Evaluating Types of Discourse/Rhetorical Modes

a. The Definition of 'Discourse'

b. The Definition of 'Main Idea'
c. The motives for choosing a particular type of discourse
d. The differences between the different types of discourse: description, narration,
exposition, persuasion, and argumentation.

Technical/Scientific Writing vs Artistic Writing

There are two (2) major Prose discourse types - Technical/Scientific Writing and
Artistic Writing. Below is how the two differ:

Technical Writing Artistic Writing

1. Objective Subjective
2. Scientific data, figures & statistics Opinions, Biases
3. Precise language Figurative Language
4. Denotative/Concrete words Connotative Words
5. Neutral Tone Affective Tone

There are at least five (5) modes of rhetoric that may utilize either one or a
combination of technical and artistic writing depending on the topic, purpose for
writing, and audience. Rhetoric is simply defined as the art of influencing the thought
and conduct of an audience.It also refers to the specialized literary uses of language
and the ability to use language effectively in communication.

Types of Discourse/Rhetoric
Description
The main purpose of this type of discourse is to explain or describe some concept,
person or setting, thought to be unfamiliar, to the audience. Descriptive writing uses
various organizational/spatial strategies. For example in describing a house on a hill, a
writer may start describing what it looks like starting from the base of the hill
upwards (ground view). Another writer may start by describing how it looks from the
skies going downwards to the base of the hill (aerial view).

Narration
The main purpose and distinguishing factor of this writing is to explain some concept
according to a given time sequence. For example, The first thing Tory did when she
arrived in the beautiful island of Jamaica was to take a dip in the beautiful azure ocean
of the North Coast. Afterwards, she went to the infamous jerk restaurant, 'Scotchies',
for some delicious jerk chicken, festival and roast corn. She then ordered two glasses
of refreshing red stripe beer, which she savored as she rocked to the irie music
floating in the island breeze. As the sun was about to set, she contacted a reliable tour
company and went for a relaxing drive along the sea coast culminating in a tour of the
alluring fern gully which covered with miles of the most gorgeous indigenous ferns.

Exposition
The main purpose of exposition is to define, inform, teach or explain some concept.
As such, the expectation of expository writing is for it to be objective, precise and
neutral (free from bias and prejudice). In other-words, it mostly uses
technical/scientific writing. Writers also employ a combination of varied
organizational strategies in exposition, depending on their topic, audience and purpose
for writing. These may include, cause and effect, comparison/contrast, definition,
description/illustration, etc.

Persuasion
The main purpose of this type of writing is to convince or influence readers to accept
a particular point of view. Persuasive writing does this by mainly appealing to readers'
emotions. In this type of writing you may find the use of emotive words, repetition,
figurative language, opinions, biases etc. In other-words, this type of writing relies
heavily on artistic writing.

Argumentation
The main purpose of this type of writing is to convince or influence readers to accept
a particular point of view. Argumentative writing does this by appealing to readers'
logic. Readers expect a strong piece of argumentative writing to be as objective and
neutral as possible, and to convince them by presenting them with statistical/scientific
data, quotes, facts and other information that can be tested/substantiated. In other-
words, this type of writing relies heavily on technical/scientific writing.