Writing Templates from They Say, I Say: Moves that Matter in Academic Writing
by Graff and C. Birkenstein
I. They Say: Starting With That Others Are Saying
A. Introducing “Standard Views”
1. Americans today tend to believe that _____________________
2. Conventional wisdom has it that _________________________
3. Common sense seems to dictate that _____________________
4. The standard way of thinking about _______________ has it that ___________________.
5. It is often said that ______________.
6. My whole life I have heard it said that ____________________.
7. You would think that ______________________.
8. Many people assumed that ____________________.
9. It has become common today to dismiss __________________.
B. Making What “They Say” Something You Say.
10. I’ve always believed that _______________.
11. When I was a child, I used to think that ________________.
12. Although I should know better by now, I cannot help thinking that ____________.
13. At the same time that I believe ________________, I also believe ____________.
C. Introducing Something Implied or Assumed but Not Plainly Stated.
14. Although none of them have ever said so directly, _____________ have often given me the
impression that ___________________.
15. One implication of ________’s treatment of __________ is that _______.
16. Although _____ does not say so directly, he/she apparently assumes that ________.
17. While they rarely admit as much, ___________ often take for granted that ____________.
D. Introducing an Ongoing Debate.
18. In discussions of ________, one controversial issue has been ______. On the one hand,
__________ argues ______________. On the other hand, __________ contends
___________. Others even maintain ___________. My own view is ____________.
19. 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 ______________.’
20. In conclusion, then, as I suggested contradicted by their claim that ____________.
II-III. They Say: The Art of Summarizing and Quoting
E. Verbs for Introducing Summaries and Quotations
21. Verbs for Making a Claim: argue, assert, believe, claim, emphasize, insist, observe, remind
us, report, suggest
22. Verbs for Expressing Agreement: acknowledge, admire, agree, endorse, extol, praise,
celebrate the fact that, corroborate, do not deny, reaffirm, support, verify
23. Verbs for Questioning or Disagreeing: complain, complicate, contend, contradict, deny,
deplore, qualify, question, refute, reject, renounce, repudiate
24. Verbs for Making a Recommendation: advocate, call for, demand, encourage, exhort,
implore, plead, recommend, urge warn.
F. Introducing Summaries and Quotations.
21. _______ advocates ________.
22. ___ celebrates the fact that ___.
23. _______, s/he admits.
24. _______ acknowledges that ___.
25. _______ agrees that ________.
26. _______ argues that _________.
27. _______ believes that ________.
28. __denies/does not deny that __.
29. _______ claims that _______.
30. _____ complains that _______.
31. _______ concedes that _______.
32. _____ demonstrates that _____.
33. __ deplores the tendency to ___.
34. ___ celebrates the fact that ___.
35. _____emphasizes that _______.
36. _______ insists that ______.
37. _______ observes that ______.
38. ____ questions whether ______.
39. ____ refutes the claim that ____.
40. _____ reminds us that _______.
41. _______ reports that ______.
42. _______ suggests that _______.
43. _______ urges us to ________.
G. Introducing Quotations
44. ______ states, “___________.”
45. As the prominent philosopher ______ puts it, “____________.”
46. According to _____, “__________.”
47. ______ himself writes, “___________.”
48. In his/her book/article, _______, ______ maintains that “_________”
49. Writing in the journal ________, _______ complains that “________.”
50. In ______’s view, “________.”
51. _______ agrees when he/she writes, “________.”
52. _______ disagrees when he/she writes, “_________.”
53. _______ complicates matters further when he writes, “ _______.”
H. Explaining Quotations
54. Basically, ________ is saying ___________.
55. In other words, ________ believes ____________.
56. In making this comment, _______ argues that _______.
57. ______ is insisting that _______.
58. ______ ‘s point is that ______.
