Unpacking Your Thinking
Paraphrasing Contributions
Comparing Contributions
 My partner/group and I determined
that ___ because ___.
 If I understand you correctly, your
opinion is ___.
 I have another way of looking at
this.
 I/we concluded that __ because __.
 Let me see if I got this right. You
are saying ___.
 I agree with ___ but I don’t agree
with ___ because___.
 In other words, you are saying ___.
 Have you thought about ___?
 So, you are recommending that ___.
 My perspective is similar to ___’s.
 My perspective is ___ because __.
I approached it by ___ because ___.
Soliciting a Response
 What do you think?
We haven’t heard from ___ yet.
What are your thoughts?
Affirming Contributions
 I see what you mean.
 Now I understand your perspective.
 I share your point of view.
 Your explanation helped me
understand ___.
Critiquing Others’ Reasoning
Responding to Paraphrasing
 Yes, that is accurate.
 It doesn’t appear that you have
sufficient evidence to claim ___.
 I don’t believe your argument is
viable because ___.
You might consider trying ___.
My idea builds upon ___’s.
 No, that isn’t quite accurate
because ____.
Drawing Conclusions
 Based on ___, my
hypothesis/conjecture is ___.
 I can conclude ___ because ___.
 I predict ___ because ___.
 What do you mean by ___?
 Will you explain ___ again?
 I have a question about ___.
I don’t quite understand ___.
Asking for Justification
What is the reasoning/evidence for
your conclusion?
What makes you think that?
Does that always work?
Interjecting an Idea
 May I say something?
 May I add an idea?
Holding the Floor
 The evidence that supports my
conclusion is ___.
 As I was saying, …
 My argument is viable because ___.
 What I was trying to say was ___.
 I can justify my conclusion by ___.
 If I could finish my thought …
Upon analysis of the text, I can
conclude___ because ___.
I’d like to complete my thought.

 There was no proof when you said,
“___,” so please elaborate on ____.
 I have an alternative strategy.
Asking for Clarification
Secondary
Discourse
Sentence
Starters