WRITING SKILLS

DISCOURSE
Generally, a discourse is a discussion or conversation. More specifically, a mode of expression… originally verbal but now applied by analogy to other forms. In other words, discourse is not an absolute, but relative term which means “the language with which this particular group describes (evaluates, etc.)”. In discourse you can have your audience present or absent. The purpose, the audience, the topic influences the choice of discourse type. There are several types of discourse.

NARRATION
It is a technique which at its simplest means “telling back”. The purpose of narration is to tell a story or to narrate an event or series of events. It may exist in a variety of forms including biographies, short stories, novels and anecdotes. It is created in a constructive format (written, spoken, prose, poetry, images, song, theatre or dance) that describes a sequence of fiction or non fiction events. It is derived form the Latin verb “narrare”, which means to recount. The narrator must have a point to ensure smooth movement of the story. It should be paced to focus only on eventful periods and to ignore all inconsequential stretches in between. The point of view in a narration is the angle from which it is told. This angle may be personal and intimate or an omniscient in which the author is like a camera sweeping over the scene and pausing briefly to focus over the shoulders of selective character. Details are indispensable to narrative writing and can make the difference between boredom and delight in a reader.


MY EXAMPLE ON NARRATION
It was morning and like many girls, Dede was washing the dishes in a hurry so that she would not be late for school. She could no longer endure the pain of Mr. Appau’s cane. Mr. Appau always stood at the school gate with a big cane and whipped all latecomers saying “I’m training you so that you report to work early when you grow up”.
The Pyrex bowl slipped from Dede’s hands and broke into pieces…what’s that? Dede heard her mother’s voice loud and angry. Immediately, she knew the consequences. Before she could answer, her mother rained insults on her and fuming with anger her mother said "I’ll use your pocket money to buy a new one”. Dede dried her tears. Her mother’s harsh words re-echoed as she hurried to school. From a distance Dede could see Mr. Appau this time with a bigger cane. She was given six lashes. She starred at her palms; they were red and threatened to burst. She galloped to her classroom as tears coursed down her bony cheeks. She couldn’t copy any notes in class that day.
What seemed like eternity finally came. School closed and she hurried home. She had to go and sell pure water in her neighborhood as a normal routine. She didn’t like it because her mother spent the money she got from selling on alcohol or a new cloth for funeral. For her illiterate mother, the teachers should use her school fees to buy Dede’s exercise books. Dede carried the pure water. It was heavy but she had no choice.
She remembered one of her customers, Mr. Osei. On opening the gate of Mr. Osei, Dede saw him weeding in his garden. “You look beautiful today” he said and drew Dede, who smiled, putting the water under her feet. He touched her breasts and buttocks. Dede frowned and brushed his hands away with fear and anger.
He raised his cutlass and warned, “You better shut up or I’ll kill you with this”. Before Dede could muster courage to shout, he was on top of her, pulling down her pants while unzipping his trousers.
This is one of her numerous experiences since her childhood. She is now fifteen. She wonders if there exists a safe environment for a growing child like her.

DESCRIPTION
Writers of description want the reader to mentally see, hear, touch, taste and smell what they describe. Focus and concentration contribute more to a vivid description than either the size of the writer’s vocabulary or the heedless splattering of the page with adjectives. An objective description gives a factual, realistic picture of a subject without revealing your personal feelings about it. Subjective description creates a clear picture of the subject with details that also reveal your thoughts and feelings about it. As you describe your subject, look for different kinds of specific details i.e. both sensory, factual, realistic details. Your focus should be on a single dominant impression and constantly deliver it. The dominant impression of your description should be the heart of the person, place or scene you are attempting to describe.

DESCRIPTION OF HELL.
Hell is a dark channel and stinking prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke. This prison is expressly designed by God to punish those who refuse to be bound by His Laws.
In earthly prisons, the poor prisoners have at least some freedom of movement, only within the four walls of his cell or in the gloomy yard of his prison. Not so in hell. The prisoners are heaped together in their awful prison, the walls of which are said to be four thousands miles thick.
The prisoners are not even able to remove from the eye a worm that gnaws it. All the filth of the world runs there. Our earthly fire again, no matter how fierce or widespread it may be, has always limited extent but the lake of fire in hell is boundless, shoreless and bottomless.
In hell all laws are overturned: there is no thought of family or country of ties or relationships. The prisoners in hell are helpless and hopeless; it is too late for them to repent.


DEFINITION
A definition explains the meaning of a term. It is where there is an explanation of a term, phenomenon in your discourse. It is normally, at the introduction of the discourse. There are two ways of presenting definition: The dictionary definition and personal definition. Definitions also depend on the purpose for writing. Precise definition are given to reduce hazy or vagueness of word. Explanatory definition attempts to disclose, explain, and illustrate an important aspect of a difficult concept. Stipulates definition introduces a new meaning to a familiar word. Rhetorical definition is normally philosophical. It is given to influence the behaviour and attitudes of readers. Here, the writer wants the reader to look at the definition in a certain direction not the mainstream.


