Different types of writing by adisa nicholson 1

There are different types of writing all of which are used for a specific purpose.
It is important to identify different types of writing so we can get a better
understanding of what we read.

There is persuasive writing for one. Its purpose is to get you the reader to do
whatever the writer wants you to do. Examples are letters you get in the post by
charities urging and trying to persuade you to give money.

There’s scientific report writing. Its purpose is to educate you on the facts and
theories and explain them in a knowledgeable way for you to understand. An
example I have is “An Attempt to Measure the Coefficient of Restitution of
Tennis Balls”. It studies the tennis ball’s bounciness, and the complexity of the
article gradually increases and contains formulas, diagrams and theories, with a
lot of jargon. Distinct features of scientific reports are that it either has one
singular point to prove or is trying to educate the reader on a subject. It talks
about facts and theories, and does not try to tell a story. It tries to instead make
sense of the world.

There’s ethical writing, which its purpose is to weight up the ethical issues of a
topic and concept and evaluate them in a way to give off a message. Distinct
features of this include emotive language which is words used to trigger
emotions, such as “Together we can find a cure for cancer”, “This doesn’t have
to happen”, and “You can make it stop. Full Stop”.

There’s storytelling, which can be fiction or non-fiction, whether that’s a story,

diary, novel, and can be found in the library or in the “real life” section of the
magazines. A well-known example of a story is “The Three Little Pigs”.
Distinctive features in stories is that suspense and imaginative description.

There’s journalistic writing, which logs down timed entries, which can be used
for scientific research or analysis, which may be used to track the day-by-day
changes of a drug addict giving up drugs or a mountain. A distinctive feature of
journalistic writing is that each entry is dated and that the journal is in a
chronological order. Journals have an overall point, whether it’s a journal of
someone’s life, or a journal of birds flying south.

There are lyrics, which is just song lyrics and poems, such as “Roses Are Red”,
which I don’t have to go into or give examples. Finally there is discursive writing,
which gives people’s opinions. Examples are blogs, newspaper columns and
agony aunt pages. Distinctive features of discursive writing, is that they talk in
first person, on a personal level and that they let people express themselves to
others.
Different types of writing by adisa nicholson 2

One thing, which is not approved of, is plagiarism. It’s the act of copying
someone’s work and taking credit for it. It is illegal and can be a serious crime.
If you are caught for plagiarism you can be disqualified from your course and
examinations. It’s wrong because it breaks copyright, infringes on other. Quoting
and referencing other people’s work will avoid this.

But how does one compare these types of writing now we know how to identify
them.

Ethical writing uses emotive language and raises moral issues, such as
newspaper articles about tsunamis. If the text is asking for money, it’s being
persuasive too. But a text asking you to study physics is just being persuasive.
Well known examples are those unsolicited NSPCC, Oxfam, RSPCA and Cancer
Research letters, which come through the door using persuasive techniques to
make you kindly, donate them money.

You cannot perform the purpose of the type of writing if you don’t write in that
type of writing. Stories tell stories and it’s impossible to tell a story without
storytelling, even though journalistic writing sort of tells a story charting
someone’s progress.

Scientific report writing or any type for that matter doesn’t have to be complex.
If the target audience is for a younger audience, the language can be more
simplified and the text can be made more interesting and engaging.
We can use an array of types of writing to perform different purposes as we
write with the reader in mind. Understanding the types of writing will help us be
better readers and writers.