This guide explains the structure and tone, with an original example from our teachers. It also shows the difference between real discussion and a hidden rant.
What a discursive essay is
A discursive essay explores a question from more than one point of view. It weighs the arguments fairly and then reaches a considered position.
In IGCSE English it is one of the composition options. The topic is often a debatable question about society, technology or daily life.
The difference from an argumentative essay is stance. An argumentative essay picks a side and fights for it. A discursive essay really considers the sides before it leans.
This fairness is harder than it sounds. Many students already have an opinion and find it hard to give the other side a fair hearing. The essay rewards exactly that skill: state the opposite case as strongly as your own, then explain calmly why you still lean the way you do.
Structure and tone
The tone is formal and measured, like a thoughtful person reasoning aloud. Avoid a shouting voice, contractions and slang.
Use careful, precise language. You can admit a good point from the other side without exaggerating your own.
A usual structure has three parts:
- Introduction: frame the question and say why it matters.
- Body: paragraphs that set out different positions, each with reasons.
- Conclusion: a considered view that the discussion has earned.
You can alternate between sides or group one side and then the other. Both work if the essay stays organised. Task wording differs by board, so check our qualification pages for current rules.
A worked example, written by our teachers
This is our own original writing, made for teaching. The task was: “Should homework be abolished?”
People who want homework abolished make a stronger case than their opponents admit. A long school day already fills a child’s mind, and the hours after it belong to family, rest and growing up. There is also evidence that heavy homework widens the gap between children with quiet homes and those without.
Yet the opposite view is not easy to dismiss. Some skills, such as a language, an instrument or independent reading, need more practice than a school day can hold.
The honest question is not whether homework should exist. It is what kind of homework deserves the time it takes.
Notice how the first paragraph describes one position generously and admits its strength. The second paragraph turns to the other side without dismissing the first. This fair, weighing movement is the engine of a discursive essay.
This is easier to improve with a teacher beside you. A paid one-hour trial starts from your child's own recent work.
What a strong discursive essay includes
- A clear question and a reason it matters.
- Fair, exact treatment of more than one view.
- Specific reasons and examples for each position.
- A measured, formal voice with no exaggeration.
- Clear organisation, either alternating or grouped.
- A conclusion that the discussion has earned.
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is a hidden argument: the essay pretends to discuss but pushes one side and makes the other look silly. The second is the opposite: so much fence-sitting that no view appears. The third is vague writing, where both sides are described so generally that nobody can weigh them.
The fourth is slipping into rant or slang. Check which way you lean too far, and correct that first.
How this helps your other writing
Balanced thinking also supports strong analysis elsewhere. In literature essays you weigh different interpretations. In reading tasks you judge a writer’s argument.
The measured tone helps students who tend to over-write. Sorting points into a fair order helps every long piece. Explore our skills guides, our annotated model responses and our IGCSE English tuition pages.
Next steps
Study the annotated model response for discursive essay, then try the discursive essay practice tasks. The skill guide structuring a discursive essay gives a paragraph plan. If the task wants one firm side, read how to write an argumentative essay.
Students usually get stuck in the same place: they know their own opinion and cannot make the other side sound sensible. In 1-to-1 lessons, our teachers ask the student to argue the opposite side aloud first, then write it down. We teach this in our First Language English tuition, from RM70/hr.
Bring a recent essay to a paid one-hour trial lesson. The teacher who would continue will mark it with you.