59. The essence of _______’s argument is that ___________.
60. In their recent work ___ and ____ have offered harsh critiques of _______ for __________.
IV. I Say: Three Ways to Respond
I. Disagreeing, with Reasons
61. I think _____ is mistaken because he/she overlooks _______.
62. _____’s claim that _______ rests upon the questionable assumption that _________.
63. I disagree with _____’s view that because, as recent research has shown, __________.
64. ______ contradicts himself/herself . On the one hand, he/she argues ________. But on the
other hand, he/she also says _________. By focusing on _______, _______ overlooks the
deeper problem of ________.
65. _______ claims, but we don’t need him/her to tell us that. Anyone familiar with _______
has long known that _______.
J. Agreeing, with a Difference
66. I agree that ________ because my experience ________confirms it.
67. _______ surely is right about _________ because, as he/she may not be aware, recent
studies have shown that _______.
68. _______’s theory of _______ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult
problem of _________.
69. Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know that it basically
boils down to _________.
70. If group ______ is right that __________, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the
popular assumption that ________.
K. Agreeing and Disagreeing Simultaneously
71. Although I agree with _____ up to a point, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that
__________.
72. Although I disagree with much that ________ says, I fully endorse his final conclusion that
_________.
73. Though I concede that ___________, I still insist that __________.
74. Whereas ________ provides ample evidence that _________, _____ and ____’s research on
______ and _____ convinces me that ______ instead.
75. ______ is right that _______, but he/she seems on more dubious ground when she claims
that _________.
76. While ____ is probably wrong when she claims that _____, she is right that ______.
77. I’m of two minds about _______’s claim that _______. On the one hand, I agree that _____.
On the other hand, I’m not sure if _________.
78. My feelings on the issue are mixed. I do support _________’s position that ______, but I
find ______’s argument about _________ and _____’s research on ________ to be equally
persuasive.
V. “And Yet”: Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say
L. Signaling Who is Saying What
79. My view, however contrary to what X has argued, is that _________.
80. Adding to X’s argument, I would point out that _______.
81. _____ argues _____
82. According to both _____ and _____, ________________
83. __________________, ______ argues, should ______________.
84. Most _____________ will tell you that ____________.
85. My own view, however, is that ____________.
86. ________’s assertion that _____ does not fit the facts.
87. Anyone familiar with _______ should agree that ________.
88. I agree, as _____ may not realize, that _________.
89. But _________ are real and, arguably, the most significant factor in _________.
90. But _____ is wrong that __________.
91. However, it is simply not true that ________.
92. But the view that _______ does not fit all the facts.
93. ______ is right that ______.
94. ______ is wrong that ______.
95. ______ is both right and wrong that _______.
96. Yet a sober analysis of the matter reveals _______________.
97. Nevertheless, new research shows ________.
98. Anyone familiar with _________ should see that ________.
M. Embedding Voice Markers
99. ______ overlooks what I consider an important point about ________.
100. My own view is that what _____ insists is a _______ is in fact a _______.
101. I wholeheartedly endorse what ______ calls ______.
102. These conclusions, which _____ discusses in _________, add weight to the argument
that _________.
VI. “Skeptics May Object”: Planting a Naysayer in Your Text
N. Entertaining Objections
103. At this point I would like to raise some objections that have been inspired by the skeptic
in me. He/She feels that I have been ignoring __________. “____________,” he/she says to
me, “_______.”
104. Yet some readers may challenge the view that __________. After all, many believe
__________. Indeed, my own argument that _________ seems to ignore ________ and
________.
105. Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion that ________.
O. Naming your Naysayers
106. Here many _________ would probably object that ___________.
107. But _________________ would certainly take issue with the argument that
___________.
108. _____________, of course, may want to dispute my claim that ________.
109. Nevertheless, both followers and critics of ______ will probably argue that ____.
110. Although not all _______ think alike, some of them will probably dispute my claim that
______.
111. ___________________ are so diverse in their views that it’s hard to generalize about
them, but some are likely to object on the grounds that _______.
