Higher Discursive Writing

Guidance for Writing

Types of Discursive Writing
Argumentative
- Examine opposing viewpoints objectively using formal and neutral
language.
- You should use authoritative sources.

Persuasive
- Trying to convince the reader to accept your subjective view.
- Research is important but you should combine this with persuasive
language.
- Balance is not essential BUT it is a good idea to acknowledge the
opposing view.

Report Writing
- Present research based information accurately and concisely.
- Clarity and quality of structure is very important.
Objective / Subjective
Objective An objective view is based on fact
(evidence)

E.g. According to a New York Times poll, with an approval rating
on only 22%, George W. Bush was the most unpopular departing
president since records began 70 years ago.


Subjective A subjective view is based on
personal response (opinion)

E.g. Nobody had any time for George W. Bush. He was the most
unpopular president ever.


Authoritative Sources?
Articles in quality newspapers Guardian, The Times,
The Independent, Scotsman, Herald, Daily Telegraph
Articles in industry journals or trade specific publications
Essays, extracts from research papers or scientific texts.
Carefully selected websites Official sites? Recognised
news organisations, Government sites?

Persuasive?
Handouts or leaflets from pressure groups or groups with
a specific interest be aware of bias.
Comment features or articles in newspapers tend to
give more extreme or opinionated views than main
articles.

Researching / Selecting Information
Focus on a topic you are likely to enjoy researching and
writing about.

Quickly make short notes of the types of ideas and
arguments that surround it positive, negative, neutral

Try to prioritise the strongest ideas and arguments

Arrange your ideas into rough groupings This will start
to form the structure of the essay.
Example - Minimum Alcohol Pricing in Scotland
WHY?


What will it achieve / stop?


Arguments for?


Arguments against?


How will it work? When will it happen?
Formal & Neutral Language
To give your writing a sense of confidence and authority
you should use formal, sophisticated language (we will
look at examples later)

AVOID phrases such as:
All sorts of things Worth the hassle
Students may head up to Scotland
a lot of nowadays all sorts
all that much sort of
which it usually does back in the day

Tools for Writing
1. Give illustrative examples
WHY To assist readers understanding

2. Quoting / Criticising expert opinions
WHY To show expertise / understanding of the topic

3. Using analogies (comparing the situation to a similar one)
WHY To point out this is a wide issue show understanding.

4. Mentioning & responding to opposing views
WHY Shows your skill in argument

5. Indicating consequences / outcomes
WHY Show understanding of impact of your arguments / evidence.
Tools for Writing (2)
6. Neutral language
WHY To show you can present information impartially

7. Emotive language
WHY To appeal to readers feelings

8. Rhetorical questions
WHy To invite reader to consider your point then agree with you.

9. Attitude markers Clearly, surely, obviously
WHY To show commitment to your point / evidence.
Structuring Your Essay
1. Introduction
Capture the readers attention
Make the topic clear including relevant background information.
DONT presume the reader knows what you are talking about.
If you are writing a persuasive piece you should set out your
stance.

2. Body Paragraphs
Set out your ideas in a logical sequence
Time based? Past, present, future?
Start with minor arguments, progress to powerful points.
MAKE ONE CLEAR POINT PER PARAGRAPH
Use connecting phrases to link paragraphs.
Structuring Your Essay (Cont)
Body Paragraphs Structure PEEL

Point Make a clear statement of the point or argument you are
about to explore TOPIC SENTENCE (it may need more than one
sentence to make your point clear)

Evidence Statistics, information from an article, comments by
experts, surveys.

Explain Help the reader understand why this evidence or
information is important These statistics make it clear that

LINK Comment on the significance of this argument to the topic as
a whole and link to the following paragraph if possible.
Structuring Your Essay (Cont)
3. Conclusion
Remind the reader of the subject and the strongest
points you have examined.
Try to use fresh or varied expression so you dont repeat
yourself.
DONT introduce new material
Leave the reader feeling as though you have explored
the subject carefully and with authority.
Examples What Type? What Does it Do Well?
We must be smarter with renewable energy options

As more wind farms stride across the hills and moors, it is difficult to believe
the total amount of electricity generated by wind and hydro power schemes in
Scotland fell last year.

