Responding to Sources
They Say, I Say Chapters 4 and 5
They Say / I Say: Responding to
Sources
• As you write essay #1, you should ask yourself if
you are agreeing, disagreeing, or doing a little of
both as you read what you have found. As you
interact with the ideas of others in your texts,
there are two things you need to remember:
– Place yourself clearly in respect to other arguments
by either agreeing, disagreeing, or doing a mixture of
both.
– It is not enough just to say that you agree/disagree.
What else do you need to do? The answer is to explain
why and make your agreement or disagreement
unique to you.
Distinguishing What You Say from
What They Say
• The authors of They Say, I Say call the phrases
that help distinguish the ideas of your sources
from your own ideas “voice markers.” Using
these markers will help your reader to know
when you are referring to ideas that you do
not necessarily agree with.
Example Disagreement
• In the article “Why the Odds are Still Stacked against
women in Hollywood,” the author interviews several
women who believe that women are partially to
blame for the gender imbalance in Hollywood, citing
women’s tendency not to self-promote and to seek
approval in a way that hurts their careers (Masters).
However, by focusing on what women are doing
wrong, the article overlooks the deeper problem of
a business that seems to deny equal opportunity to
Template from page
women no matter what they do. If a woman acts
60 of TSIS.
boldly, “like a man,” in order to be successful, she
risks getting a reputation as bossy and hard to work
Voice marker,
with, thereby missing out on opportunities. But to
hear the women Masters interviews tell it, if a
identifying that
woman acts feminine and accommodating, she
these aren’t my
loses big opportunities to those who are willing to
ideas.
be more pushy. No woman should be forced to
make this choice with no right answer, especially in
Further explanation
an industry that profits so much from female
of why I disagree.
consumers.
Introduces article,
summarizes point
to be discussed,
gives credit to
author using in-text
citation.
Practice With Disagreeing
• Option 1
– If one of the sources you will cite in your Essay #1 about
diversity says something that you disagree with, and you
have that source available to you tonight, use one of the
templates from p. 60 of They Say, I Say to make a quote
sandwich and explain your disagreement. (A bit of advice:
start your quote sandwich with a bit of lead-up/context for
the argument.)
• Option 2
– If you do not have any of your sources from your essay
with you, find a quote or an idea that you disagree with
from any of the essays we have read so far in the class and
make your quote sandwich about the idea you choose. You
should still use a template from They Say, I Say p. 60
Example Agreement
•
Introduces article,
quotes point to be
discussed, gives credit to
author using in-text
citation.
Template from page 64
of TSIS.
Further explanation of
why I agree, adding
something to the
conversation.
Deryl Hannah argues that representations of
gay and lesbian people of color are important
because to portray the LBGT community and
its allies as entirely white would “inaccurately
promote a world in which it would appear
that LGBT people of color do not exist, or that
acceptance of LGBT people is exclusive to
white populations” (Hannah). I agree with
Hannah that inaccurate portrayals of the
diversity within the gay and lesbian
community are troubling, a point that needs
emphasizing because many people still
believe that minority communities are
backward and intolerant when it comes to
their own LBGT members. To portray white
communities as “enlightened” and accepting
and minority communities as oblivious at
best and bigoted at worst perpetuates old,
ugly racial stereotypes.
Practice With Agreeing
• Option 1
– If one of the sources you will cite in your Essay #1 about
diversity says something that you agree with, and you have that
source available to you tonight, use one of the templates from
p. 62 or 64 of They Say, I Say to make a quote sandwich and
explain your disagreement. (A bit of advice: start your quote
sandwich with a bit of lead-up/context for the argument.)
• Option 2
– If you do not have any of your sources from your essay with you
tonight, find a quote or an idea that you agree with from any of
the essays we have read so far in the class and make your quote
sandwich about the idea you choose. You should still use a
template from They Say, I Say p. 62 or 64.
Example Agree and Disagree at Once
• In the article “Tyler Perry’s Money Machine,”
Eugene Robinson argues that even though
Tyler Perry has been called formulaic, he is
successful because he is one of a very small
number of film makers who is making films
that portray African Americans as “people
relating to other people” (347). Although I
agree with Robinson up to a point, and I
certainly see the importance of films in which
Template from page 65 of
minority characters are fully rounded, not
TSIS.
stereotypes, I cannot accept his overriding
assumption that African-American viewers are
“settling” for Perry’s films only because there
is nothing better that portrays them positively.
In this time of dwindling ticket sales and
Further explanation of the increasing ticket prices, Perry’s
overwhelmingly black audience must be
point on which I disagree.
getting something more out of his movies
than positive representation and cliché
humor, as Robinson suggests.
Introduces article, quotes
point to be discussed, gives
credit to author using intext citation.
Practice Agreeing and Disagreeing
• Option 1
– If one of the sources you will cite in your Essay #1 about
diversity says something that you agree with parts of, but
disagree with other parts, and you have that source available to
you tonight, use one of the templates from p. 65-66 of They Say,
I Say to make a quote sandwich and explain your disagreement.
(A bit of advice: start your quote sandwich with a bit of leadup/context for the argument.)
• Option 2
– If you do not have any of your sources from your essay with you
tonight, find a quote or an idea that you are of two minds about
from any of the essays we have read so far in the class and make
your quote sandwich about the idea you choose. You should still
use a template from They Say, I Say p. 65-66.