. Always good to tie in contemporary relevance & your personal experiences to make your anecdote more engaging & conversational.  

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mikrokosmos

nilatar said: Solid guide attached. See examples on p.12 (obviously beyond HSC standard but you'll get the gist of it). Remember, discursive writing is of limited congruence to essay writing. It is an anecdote; a discussion, not the quote | technique | analysis style. Always good to tie in contemporary relevance & your personal experiences to make your anecdote more engaging & conversational. Click to expand...

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• Dec 10, 2019

3 Do's & Don'ts of Discursive Writing All HSC Students Must Know for Module C

Discursive writing is the new kid in town. It's also a bit of a saviour for all who are not confident with creative writing. It's also become all the rage with school assessment tasks. Although it is an "informal" piece of writing, don't be deceived. Keep reading to make sure you know what to watch out for in your discursive writing.

Let's start with a NESA definition (bear with us, your English tutors don't know how else to start their blog posts)

Texts whose primary focus is to explore an idea or variety of topics. These texts involve the discussion of an idea(s) or opinion(s) without the direct intention of persuading the reader, listener or viewer to adopt any single point of view.

THE DON'Ts

DON'T neglect structure

A discursive ultimately will follow the structure required for any "argument". It requires a thesis, context and topic sentences. Although the wording can be casual there is room to jump around your ideas a bit, in the end stick to the essay structure we all know and love.

DON'T neglect good grammar

Being "informal" does not mean "forget how English works". The requirements for good grammar, spelling and punctuation still apply here. Informal simply means you can ask rhetorical questions , perhaps engage in first person language , use metaphors, similes and other figurative language in your work.

None of those have anything to do with neglecting good grammar practices. So stick to your subject - verb complexes!

DON'T be afraid to argue against yourself 🗣

A discursive has requirements similar to a "discuss" or "evaluate" question in science. It's about considering all the perspectives in the equation. Do not be afraid to make a statement to challenge it. Do not be afraid to say something then question it with a hypophora (Is the hypophora an effective technique for discursives? You bet it is.)

Let loose, argue against yourself and see where your thoughts takes you. After all to be discursive means to be tangential in the thought. And if maths has taught us anything it would be the definition of a tangent.

DO get personal 💛

Applying your own point of view and experiences is a great way to spice up a discursive. Drawing examples from your own experiences and our modern world is a crucial part of every Module in the syllabus. Talk about how your texts translates to our everyday lives: where can we still see government control? Racial discrimination? Bullying of people who are "different"?

DO use humour 🤣and other techniques

Not a knock knock joke (although they are excellent with the right execution).

Feel comfortable in using some sarcasm, some irony and inject a bit more spice into your arguments. Use metaphors and similes in your writing! Use imagery and personification. The more you use the more you have in your reflection!

DO have a position by the end of the essay

So NESA says that discursive writing should not have the " direct intention of persuading the reader" (note the awesome quote integration in that sentence  😉).

But it doesn't mean you don't have an opinion. You're just letting that position organic come through with your language. You're effectively finessing your readers to feel a certain way. Definitely write with your own opinion. Just don't act as if it's the only opinion in the world (which is why you present some devil's advocate counter arguments against yourself).

🔎🔎🔎 Below is one of Orwell's essays in a style similar to what NESA describes as discursive. We have made some comments here in red about things worth noting. 🔎🔎🔎

George Orwell - You and the Atomic Bomb

Considering how likely we all are to be blown to pieces by it within the next five years, the atomic bomb has not roused so much discussion as might have been expected. The newspapers have published numerous diagrams, not very helpful to the average man, of protons and neutrons doing their stuff, and there has been much reiteration of the useless statement that the bomb ‘ought to be put under international control.’ [Note how he engages the audience with context and relatable facts] . But curiously little has been said, at any rate in print, about the question that is of most urgent interest to all of us, namely: ‘How difficult are these things to manufacture?’ [His final rhetorical question here is effectively his thesis. He is letting the reader know what the rest of the essay will be about]

Such information as we — that is, the big public — possess on this subject has come to us in a rather indirect way, apropos of President Truman's decision not to hand over certain secrets to the USSR. [This is an informal topic sentence. He is using the rest of the paragraph to support the idea that "there is a lot of misinformation on the topic"] Some months ago, when the bomb was still only a rumour, there was a widespread belief that splitting the atom was merely a problem for the physicists, and that when they had solved it a new and devastating weapon would be within reach of almost everybody. (At any moment, so the rumour went, some lonely lunatic in a laboratory might blow civilisation to smithereens, as easily as touching off a firework.) [Note the use of a simile and a light hearted example to convey the idea. But also, note the impeccable grammar]