Figures from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show the
extra turbines did increase power but only 6% more than in 2009. The drop was due
to a reduction in hydro power as a result of exceptionally dry weather. This is the real
shock in a country which has regarded hydro electricity as a stable source of energy
since it famously brought power from the glens in the 1940s.

This underlines the variable nature of generation from all renewable natural
resources. In 2010 the number of sites producing energy from wind or wave power
more than doubled from 135 to 339 but the figures confirm that the number of
turbines does not always equate to the amount of power.

Business leaders and conservationists are increasingly united in supporting a mix of
energy sources including renewables. The industrial and commercial priority is
security of supply while conservationists and guardians want to restrict the
proliferation of wind farms intruding on the landscape. In areas where tourism is the
main business, the two coincide.



The warning earlier this week from Mike Salter, chairman of the Scottish
Chambers of Commerce, that the cost base for renewable energy must be
right if it is not to become an unsupportable burden on other businesses
should not fall on deaf ears. Part of the reason for the rise in the cost of
electricity is the Westminster Governments renewables obligation, a charge
through which consumers subsidise the start-up costs of green energy
generation.

There is a consensus that the best way to stabilise production and
guarantee renewable energy supply is to diversify the mix of technologies
installed and develop storage capacity. At present, most renewables
developments are wind farms because that technology is furthest advanced,
yet the potential for wave and tide power is enormous and it would provide a
more predictable and stable supply. It is time to consider slanting the
renewables obligation towards marine technologies.

Plans for electricity connectors between the National Grid and other
European countries offer the prospect of a back-up supply, by which
Scotland could export surplus wind power on gusty days and import hydro
or solar power on calm ones.

In the meantime, the requirement for constant, reliable and affordable
electricity for homes and businesses means the energy mix must continue
to include nuclear until the technology to take advantage of a greater variety
of natural resources has been sufficiently developed to guarantee that the
lights will not go out.
Ambulance deal must be agreed

IMAGINE that your nearest and dearest has collapsed and is lying unconscious
before you.

You dial 999, then start counting the seconds until you hear the welcome sound of an
ambulance siren. Now imagine that your partner/parent/child died while you waited
for more than half an hour and it subsequently emerges that an ambulance crew had
been sitting 10 minutes away, downing tea and biscuits.

That is more or less what has happened in several instances as a result of
ambulance crews being obliged to take 30-minute unpaid rest breaks. Mrs Mandy
Mathieson, aged 33, died in Tomintoul while an ambulance based in Grantown-on-
Spey responded to the call because a local ambulance technician was on a break.
Toddler Martyn Gray from Crieff died in similar circumstances. Though this is a UK
issue, it is particularly relevant to Scotland because of the scattered rural population
and challenging topography north and south of the central belt.

The three unions representing ambulance staff have voted decisively to reject what
appears to be a fair offer to resolve the rest break dispute. All three unions had
recommended acceptance.

The margin of rejection suggests that this dispute is more complex than it appears. It
goes back to the decision to reduce the number of Scottish ambulance call centres
from eight to three, a move which many ambulance staff believed put patients at risk.
In addition unpaid rest breaks were imposed on the workforce following the signing of
the European Working Time Directive in 2004. Under the agreement control room
staff are not permitted to contact crews about emergency calls until their break is
completed. Understandably, ambulance staff, who devote themselves to saving lives,
resent being demonised in cases where working practices result in loss of life.
This dispute has been framed by Eurosceptics as all the fault of Brussels
bureaucrats. In fact, the legislation allows for flexibility in the terms for
particular groups of workers. For instance, because police and firefighters
are classed as emergency workers, they are entitled to paid meal breaks.
For no obvious reason, ambulance staff are classed simply as an essential
service. Arguably, they too should qualify for paid meal breaks, which can
then be interrupted when a 999 call comes in. It should have been obvious
at the time that making unpaid meals breaks mandatory could damage the
service.

For the most part ambulance workers do a great job in often extremely
stressful circumstances. They need to be fresh and alert and deserve to be
properly remunerated.

