What do I do once I’ve got a second draft of my discursive essay?


Over time, the discursive essay became less common than the persuasive essay. In our context, discursive writing is becoming more common again. Contemporary writers such as Zadie Smith, Helen Garner, John D’Agata, and Ta-Nesi Coates all have discursive essays among their work.


Essays that present solutions for particular problems examine the issues related to the problem, propose possible solutions, and inform the reader of the expected outcomes. The student’s personal opinion should also be mentioned in the conclusion or even in the introduction section.

Mary Wollstonecraft, Charles Lamb, Elizabeth Barret Browning, Samuel Johnson, GK Chesterton, and Michel de Montaigne were all famous essayists in their time who wrote discursive texts as well as persuasive ones.

The two main types of discursive writing are:

At some point or another in college, you will be asked to write a discursive essay. It’s the academic version of death or taxes — it’s unavoidable.

This is the most common type of discursive essay. It is a formal academic paper requiring students to clearly state their opinions on a topic. The student also provides different arguments, perspectives, and reasons for their opinions and supports them with evidence and examples.

Learning to write a discursive essay is very important for your education. The process of writing a discursive essay teaches you about constructing the basic outline of all academic papers. If you understand how to write discursive essays, you will understand how to write and interpret other academic papers.

With this type of discursive essay, students are assigned a topic and asked to provide support and opposing opinions and ideas. The student has to write about the topic’s positive and negative aspects. This type of writing requires extra effort from the student and may take more practice, especially because the student cannot be biased and must only address the topic through facts.


Discursive Essay: How to Write (With Examples!)

In contrast, in a discursive essay, you can take a more personal approach. For example, including personal anecdotes and your own strong voice can help add depth and insight to the perspectives you discuss.

How to Write a Discursive Essay With Examples

There are three preliminary types of discursive essays. However, some essays can also be written in discursive style but are not necessarily discursive in nature.

How to Write a Discursive Essay: Tips, Dos & Donts

While there are different types of discursive essays, they all follow a similar structure. The structure is straightforward but essential. It should include a quick, captivating introduction, body, and cohesive conclusion.

How to structure a discursive essay

There are different types of essays, such as opinion essays proposing solutions to problems and for and against essays. For the student, it’s important to understand the purpose of the discursive essay in the English class to better understand the approach they should take.

Here is a suggested structure for a discursive essay

The introduction should set the tone for the topic and clearly state your stance or indicate a balanced view, depending on the type of discursive essay you are required to write.

Writing and Formatting a Discursive Essay – Academic Writing Skills

A discursive essay is a type of essay that discusses topics from various viewpoints, hence the name. The essay aims to provide a balanced analysis by exploring different points of view and opinions. The purpose of discursive essays is to foster critical thinking in the student.

What is the structure of a discursive essay

In a discursive essay, you may not be discussing texts, but rather ideas or things – for instance, an advertisement, political system, or a type of sneaker. This means that some paragraphs will need to be longer than others, depending on the idea you’re discussing.