Five Categories for Scribal Writers

In Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization, Barry B. Powell explains that writing can be best understood through the use of categories, genres, modes, organization, and terminology, especially to reduce confusion as we come to understand the histories and roles of writing (2009, xv–xvi). He adds that writing “is the single most important technology in human life, yet it is not easy to study or to think about. Nonetheless we use it almost every minute of our lives.” Powell’s categories provide guidance that shows the connections of meaning that include syllabography (characters for syllables), grammatography (writing with letters), logography (written characters for a word or morpheme), phonography (representation of the sounds of speech), lexigraphy (art of defining words), and semasiography (writing with symbols) in the making of meaning through writing. Most of us would agree that students are constantly writing. They rely on writing to reflect, make meaning, and be understood—both to an audience and to themselves—across categories, forms, and genres. The categories are nonexclusive.

By understanding the categories of writing, scribes become more effective at meaning-making for themselves and clearly expressing themselves to their audience. The five categories that secondary-level students generally experience in school include argumentative writing, descriptive writing, expository writing, narrative writing, and persuasive writing.

1.Argumentative Writing

In argumentative writing, scribes examine their ideas or someone else’s and attempt to make the case for a specific point of view. To do this, scribes use a methodical manner of thinking and support their claims with evidence. For instance, students can read opposing pieces about whether social media makes us more alone or more engaged, form their own opinion, and then write a response piece. Or they could write about whether college athletes should be compensated. National and local newspapers offer hundreds of prompts and topics for argumentative writing based on current events.

Some examples of argumentative writing that can appeal to students include the following:

• a film review of the first Star Wars by Roger Ebert (1977) that appeared in many periodicals
• The New York Times editorial board essay “Felons and the Right to Vote” (2004)
• a nature essay, “The Problem with Nature Writing” by Jonathan Franzen (2023), that appeared in The New Yorker.

2. Descriptive Writing

Descriptive writing focuses on describing a person, place, or phenomenon in a manner that the reader can visualize. Scribes can capture an event by paying close attention to details. They then apply the five senses with vivid sensory perception to engage readers.

Students can create a sensory graphic organizer based on a descriptive essay they relate to and then use the RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) writing strategy to craft a response:

Role of the scribe: Who are you as a writer? A chess player? A poet? A musician? A critic?

Audience: To whom are you writing? Your parents? A friend? Your teacher?

Format: In which format are you writing? A poem? A letter? A speech?

Topic and Strong Verb: What is your topic, or what are you writing about? Why? What is the subject at hand? What is your point?

Some examples of descriptive writing that can appeal to students include the following:

• “The Grandfather” or “The Pie” from A Summer Life by Gary Soto (1990)
• “Rachel” by Dorothy West (1995)
• “Someone to Believe in Me” by David Bowles (2020)

3. Expository Writing

Scribes expose or study a topic and explain it to the reader in expository writing. Often viewed as fact-based, expository writing is often presented logically and free of the author’s opinion. Expository writing can be called informative or informational as well as research-based or explanatory as students investigate an idea and evaluate evidence. Some examples of expository writing that can appeal to students include the following:

• “The Invisible Fire on Maui” by Jack Truesdale (2023)
• “How Much Hotter Can Texas Get?” by Amy Davidson Sorkin (2023)
• “Study Says Ads Trick Children’s Taste Buds” by Lindsey Tanner (2007).

4. Narrative Writing

Scribes tell stories all the time, and narrative writing strives to take the reader on a dramatic story that can be either factual or entirely fictional. Overall, stories surround us, and scribes who engage in narrative writing make use of their vivid imaginations and the storytelling techniques that are reflected in Freytag’s Pyramind with the following five stages: Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. Some forms of narrative-style writing include autobiographies, biographies, autoethnographies, ethnographies, short stories, novels, personal essays, and narrative journalism. 

Some examples of narrative writing that can appeal to scribes include the following:

• “Two Ways to Belong in America” by Bharati Mukherjee (1996)
• “In Praise of Peer Pressure” by Christopher Shea (2007)
• “Burritos and BMWs” by Anna Garcia Schaper (2022).

5. Persuasive Writing

Scribes seek to convince readers to agree with them using persuasive writing. To do this, they utilize the three essential rhetorical techniques: ethos, pathos, and logos. These persuasive writing techniques can be achieved by targeting a specific audience, establishing tone, finding evidence, using efficient diction, presenting data, telling a story, appealing to emotions, and refuting an argument or stance. Some examples of persuasive writing that can appeal to students include the following:

• “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift (1729)
• “If the Japanese Can’t Build a Safe Reactor, Who Can?” by Anne Applebaum (2011)
• “Barbie Is Past Saving” by Alexandra Petri (2016)
• “A Modest Proposal” (illustration) by Tommy Siegel (2020)

An additional approach to categorizing writing at the secondary and postsecondary levels can be in these three categories in digital and nondigital formats: academic, creative, and technical. Academic writing is often a more formal approach for composing and involves knowledge of rhetoric, including the application of the rhetorical situation and appeals by scribes. Creative writing is part of academic writing, although scribes often include various genres of writing such as novels and poetry. Technical writing communicates information about specific topics and can include instructions for a product, policies related to a regulation, or industry-based communications. These three categories can sum up the secondary-level writing expectations, requests, and possible demands—often timed—placed upon the adolescent scribe, although there are hybrid and blended forms of writing and additional exceptions. Overall, each one can appeal to students, although largely dependent upon presentation by their teachers and the influence and attraction of the selected readings.