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. … 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. … The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still
vigorously in progress.
- Kenneth Burke
Notes on They Say / I Say: The Moves
that Matter in Academic Writing
By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein
The central claim of the authors: “It is our belief that the ‘they say / I say’ pattern cuts
across different disciplines and genres of writing, including creative writing. Although
students must eventually master the specific writing conventions of their majors, we believe
that there is no major or discipline that does not require writers to frame their own claims
as a response to what others before them have said. Indeed, students who master the
elemental moves prompted by the templates in this book should actually become better able
to appreciate the differences between disciplines and genres” (xviii).
“They say / I say” is the “internal DNA” of all argumentation. Coming to recognize the
way these moves work in their own writing are positioned to become better readers, too,
since the templates help them to recognize the ways that authors are positioning themselves
in relationship to other arguments.
The book provides templates “not to stifle critical thinking but to be direct with students
about the key rhetorical moves that comprise it” (xv); the forms don’t dictate content but
provide “a way of formatting how you say it” (11).
Part I. “They Say”
The simplest template for academic writing is this one: “They say ____; I say ____.” In
other words, writing—all writing—is about listening to others, summarizing their views, and
responding with your own idea. It’s about more than asserting your own position—it’s
about placing that position within the conversation that’s already been taking place. The
conversation doesn’t have to be a response to great authors or experts or some well-known
person—it can be a response to some interior struggle, or to your sister. But there’s got to
be some tension:
When I was a kid, I thought that all people could succeed if they just tried hard
enough. The older I get, though, the more I see that our chances for success are
greatly restricted by our location, our upbringing, and the institutions we
participate in.
The goal of writing like this is NOT to “play it safe.” Good persuasive writing is not about
repeating the truths that are already accepted by your audience; instead, persuasive writing
can only have a purpose if it challenges some belief your readers hold. However, this
expectation doesn’t mean that you have to make ridiculous claims—and in some cases,
agreement can be a part of persuasive writing, if you have something NEW to add to the
accepted view:
Her argument that _____________ is supported by new research/my own
experience/changing attitudes that ______________.
Changing the world begins with a sentence like this: “Of course, someone may object that
________.”
This structure works well for academic writing, but it’s not only about the academy—it’s also
a good model that helps us realize we need to listen to others different from us and find
ways of engaging with them thoughtfully and respectfully.
According to Graff and Birkenstein, argumentative writing needs to identify WHO it’s
responding to, early in the writing: “To keep an audience engaged, a writer needs to
explain what he or she is responding to—either before offering that response or, at least,
very early in the discussion. Delaying this explanation for more than one or two
paragraphs in a very short essay, three or four pages in a longer one, or more than ten or so
pages in a book-length text, reverses the natural order in which readers process material”
(18).
So, start with what they say. (Then follow up with what an indication of what you say—what
you intend to ADD to the topic. Otherwise it feels like you’re just going to deliver the
party line.)
An illustrative quotation, a surprising fact/statistic, a personal experience can work as a
way of introducing what they say, as long as it illustrates the view that you’re addressing.
Templates for introducing the standard view
 Americans today tend to believe that ____.
 Conventional wisdom is that ____.
 The standard way of thinking about ___ is that _____.
 My whole life I have heard it said that _____.
 Many people have agreed with ____, who claims that ______.
Presenting the standard view as your own
 I’ve always believed that ______.
 When I was a child, I used to believe that ___________.
Presenting an argument that is often implied
 Although none of them have ever said so directly, my teachers have often given
me the impression that ________
 Though they may not admit it, _______ often take for granted that ________.
Setting up sides of an issue
 In discussions of ___, one controversial aspect has been ______. On the one
hand, ______ argues __________. On the other hand, _________ suggests that
___________. [Because of ________,] My view is ___________.
 When it comes to the topic of ______________, most of us agree that
____________. But the agreement usually ends when we reach the question of
____________. While some believe that ______________, others feel that
____________.
As you write, you should return to the view that you’re responding to, which helps
maintain a sense of purpose and significance for the writing. And it helps your readers see
that you’re honestly responding rather than just presenting information about a topic.