Had that been true, the whole trend of history would have been abruptly altered. The distinction between great states and small states would have been wiped out, and the power of the State over the individual would have been greatly weakened. [His new topic sentence shows his position, how exciting] However, it appears from President Truman's remarks, and various comments that have been made on them, that the bomb is fantastically expensive and that its manufacture demands an enormous industrial effort, such as only three or four countries in the world are capable of making. This point is of cardinal importance, because it may mean that the discovery of the atomic bomb, so far from reversing history, will simply intensify the trends which have been apparent for a dozen years past [and here he just argues against his own fact, setting up for the next tangent he is about to go on] .

It is a commonplace that the history of civilisation is largely the history of weapons. In particular, the connection between the discovery of gunpowder and the overthrow of feudalism by the bourgeoisie has been pointed out over and over again. And though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought forward, I think the following rule would be found generally true: that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. [Note how his previous disagreement/questioning of his own ideas lead to this new point of digression. This is a great way to organise your paragraphs in your own discursive] . Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon — so long as there is no answer to it — gives claws to the weak. [an excellent metaphor for what he wants to convey]

The great age of democracy and of national self-determination was the age of the musket and the rifle. After the invention of the flintlock, and before the invention of the percussion cap, the musket was a fairly efficient weapon, and at the same time so simple that it could be produced almost anywhere. [Here we are expanding on the "claws" that was previously mentioned as the new idea. Really take note that this is how the organisation is mostly driven. It sounds casual but collected] . Its combination of qualities made possible the success of the American and French revolutions, and made a popular insurrection a more serious business than it could be in our own day. After the musket came the breech-loading rifle. This was a comparatively complex thing, but it could still be produced in scores of countries, and it was cheap, easily smuggled and economical of ammunition. Even the most backward nation could always get hold of rifles from one source or another, so that Boers, Bulgars, Abyssinians, Moroccans — even Tibetans — could put up a fight for their independence [claws for the weak again] , sometimes with success. But thereafter every development in military technique has favoured the State as against the individual, and the industrialised country as against the backward one. There are fewer and fewer foci of power. Already, in 1939, there were only five states capable of waging war on the grand scale, and now there are only three — ultimately, perhaps, only two. This trend has been obvious for years, and was pointed out by a few observers even before 1914. The one thing that might reverse it is the discovery of a weapon — or, to put it more broadly, of a method of fighting — not dependent on huge concentrations of industrial plant. [Once again, he sets up the idea that there is a trend in war and power for the entire paragraph. Then his final sentence provides an alternative view. Notice the pattern? Guess what he'll be talking about next?]

From various symptoms one can infer that the Russians do not yet possess the secret of making the atomic bomb; on the other hand, the consensus of opinion seems to be that they will possess it within a few years. So we have before us the prospect of two or three monstrous super-states, each possessed of a weapon by which millions of people can be wiped out in a few seconds, dividing the world between them. It has been rather hastily assumed that this means bigger and bloodier wars [this actually tracks back to paragraph 3. He basically provided alternative perspectives for 2 paragraphs in order to return to his original position, this time with more gusto because he has supported it by now] , and perhaps an actual end to the machine civilisation. But suppose — and really this the likeliest development — that the surviving great nations make a tacit agreement never to use the atomic bomb against one another? Suppose they only use it, or the threat of it, against people who are unable to retaliate? In that case we are back where we were before, the only difference being that power is concentrated in still fewer hands and that the outlook for subject peoples and oppressed classes is still more hopeless.

When James Burnham wrote The Managerial Revolution it seemed probable to many Americans that the Germans would win the European end of the war, and it was therefore natural to assume that Germany and not Russia would dominate the Eurasian land mass, while Japan would remain master of East Asia. This was a miscalculation, but it does not affect the main argument. For Burnham's geographical picture of the new world has turned out to be correct. More and more obviously the surface of the earth is being parceled off into three great empires, each self-contained and cut off from contact with the outer world, and each ruled, under one disguise or another, by a self-elected oligarchy. The haggling as to where the frontiers are to be drawn is still going on, and will continue for some years, and the third of the three super-states — East Asia, dominated by China — is still potential rather than actual. But the general drift is unmistakable, and every scientific discovery of recent years has accelerated it.

