Battista – ENG 102
Metacommentary
In the research essay, a skill that we will seek to develop is the art of metacommentary, or
writing about writing. Often, when students begin to incorporate sources into their writing, they
adopt a “one-and-done” approach, where they quote from a source once and never return to it,
meaning that the sourced information has little meaning in the essay as a whole. For this project,
a point of emphasis will be getting away from this “one-and-done” or “hit-and-run” mentality
and working on more complex ways of integrating sources in order to create a conversation
between you and your sources. A good place to start is at the paragraph level.
Goal: To develop one solid paragraph that puts at least two sources in conversation with each
other and advances one of your central claims or ideas.
To start: Jot down answers to the following questions. You can answer these before, during, or
after you write your paragraph.
 What is the main idea of this paragraph?
 What is my claim in relation to the claims that I’ve been covering
 How does this paragraph fit into the larger scope of my essay (i.e. what purpose does it
serve?)
Writing the paragraph: Use your research profile to write your paragraph. As you write, make
use of the templates available from They Say, I Say.
You’ll want to start by introducing a quotation: “According to ____,” “In his book _____,
______ argues that ______,” “______ suggests that ______,” etc.
After introducing a quotation, you’ll want to develop the art of metacommentary (writing about
writing). A good way to do this is to master implementing these templates: “What _____ means
is that ______,” “In other words, _________ is important because ________,” “Essentially, the
importance of this claim is that _______,” etc.
Finally, be sure to include transitions that allow for metacommentary, your own commentary on
the research you’re presenting. Some strategies include: Providing readers with a roadmap to
your text—“In this essay, I argue that there are three fundamental flaws to
capitalism________,”—Move from a general claim to a specific one—“Consider _______, for
example”—or Agree with a difference—“While I support ___’s claim that _______, I cannot
agree with his understanding of ________ because it ________.”