However, on the face of it, the offer on the table of an extra 4.80 a week,
plus an extra 50 fee per call-out, looks reasonable.

Their legitimate concern about the level of cover in rural areas deserves a
better hearing but meanwhile this dispute must be resolved before more
patients die needlessly.


Trump accused of using police as his private security
force

DONALD Trump may be trying to bring a touch of jet-set glamour to
Scotlands north-east with his golf resort playground for the rich and
famous.
But it seems the US property tycoon is also trying to secure himself the
type of protection reserved for Hollywood stars by turning the local
constabulary into his own private police force.
Trump has come under attack from Grampian Police for repeatedly
demanding tougher security at his controversial golf resort, under construction
at the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire, according to internal police reports seen
by the Sunday Herald.
The billionaire has piled pressure on the police to increase protection of
the estate by making more patrols and by responding more rapidly when
called. Over the last two years, Trump and his aides have held numerous
meetings and discussions with senior police officers, urging them to do more.
A series of memos marked restricted show that the police have
struggled to resist this pressure, and have become worried that their
impartiality could be damaged. Trump had unrealistic expectations that
Grampian Police would behave like the New York Police Department (NYPD),
Scots officers said.
The revelations come against a background of growing disillusionment
about the polices relationship with the Trump Organisation. Two documentary
film-makers were arrested and imprisoned after interviewing one of Trumps
staff, but the charges were dropped.
Health and Wellbeing in Schools Project
The Health and Well-being in Schools project, which ran from September
2008 to March 2011, was a Scottish Government-funded initiative designed to
complement the national effort to improve the health and well-being of children and
young people in Scotland. It aspired to harness existing skills, develop new roles,
expand capacity and work in partnerships with a range of agencies to promote the
health and well-being of school-aged children and young people within the Curriculum
for Excellence [9] cohort (aged 3-18 years) and their families, particularly at key
transition stages.
The aim of the project was to increase health care capacity in schools by
providing improved health care services designed to meet the needs of individuals,
families and communities. It also aimed to develop a range of models and initiatives
that could be implemented across Scotland in a safe, efficient and effective manner
to support the implementation of Better Health, Better Care[10] and Equally Well. [11]
The project was firmly based in a partnership approach that involved
participation from health, education and local authority staff, voluntary organisations,
children, young people and their families and communities.
While there was no formal evaluation of the outcomes of the project, it
nevertheless generated a wide range of evidence sources that were accessed to
demonstrate the impact it had on the health and well-being of children and young
people within the demonstration sites. These evidence sources included:
reports prepared for the national steering group;
reports prepared for local steering groups;
intelligence gathered by project officers at local level and the national programme
manager nationally;
reflective diaries maintained by the project officers; and
the report and source materials emerging from the Open Space series of events. [12]


The Health and Well-being in Schools project provided an opportunity to review
current ways of working and develop new models of practice to achieve positive
impacts on the health and well-being of children, young people and their families.
The key messages and learning points from the project clearly demonstrate the
importance of strong clinical leadership. They also emphasise the benefits of
partnership working in developing multidisciplinary, multi-agency teams to address
the health and well-being needs of school-age children and young people at local
level. The new practice models emerging from the project will support teachers in
meeting Curriculum for Excellence learning outcomes that are designed to positively
influence children's and young people's development by increasing their
understanding of what good health and well-being means.
Better utilisation of, and investment in, support worker staff has brought added
value to health teams in schools. In addition to reinforcing key health messages by
acting as the link health professional between home and school, support workers
undertook screening and surveillance roles normally carried out by registered
professionals. Registered professionals were consequently able to spend more
quality time with vulnerable children and young people with identified health and well-
being needs, particularly at key transitional stages: it is recognised that early
intervention and prevention programmes that target the most vulnerable at key
transitional stages will have a more positive impact on reducing health inequalities
than crisis interventions delivered downstream.
Health professionals and partnership agencies play a crucial role in promoting
the health and well-being of school-age children and young people. The project has
shown that the greatest benefits lie in professionals identifying the health needs,
assets and strengths of their local school communities and matching these with the
skills and the workforce required to enable children and young people to reach their
full potential.
Conclusion