We were once told that the aeroplane had ‘ abolished frontiers ’; actually it is only since the aeroplane became a serious weapon that frontiers have become definitely impassable. The radio was once expected to promote international understanding and co-operation; it has turned out to be a means of insulating one nation from another. The atomic bomb may complete the process by robbing the exploited classes and peoples of all power to revolt, and at the same time putting the possessors of the bomb on a basis of military equality. Unable to conquer one another, they are likely to continue ruling the world between them, and it is difficult to see how the balance can be upset except by slow and unpredictable demographic changes.

For forty or fifty years past, Mr. H. G. Wells and others have been warning us that man is in danger of destroying himself with his own weapons, leaving the ants or some other gregarious species to take over. Anyone who has seen the ruined cities of Germany will find this notion at least thinkable. Nevertheless, looking at the world as a whole, the drift for many decades has been not towards anarchy but towards the reimposition of slavery. We may be heading not for general breakdown but for an epoch as horribly stable as the slave empires of antiquity. James Burnham's theory has been much discussed, but few people have yet considered its ideological implications — that is, the kind of world-view, the kind of beliefs, and the social structure that would probably prevail in a state which was at once unconquerable and in a permanent state of ‘cold war’ with its neighbors.

Had the atomic bomb turned out to be something as cheap and easily manufactured as a bicycle or an alarm clock, it might well have plunged us back into barbarism, but it might, on the other hand, have meant the end of national sovereignty and of the highly-centralised police state. If, as seems to be the case, it is a rare and costly object as difficult to produce as a battleship, it is likelier to put an end to large-scale wars at the cost of prolonging indefinitely a ‘ peace that is no peace ’. [Here his final position is restated. That the atomic bomb's power on the world is dependant on its production cost. He digressed throughout the essay but never jumped too far from these ideas. Remember: DON'T NEGLECT STRUCTURE]

💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼Take a note out of Orwell's book and smash your next discursive! 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

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3. Discursive text example

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• What makes this text discursive?
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• How to Write a Band 6 Creative?

HSC Module B: Band 6 Notes on T.S. Eliot’s Poetry

Full mark band 6 creative writing sample.

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• creative writing sample

Following on from our blog post on how to write creatives , this is a sample of a creative piece written in response to:

“Write a creative piece capturing a moment of tension. Select a theme from Module A, B or C as the basis of your story.”

The theme chosen was female autonomy from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (Module C prescribed text).

This creative piece also took inspiration from Cate Kennedy’s Whirlpool .

Summer of 2001

For a moment, the momentum she gained galloping in the blossoming garden jolted, and she deflated like a balloon blown by someone suddenly out of breath. A half-smile, captured by the blinking shutter.

Out spluttered the monochrome snapshot. A bit crumpled. A little too bright.

Two dark brown braids, held by clips and bands and flowers, unruliness constrained. The duplicate of her figure came out in the Polaroid sheltered between a stoic masculine figure, and two younger ones just as unsmiling as their father. The mother stood like a storefront mannequin, the white pallor of her skin unblemished by her lurid maroon blush.

Father told the children that their mother was sick. That’s all. Having nightmares about their grandmother who left mother as a child. “Ran off,” he had said, and his nose twitched violently. “Left a family motherless, wifeless.”

I run, too, the girl had thought excitedly. When she ran, she could see the misty grey of the unyielding lamp-posts, and hear the same grunts and coos of pigeons unable to sing, melodies half-sang, half-dissonant. Why don’t they ever sing? Like the parrots and the cockatoos and lorikeets?

Out spluttered another photograph.

Void of the many distresses as analogous to adulthood, her face brimmed with childlike innocence, untroubled by the silhouettes of her father and brothers. 

Spring of 2012

“Can you take a picture for us?”

She was on the other side of the camera, and for a moment she was lost in a transitory evocation of her childhood. The soft blush of the children and the hardened faces of the adults. The forced tightness of their figures. They too looked happy, she supposed, amidst the golden sand and waves that wash the shore.

Away from the flippancy of clinking wine glasses and high-pitched gossip, she felt could almost hear the ticking seconds of each minute, each hour.

She returned the phone to the family.

How still they stood! The unmoving figures on the compact screen. A snapshot of the present that has instantaneously become the past. If only her childhood could extend infinitely to her present, and future, then she would again experience that luscious happiness that seemed to ebb with age. The warm embrace by her mother. The over-protectiveness of her father. How strange it was, to think that she had once avoided both.

But no matter.

She can’t return to the past. All she could do is reminisce about it. It was futile, she knew. The physician had told her so.

