Welcome to the Academic
Conversation
Dr. Barton, English 331
Today’s Objectives
• See academic writing as a conversation
• Identify key traits of that conversation
• Understand “inquiry” and how it differs from
reporting
• How to find any of this interesting
Conversations
• What are the characteristics of a good
conversationalist?
Good Conversational Skills
• Show passion for the topic or issue at hand.
• Be polite, friendly, and respectful to the other
person at all times.
• Ask questions and actually listen to the
responses.
• Show as much (if not more) interest in
hearing the other person’s views as sharing
your own.
Joining a Conversation
• Imagine a group of four strangers having a
conversation about a subject that interests you.
What’s the best way to join in?
a) Butt in, announce yourself as the ultimate authority
on the topic, and ask everyone to take notes as you
begin to lecture.
b) Stand there gawking, refuse eye contact, and
pretend not to hear if anyone asks you what you’re
doing there.
c) Introduce yourself, listen for awhile to get a feel for
the conversation, then make your point or ask a
question when the moment is right.
Group Activity
• P. 19 in the book lists 8 different fields.
– How do you imagine each of these fields would
deal with these issues?
• Steroid abuse
• The mobile revolution
Conversations to Academic
Conversations
• How do academic writers show respect to
their readers?
• How do they show they are as interested in
listening as they are in speaking?
• How can they be passionate about a topic
without seeming overly-emotional or biased?
They Say, I Say
Starting with “I say”
• [I say] SCSU should build a new weight lifting
facility exclusively for athletes.
• [I say] gun control is wrong because people
need to be able to defend their homes from
ninjas.
The Basic Template
• They say _____
– I say ______.
• John Smith writes that “Blah blah” (42).
However,
– [I say that] blah blah is another possibility.
• The Cornell study showed that 42% of blah
blah was blah (12).
– [I say] this result lends credence to my argument
that blah blah.
They Say, I Say
• [They Say] U.S. citizens have seen a tremendous
increase in political advertising, especially negative
political advertising, thanks to increased polarization of
voters—with a nod to ‘‘issue’’ politics—into mutually
hostile camps and increased campaign spending
(Ansolabehere & Iyengar, 1995; Jamieson,1996;
Johnson-Cartee & Copeland, 1997; Thurber, Nelson, &
Dulio, 2000).
• [I say] Yet little research has been devoted to how
citizens’ attention to negative campaign advertising,
their perceptions of the effects of this type of
advertising, and their voting preferences are related…
They Say, I Say
• [They say] Similarly, Elizabeth Murray, Hailey Sheets,
and Nicole Williams (2010) found that “a significant
number of composition instructors. . .feel
uncomfortable assigning multimodal projects in their
classrooms due to concerns with assessment” (para. 1).
• [I say] The assessment of multimodal “texts” is not only
a concern of the instructor, however. It is a crucial skill
students need to acquire to succeed as writers.
Learning to evaluate the effectiveness of a text is an
important part of being able to write and read well.
Group Activity
• In your groups, find examples of “they say, I
say” in the introductions of two different
articles in the journal.
General Traits
• Traits of academic conversation:
– Written within and for a specific discourse
community (the academic field in question)
– Careful attention to terminology and word choice
– Credible and substantial support for all claims
– Anticipation of possible refutations and problems
with evidence and arguments
– Necessary qualifications (in many cases; some
studies suggest, etc.)
The Problematic Trait
• The big trait of academic conversation is
inquiry:
– Problematize terms.
– Complicate or challenge “common sense” or
widely accepted notions.
– Struggle with uncertainty, doubt, or the unknown
Myths about Student Writers
• Students should write only to please a teacher
rather than a potentially broader audience,
such as a journal’s readership.
• Students should view their writing merely as
homework rather than something they do or
could do professionally.
• Students lack the knowledge or qualifications
to write for a professional or scholarly
audience.
Homework
1. Find and write down at least two different
academic journals from your field (mass comm,
English, etc.) and who publishes them (a
university, professional organization, etc.)
2. Do a survey of the last two years of each journal,
scanning the titles of the articles for keywords
and “hot” or recurring topics. Make a list of
these.
3. Extrapolate from this list 2-3 questions or issues
that are currently being explored by your field.