DEFINITION OF A GENTLEMAN
A gentleman is one who never inflicts pain. The true gentleman carefully avoids whatever may cause a jolt in the minds of those with whom he associates. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant and merciful towards absurd. He guards against topics which may irritate him. He is too well employed to remember injuries and too laid-back to bear hatred. If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy.


COMPARE AND CONTRAST
In comparison you emphasize on the resemblances and in contrast you emphasize on the differences. It can be two or several things, ideas, problems or events. There are two classical organizational patterns of a comparison or contrast discourse. One is block arrangement of ideas ; the other point by point or alternating arrangement of ideas. Supposed you are interested in showing the differences between vacationing in the mountains and vacationing at the beach.
Block arrangement (four paragraphs)
1. Introduction, in which you state your purpose which is to discuss the differences between vacationing in the mountains or at the beach.
2. Mountain 3. Beach 4. Conclusion
a. Climate a. climate
b. Types of activities b. types of activities
c. Location c. location
Point by point or alternating arrangement (5 paragraphs)
1. Introduction

2. Differences between mountains and beaches is climate
a. Mountains
b. Beach
3. Differences between mountains and beaches is the types of activities
a. Mountains
b. Beach
4. Differences between mountains and beaches is the location
a. Mountains
b. Beach

5. Conclusion.



COMPARISON AND CONTRAST. (CONSUMING FRESH FOODS INSTEAD OF CANNED FOOD)
Eating is an activity that we as humans do at least two times a day. We live in a world where the variety of food is immense and we are responsible for what we eat. We decide what we are about to eat and how it will affect our bodied. The purpose of this writing is to compare and contrast eating fresh foods instead of canned foods. The three main differences are flavour, health benefit and cost.
The most notable difference between the two kinds of foods is their flavour. Fresh foods have great flavour and taste because they keep all their natural conditions. Canned foods however, lack a lot of its flavour characteristics because there are some other chemical products added to the natural foods. It is logical that the fresh foods will have a greater taste and flavour when consumed just because of the time in which they have been prepared.
Comparing both types of foods we notice another difference. There is a health factor that affects both of them when stored and also it has to be timed with much conservation and chemical factors that prolong the shelf life and apparent freshness of the food but could also become toxic if consumed often.
Yet another difference between these two types of foods is the cost. Canned foods are much more expensive than fresh food. Hence the benefit of buying canned foods is that they are easier to find. Example in a supermarket instead of selling fresh foods , they prefer canned foods which require less work to prepare (just open and serve) than fresh foods.
Here, the main three differences between buying fresh foods and buying canned foods. As we can see it comes down to a personal choice, based on the time each person has, the money and the importance he or she gives to his or her nutrition and health. Therefore it is important that you consider your possibilities and choose the best type of foods for your convenience and lifestyle.

EXEMPLIFICATION
It is very essential to support your generalizations with example. The use of examples in writing is necessary because language is ambiguous and circular. By giving an example the writer creates a context specifying more exactly what is meant by ‘a particular word’ and avoids the circularity inherent in language. In exemplification, you can introduce examples without the use of preratory transitions such as “my first example is” or “my second example is” instead a paragraph can be devoted to each era and aligns every example with the era to which it belongs. The example you cite must appropriately support your generalization. A writer needs to consider their subject, determine their purpose, consider their audience, decide on specific examples and arrange all the parts together when writing an exemplification essay. It means to provide examples about something. Writing an exemplification essay typically involves offering many examples to support generalization about something. In this type of writing examples act as supporting material to explain or clarify the generalization.

EXEMPLIFICATION (LIFE IN GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM “GIJ”)
Life on GIJ is so labourious.
One has to wake up early in the morning to get to school on time since the school does not provide housing facilities. On your way to school, you are caught up in traffic and you get to school extremely tired.
The first lecture starts at exactly 8:30 till 10:30, one is offered just ten minutes of break and then the second lecture starts at 10:40 till 12:40. Students force their way out through this lectures only to be piled with numerous assignment with short duration to submit. Some of the books for these assignments cannot be gotten from the school library and again one has to roam everywhere to look for books to accomplish the assignment.
During weekends that the student would rest, other lecturers schedule lecture, of which a serious student would not want to miss. A student in the Diploma class offers at least nine courses and is given only two weeks to write end of semester examination as if in BECE examination. Life on GIJ Campus is just like secondary school life, so tiresome and labourious.

REFERENCES
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://eslbee.com
http://eslbee.com/academy
A Collection of Readings for Writers Sixth Edition
The Springboard to the future October- December, 2008