Starting with What
Others Are Saying
“They Say/I Say”
The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing
Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein © 2006 W.W. Norton
ENG 108 College Writing &
Research
Dr. Jeney
Missouri Western State University
O:English/Jeney/ENG 108/PPT #1 Starting with What
The “Unending Conversation”
• … the “unending
conversation” that is going on
at the point in history when
we are born. Imagine that
you enter a parlor. You come
late. When you arrive, others
have long preceded you, and
they are engaged in a heated
discussion, a discussion too
heated for them to pause and
tell you exactly what it is
about.
Enter the “Burkean Parlor”
• In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any
of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to
retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You
listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught
the tenor of the argument; then you put in your
oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes
to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to
either the embarrassment or gratification of your
opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s
assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The
hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart,
with the discussion still vigorously in progress. (Kenneth
Burke, 110-11, Philosophy of Literary Form)
Why Start With A Summary of
What Others Are Saying?
• Present your claim as part of some larger
conversation…
• Show that you have “done your
homework,” that you know enough to have
something worthwhile to say
• Give readers a quick preview of what is
motivating your argument…
• Allow previous writers do the work of
framing and clarifying the main issue…
Conventional Moves for
Introducing what others are saying
First, prepare your reader for the upcoming
quoted or summarized material:
• A number of reviewers have suggested that
______________ has several fundamental
problems.
• In her 2005 review, X offers a harsh
critique of ________________________.
Introducing “standard views”
Definition:
stan·dard (stān'dərd) n.
Something set up and established by
authority, custom, or general consent
as a rule for the measure of quantity,
weight, extent, value, or quality as a
model or example.
Introducing “standard views”
• Common sense seems to dictate that ___
__________________________________.
• It appears obvious that ______________.
• Only claim that something is “common sense” if it
can be demonstrated through simple logic and
reason.
• Only claim that something is “obvious” to
everyone if it is a view universally assumed and/or
shared (not if it’s only “obvious” to one group,
faction, or interested party)
Introducing “standard views”
• The standard way of thinking about X
has it that _______________________.
• Unless the “way of thinking” is completely
obvious to your readership, it may be a good idea
to give examples of why it is safe to assume that
this is the “standard” way of thinking.
Introducing “standard views”
• Throughout my whole life I have heard
people say that _____________________.
• It is sometimes helpful to ground a claim about
“standard” views and ideas in your own personal
experience.
Introducing “standard views”
• Americans today tend to believe that ___
__________________________________.
• When making sweeping claims about standard
beliefs, make sure you don’t sweep too wide!
Claiming that “everyone knows” something is too
far-reaching, especially since what we “know” or
“believe” in the USA may not hold as a belief in
China, Serbia, or the United Arab Emirates.
Making what “They Say”
something that You say
• I’ve always believed that _____________.
• When I was a child, I used to think that
_________________________________.
• Although I should know better by now, I cannot
help thinking that _____________.
• At the same time I believe _________, I also
believe _______________________.
• Readers sometimes identify with you as a voice and a
persona when you personalize the views argued in your
written piece
Introducing something
implied or assumed
• Although none of them have ever said so
directly, my teachers have often given me
the impression that __________________.
• One implication of X’s treatment of _____
__________ is that __________________.
• Although X does not say so directly, he
apparently assumes that ______________.
Introducing an ongoing debate
• In discussions of X, one controversial issue
has been ______________. On the one
hand, ___________ argues ____________.
On the other hand, ___________________
contends ____________________. Others
even maintain ____________________.
My own view is ____________________.
Introducing an ongoing debate
• Theories of N have been dominated for
centuries by two opposing views. One, X,
sees N as (a). The other, Z, sees N as
largely (b). – Mark Aronoff, “Washington Sleeped Here”
Introducing an ongoing debate
• Theories of how the mind/brain works have
been dominated for centuries by two
opposing views. One, rationalism, sees the
human mind as coming into this world more
or less fully formed—preprogrammed, in
modern terms. The other, empiricism, sees
the mind of the newborn as largely
unstructured, a blank slate.
– Mark Aronoff,
“Washington Sleeped Here”
Sorting out what “They” have said
+ introducing how “we” see it
• When it comes to the topic of __________,
most of us will readily agree that _______
_________. Where this agreement usually
ends, however, is on the question of
_________. Whereas some are convinced
that ______________, others maintain that
_______________. In my own experience,
_________________ has usually been the
case.
Exercise: Convert “I say” claims
into “they say” sentences.
• Example:
– Our experiments suggest that there are
dangerous levels of Chemical X in the Ohio
groundwater.
– Smith and Jones concluded that there are
dangerous levels of Chemical X in the Ohio
groundwater (2006).
Exercise: Convert “I say” claims
into “they say” sentences.
1. My own view is that this novel has certain
flaws.
2. Football is boring.
3. Male students often dominate class discussions.
4. In my view the film is really about the
problems of romantic relationships.
5. I’m afraid that writing formulas like these will
stifle my creativity.
Starting with What
Others Are Saying
“They Say/I Say”
The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing
Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein © 2006 W.W. Norton
ENG 108 College Writing &
Research
Dr. Jeney
Missouri Western State University
O:English/Jeney/ENG 108/PPT #1 Starting with What