P. Introducing Objections Informally
112. But is my proposal realistic? What are the chances of its actually being adopted?
113. Yet is it always true that ______?
114. Is it always the case, as I have been suggesting, that ________?
115. However, does the evidence I’ve cited prove conclusively that ________?
116. “Impossible,” you say, “Your evidence must be skewed.”
Q. Making Concessions while Still Standing Your Ground
117. Although I grant that _________, I still maintain that __________.
118. Proponents of ______ are right to argue that. But they exaggerate when they claim that
______.
119. While it is true that _______, it does not necessarily follow that ______.
120. On the one hand, I agree with _____ that _________. But on the other hand, I still insist
that _________.
VI. “So What, Who Cares?”: Saying Why It Matters
Q. Indicating Who Cares: Updating Prior Thinking
121. ________ used to think ______. But recently [or within the past few decades] _______
suggests that ______.
122. What this new research does, then, is correct the mistaken impression, held by many
earlier researchers, that _______.
123. These findings challenge the work of earlier researchers, who tended to assume that
________.
124. Recent studies like these shed new light on ________, which previous studies had not
addressed.
125. Researchers have long assumed that ____________. For instance, one eminent scholar
of ___________, assumed in his/her important work, _____________, that ___________.
As ___________ himself/herself put it, “______________” (reference). Another leading
scientist, _________, argued that “ _______________” (reference). Ultimately, when it
came to _______________, the basic assumption was that _________. But a new body of
research shows that ________________ are more complex and _______________.
126. If ____________________ stopped to think about it, many of them might simply
assume that _______________. However, new research shows _____________.
127. These findings challenge_______s’ common assumptions that ___________.
128. At first glance, ________ appear to _____. But on closer inspection __________.
R. So What : Establishing Why Your Claims Matter
129. _______ matters/is important because ____________.
130. Although ____________ may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern
over ________.
131. Ultimately, what is at stake here is __________.
132. These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of __________.
133. My discussion of ___________ is in fact addressing the larger matter of ________.
134. These conclusions/This discovery will have significant applications in __________ as well
as in ___________.
135. Although _______ may seem of concern to only a small group of ___________, it should
in fact concern anyone who cares about __________.
X. “But Don’t Get Me Wrong”: The Art of Metacommentary
S. Adding Metacommentary
136. In other words, _____________.
137. What _____ really means by this is ___________.
138. My point is _________.
139. Essentially, I am arguing that ___________.
140. My point is not that we should ________, but that we should ________.
141. What __________ really means is ______.
142. In other words, _______.
143. To put it another way, ________.
144. In sum, then, _________.
145. My conclusion, then, is that, _________.
146. In short, _________.
147. What is more important, ___________.
148. Incidentally, ___________.
149. By the way, ___________.
150. Chapter __ explores _____, while Chapter ___ examines _____.
151. Having just argued that ____, let us now turn our attention to ______.
152. Although some readers may object that _______, I would answer that ____.
XI. Commonly Used Transitions
Cause and Effect
Accordingly
As a result
Consequently
Hence
It follows, then
Since
So
Then
Therefore
Thus
Conclusion
As a result
Consequently
Hence
In conclusion, then
In short
In sum, then
It follows, then
So
The upshot of all
this is that
Therefore
Thus
To sum up
To summarize
Comparison
Along the same
lines
In the same way
Likewise
Similarly
Contrast
Although
But
By contrast
Conversely
Despite the fact that
Even though
However
In contrast
Nevertheless
Nonetheless
On the contrary
On the other hand
Regardless
Whereas
While
Yet
Addition
Also
And
Besides
Furthermore
In addition
In fact
Indeed
Moreover
So too
Concession
Admittedly
Although it is true
that
Granted
I concede that
Of course
Naturally
To be sure
Example
After all
As an illustration
Consider
For example
For instance
Specifically
To take a case in
Point
Elaboration
Actually
By extension
In short
That is
In other words
To put it in another
way
To put it bluntly
To put it succinctly
Ultimately