“Think about the present!” he had said. “You live too much in the past! Talk to your family! Your husband!”. After a glance at the confounded face, he added, “You grew up with caring brothers, I believe?”.

She nodded.

“Surely,” he elongated the word so that it extended into the unforeseeable future, “they must understand.”

No, they didn’t, she thought. Not after their Marmee left.

She remembered how perfect  her family had been, captured undyingly on that monochrome photograph. Her brothers and her, mother and father. Yes, what a perfect family. Oh, how the opened eye of the camera would watch apathetically as they fastened together, to perfection.

It all fell apart five weeks afterwards, as they listened her father’s monotonous voice reading the last remnant of their mother – a note declaring how their perfection had compromised her, been too stifling, just as that Summer’s humidity had been. Wasn’t that what it meant to be a family, she had thought, to let give you to others willingly for the happiness of the entire family?

Absentmindedly, the grown woman picked up a bayberry branch and drew circles upon circles on the siliceous shore. Where it touched, the sand darkened and lightened again as the water rose.

The ultimatum of my life, she proposed to herself, a rebellious dive at sea! Amused by her dramatism, she continued to muse. How simple it would be, washed away and never coming back. Her family now was perfect enough. Big house. Big car. Big parties. Big dreams. But happiness? She thought of the riot of colour and flashing cameras that her husband loved. Oh, how they caused her migraines! And his insistence for her to abandon those childhood passions of hers, strolling amidst sunny afternoons amidst the greenery, only embody their “Marmee” and his “Honey”. How ridiculous!

Her hand halted to a stop.

For a fleeting moment, the continuum of her oblivion terminated, the angular momentum her hand gained by drawing those perfect circles on the shore jolted. She inflated with the sudden realisation of what she had written on the sand.

Short, and incomplete without the usual Jennings that followed it. But her name nonetheless.

Yes, those ephemeral imprints of her name will be washed away by the infinite rise and fall of the tide. But she still watched. So that when the present became the past, she would still have a snapshot in her memory to hold on to.

She knew she could not go, just like her name. Into the ocean and never come back. She could not possibly go like her mother, who when she was eleven, left a family without a mother and husband without a wife. She could not possibly go like her mother, who left a daughter crushed by the milliseconds of perfection that succumbs so soon after the click of a camera.

With a long sigh, she turned back and the sea becoming a reverberating picture of her past. Intangible, yet outrageously glorious…

11th March, 2015

The mother, on her phone, manicured fingernails swiping the screen absentmindedly. Across the room, the father looked concerned at both the inattentiveness of his wife and the sounds of clanking metal emanating from the cameramen.

“We’re ready, Mrs Jennings,” said one of them, “Please get into position for the family photo!”

The opened eye of the camera watched as the family fastened itself together, the rosy-cheeked daughter and son, the unison of the family creating the epitome of perfection. They smiled vibrant smiles, posed jovially at the flashing lights.

But immediately after the click of the shutters, they all fell apart, insubstantial as a wish.

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• English advanced - discursive essay

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Re: English advanced - discursive essay

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AT – Discursive Exemplar On George Orwell’s (Module C)

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This was my Module C Craft of Writing assessment task. I got 19/20 for it (11/12 for piece, 8/8 for reflection). This is a discursive piece taking influence from George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language. Also has my reflection.

RELIGION REIMAGINED

At their heart, most religions exist for the same reasons. They may disagree on who God or Allah is, but they believe in a higher power. Their followers may go to churches or temples to worship, but they go to feel a sense of connectedness with their community and themselves. Their rituals and customs may vary, but they create tangible practices that bring their spiritual values to life. Their sacred texts and doctrines may be written differently, but they establish codes of ethics, principles, stories of origin and teach their followers what is right and wrong.

Religions exist to answer the questions that humanity cannot – about existence, purpose, identity, death. They may answer differently, but they answer. This is the nature of religion now and historically always has been. But as the world rapidly modernises, we begin to understand concepts that all of humanity has previously failed to comprehend, questions we relied upon religion to answer for us. Such drastic changes in our societies and our understanding of the world have challenged and changed our interpretation of and need for religion.

Each religion enshrines its history, origins, values, practices and stories into sacred texts that are read, repeated and shared through their communities. The Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Tripitaka, the Veda – the sacred scriptures for the world’s largest religions. These tomes dictate the principles, stories and rules of each religion and ensure they remain as existent in the future as at the time of their creation. They have been read and reread for centuries, consumed and interpreted by millions of people past and present. They should be timeless documentation of the nature, practices and existence of religion. But how can these texts convey what they must to sustain humanity in a modern world? How can these principles, stories and rules be timeless when the world is so different?