Summarizing the positions of others
A summary is not your response, your opinion, or your griping about the topic. And it’s
also not just a string of quotations from the text. It’s tricky: “A good summary requires
balancing what the original author is saying with [your] own focus. Generally speaking, a
summary must be at once true to what the original author says while at the same time
emphasizing those aspects of what the author ways that interest you.”
If you do an honest job of summarizing, your reader shouldn’t be able to tell whether you
agree or disagree with the author’s position.
Don’t fall into the “closest cliché” trap—that’s when “what gets summarized is not the view
the author in question has actually expressed, but a familiar cliché that the writer mistakes
for the author’s view.” This is reducing an argument to a trope or cliché or truism that is
much simpler than the real argument presented.
Since a text will often provide relevant information about a variety of topics, you’ll want to
summarize it in relationship to the topic that you’re addressing. This is not simplifying in
the dishonest or reductive sense but merely stressing those elements/points which are most
relevant to your argument. Also, summarizing the text in terms of the topic that you’re
focused on will help you work from the big picture down to the relevant details—rather than
just providing a “list summary” of points with no main focus. (List summaries are typically
joined by “and then,” “next,” “after that,” etc. A list summary is what your four-year-old
nephew gives you when he summarizes his trip to the museum: “We saw bears! And then
we went to a room that had a bunch of igloos in it! And then we saw a dinosaur bone! And
then there was a room that had dead people in it!” In a summary like this, it’s not clear why
the speaker is choosing to summarize specific points of the experience.)
Balance objectivity with accuracy. In persuasive writing, most authors are not merely
“stating” something—they’re also participating in a conversation by agreeing and
disagreeing, providing examples, challenging claims, etc. As a result, a good reader will
recognize the stance of the author and provide phrasing to indicate that stance in their
own summary.




Words to show that the author is making a claim: argue, assert, believe, claim,
emphasize, insist, observe, suggest
Words to show that the author agrees with someone else’s idea: acknowledge,
admire, agree, corroborate, endorse, extol, praise, do not deny, verify
Words to show questioning or disagreement: complain, complicate, contend,
contradict, deny, disavow, refute, challenge, question,
Words to show that the author is making a recommendation: advocate, call for,
demand, encourage, implore, plead, urge, warn
For example, in most persuasive writing, the authors aren’t just “talking about” an idea.
Instead, you might summarize by writing that Jones disagrees with authorities on _______
by providing evidence to support his claim that _________, and he wants to encourage his
readers to ___________ as a result of his assertions.
Crafting quotations to support your argument
When building on ideas from others, the biggest danger is not in avoiding quotations
altogether, nor is it in using too many of them; instead, the biggest danger is assuming that
a reader will understand how the quote supports your argument. Avoid this danger by
building quotation sandwiches—the top slice gives the reader information to understand
the quote, and the bottom slice helps the reader understand how the quotation is relevant
to your own ideas.
Templates for setting up and following up on quotations.
 Basically, X is saying ____________.


In other words, X believes ____________.
In making this comment, X argues that ______________.
Some quotations may not need a lot of set up. But those that are long and complex, or
filled with details or jargon, or that require additional complexities (like metaphors), are
especially likely to require a good bit of front-loading before you insert the quotation.
Part II. “I Say”
Okay, so you’ve figured out how to fairly restate what somebody else is saying. But that’s
just the beginning. For persuasive writing, you also want to be able to add something to the
conversation.
There are three basic ways to respond: I agree. I disagree. I both agree and disagree.
Though these ways to respond seem pretty basic, in fact they become even more important
as your writing becomes more complex: readers need a way to see how your ideas fit on the
roadmap they already have: are you going in the same direction as they are? Are you going
in a different direction? Are you taking a new route to get to the same place? And why?