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how to write research notes

The beauty of using index cards to take notes is that you can move them around until they are in the order you want. Should you write it down again? Below the source number, write the exact number or numbers of the pages on which you found the information. Write the thesis of the source in your own words. Strong notes are the backbone of a good research paper. Your Works Cited page will include only those sources you have actually cited in your research paper. Before you begin taking notes, develop a topic and focus point. For instance, a topic about women during the Civil War might be narrowed to the impact of the Civil War on women. In order to use this method, you have to rely completely on sources that you can take home, unless you have a laptop computer that you can take with you to the library. The large box to the right is for writing notes. If you think a piece of information might be useful but you aren’t sure, ask yourself whether it helps answer one of your research questions. Your first step is to locate your sources and get yourself settled—either at a table in the library, or at home if you’re using sources that you can take home. You can never learn too much. These will guide your attention and may come in handy as labels for notes. Now formulate your research question. Other supplies you’ll need depend on the note-taking method you choose. Look again at the model note cards in this chapter, and notice that the words in the notes are not the same as the words from the sources. I’ll remember.” But you won’t remember—especially after all the reading and note taking you have been doing. This will help you detail the early stages of when the men first went to war to the later stages when women learned to take over roles normally performed by men. Start with a fresh pack of research note cards. Now you can get your hands on the sources (online and library) you identified and take notes on the information. Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning. Develop subtopics for your notes. If you have that much to write, you probably have more than one idea. You might want to insert a page break between each “note card.”. Following are some ideas on how to do this, so get your thinking skills in gear to start doing the job for your own paper. Don’t forget that you can move your cards around, trying out different organizations, until you are satisfied that one idea flows logically into another. Here’s the solution: Simply add the number of the new source to the note card that already has the same piece of information written on it. Once you’ve used all your sources and taken all your notes, what do you have? Write the bibliography information on the back of the note if you are using note cards or at the top or bottom of the note if using a spiral notebook or word-processing program. Then you will read with a purpose in mind, and you will be able to sort out relevant ideas. Another way to take notes is on your computer. Try as far as possible to put notes on separate cards or sheets. Kayla Lowe has been a writer since 2007. Ensure that you use credible sources, such as authors who are experts in their fields and websites that end in .gov and .edu. Next, arrange the piles of cards so that the order the ideas appear in makes sense. Problem/Solution explains a problem and one or more ways in which it can be solved. Some students who tried this had to cut up their notes into tiny strips, spread them out on the floor, and then tape the strips back together in order to put their information in an order that made sense. Plan to take notes about how women's home, career, social and political lives were affected. Don’t write down too much. Notes that are disorganized will make it more difficult for you to interpret the data. Take notes on both sources. Mark ideas that you take from sources with an "S" and ideas that you come up with on your own as "Me.". Other students couldn’t even do that—without going to a photocopier first—because they had written on both sides of the paper. These notes enable your instructor to assess your progress. After you complete a note card, write the source number of the book you used in the upper left corner of the card. Large, lined cards are probably best, especially if you … Writing in incomplete sentences is one way to make sure you don’t copy—and it saves you time, energy, and space. Leave lots of space in your notes for comments of your own—questions and reactions as you read, second thoughts and cross-references when you look back at what you’ve written. Record each note separately. Write your notes exactly as if you were using index cards. Don’t depend on underlining and highlighting. As you begin reading your sources, use either 3″ x 5″ or 4″ x 6″ index cards to write down information you might use in your paper. But for now your goal is to find information you can use in your research paper. How to take notes while doing research? The student doesn’t put quotation marks around the words to show that they are someone else’s. You don’t want to end up with a whole stack of cards with the same information on each one. Promo code: cd1a428655. First, review the commonly known facts about your topic, and also become aware of the range of thinking and opinions on it. In the end, you’re the one who knows best how you work, so the choice is up to you. Be as clear as possible because you will need these headlines later. Below the source number, write the exact number or numbers of the pages on which you found the information. After you complete a note card, write the source number of the book you used in the upper left corner of the card. Consider this scenario: You’ve been working in the library for a couple of hours, and your hand grows tired from writing. Most articles in periodicals and some of the book sources you use, especially those from the children’s room at the library, are probably short enough that you can read them from beginning to end in a reasonable amount of time. Then you will know what to look for in your research reading: Copy out exact words only when the ideas are memorably phrased or surprisingly expressed—when you might use them as actual quotations in your essay.

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