Merely agreeing, or merely disagreeing, is not enough. You’ve also got to say why it matters.
Templates for disagreeing:
 I think X is mistaken because she overlooks ____________.
 X’s claim that _____________ rests upon the questionable assumption that
___________.
 In light of recent research showing __________________, I disagree with X that
_______________.
 X contradicts himself. On one hand he seems to suggest that __________ while
at the same time he also asserts that _________________.
 By focusing on ___________, X distracts from the real problem of
_______________.
Templates for agreeing
 I agree with X that ________________ because my own experience
________________ confirms it.
 Recent studies about _______________ support X’s point that _____________.
 X’s writing about _________________ helps to shed light on the
difficult/unrelated topic of ________________.
 Since I agree with X that _______________, we need to reassess the popular
belief that ___________.
Most persuasive writing, then, walks a line between texts that line up with the author’s
viewpoint and those which complicate or contradict it. Usually, agreeing with some
perspective also means disagreeing with some other way of looking at things.
Templates for agreeing and disagreeing
 Although I disagree with X’s main point, I concede that his point about
____________ is persuasive.
 Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept her overall point that
____________.

Whereas X provides ample evidence that __________________, X and Z’s
research on _________________ convinces me that _______________ instead.
A template for speculative exploration
 I have mixed feelings about the text. On one hand, I agree with X that
_______________. On the other hand, I find his claim that
__________________ is problematic.
Placing yourself clearly in the writing
The danger of incorporating the ideas of other writers is that it can become hard for
readers to tell where your summary of others’ ideas ends and your own stance begins. As a
result, it’s important for you to provide “markers” that help to indicate where you are
beginning your own argument.
Templates for marking off your own claims
 My own view, however, is that _______________.
 I believe, as X may not, that _________________.
 X’s assertion that __________________ does not fit the facts. Rather, the
evidence shows that __________________. [In this sentence you’re using a claim
to distinguish your ideas from source X, and then you’re letting the evidence
establish your perspective.]
You can also distinguish your claims from others’ by embedding their idea within a sentence.
This helps to attribute the idea to its source while also providing your position on that
idea—all within the same sentence. Tricky, but smart.
Templates for embedding [Note that one template helps to distinguish ideas that are
different from your own while the other helps you distinguish an idea that supports your
own.]
 I assert that what X calls ______________ is in fact _________________.
 X’s conclusion that __________________ adds weight to my claim that
___________.
Acknowledging naysayers
Since persuasive writing is about persuading people to believe something different than
they already do, those people will have different attitudes, values, priorities, or
interpretations than you do. That’s why you’re writing. And you can build credibility by
acknowledging—rather than dismissing or ignoring—the beliefs of your audience. Those
beliefs are sometimes counterarguments, and if you don’t address counterarguments then
you run the risk of being seen as close-minded. You can even allow yourself to act as a
naysayer in a text.
Templates for introducting counterarguments
 At this point I want to raise some objections inspired by the skeptic in me. She
feels that I have been ignoring the issue of _________. “______,” she says to me,
“____________________.”
 Some readers, however, may challenge my view that _______________. After
all, many believe that _____________________. In truth, my argument about
_________ does seem to ignore _____________.
 But is my idea realistic? What are the chances of it actually being adopted?
 Does the evidence I’ve provided compellingly show ___________-?
Templates for introducing counterarguments held by a specific group of people (liberals,
Christians, capitalists)
 Here many feminists may object that ______________.
 Biologists, of course, may dispute my claim that _____________.
 Though not all Christians think alike, a fairly common perspective they hold, in
opposition to my own, may be that __________________.
Though labeling groups introduces a level of generalization that may be uncomfortable, it
also allows for the possibility of connecting your ideas to the larger interaction of ideas.
The third example shows a way to avoid overgeneralization while still ascribing a view to a
certain group.
Answering objections
It’s not enough just to acknowledge the views of others—you also need to answer them. And
you need to answer them fairly, without mocking or oversimplifying. And your response to
the counterargument needs to be more persuasive than the counterargument. “That’s just
wrong” is not persuasive, since it’s not backed up with any research or logic or example.
And, often, you’ll discover that finding a way to effectively address a counterargument will
allow you to refine your own position by giving it greater depth and precision.
Giving up group while still holding position
 Although I admit that ___________, I still maintain that __________ since
__________.
 Proponents are right to point out that _______________. But they
exaggerate/misrepresent the evidence when they say ________________.
 While it is true that _________________, this fact does not necessarily
cause/indicate/show that __________________.
What if you discover that a counterargument is more persuasive than your stance? Well,
this discovery probably means you need to do some major revision. One goal of writing is
to help you extend your own thinking, and a fair investigation of the evidence may mean
that you learn something new that changes your view. That’s not a bad thing.
Part III. Some Additional Considerations
Establishing significance
If it isn’t clear why your audience should care about your writing, they probably won’t.
Since you’re writing to persuade someone to revisit their position on some topic, one of
the easy ways to help a reader see the significance of your writing is by helping them see
how your claim may differ from their own. If you’re writing about something that
everyone already accepts, there’s not much reason to be writing about it.
A thesis statement is not a bad place to establish significance by identifying the tension
between a group’s current view and the position that you advocate.
 __________ used to think that ____________. But a shifting focus on
___________ has meant that _______________.
 This position challenges the work of critics who have assumed that
___________________.
 Recent studies shed new light on __________, which previous studies had not
addressed.
 If sports enthusiasts stopped to think about it, they might simply assume that
most athletes _____________. However, new research/events show that
____________.
 At first glance teenagers might say __________________. But on closer
inspection they might realize _______________________.
In addition to identifying which groups of people might care about the topic, you probably
also want to explain why they should care.
 ______ matters because _________.
 Although ______ may seem unimportant, it is a crucial factor in our society’s
investigation of ________________.
 My discussion of ______________ is in fact addressing the larger matter of
____________.
Hey, you might even be able to say that a good thesis statement generally identifies your
position in relationship to other positions and then explains why your position on the topic
matters.
Metacommentary
Metacommentary is the stuff in writing that tells the reader how to interpret the ideas you
present. It’s a way of guiding the reader through your ideas. In some ways many of these
templates provide ways to build metacommentary into your writing. But here are some
other places for metacommentary.
Templates to clarify and elaborate. You use these because, no matter how clear your
argument, sometimes readers will end up on a sideroad. Generally writers assume that the
reader is more familiar with the topic than he or she really is.
 In other words, _____________________.
 What _______ really means is that __________________.
 To put it another way, ___________________.
Template to prevent misunderstanding
 My point is not that we should __________________, but that we should
____________.
Template to provide a ‘roadmap’ to your structure
 The first section provides __________________ while the second section
_____________.
 Having just argued that _________________, let us now turn our attention to
___________.
 Given this information about ______________ we can now begin to investigate
the dispute in more detail.
 Thus, the position of ____________ is ______________. In contrast, the
position of ________________ is _________________.
Moving from general claims to specific examples
 For example, _____________________.
 ________, for instance, shows that _____________.
 ____________ provides a specific illustration of _____________.
Improving the flow
Most of these templates are based on some recurring ways of relating ideas to one another.
In general you can establish a clearer flow of ideas if you try to show the way that each is
connected to the previous idea and to the idea that follows. The words that help you show
these connections are called transitions. The most common relationships indicated by
transitions are
 Addition: also, and, besides, additionally
 Exemplification: after all, for example, to illustrate, specifically
 Elaboration: by extension, that is, to put it another way, ultimately
 Comparison: along the same lines, likewise, similarly
 Contrast: on the other hand, although, but, in contrast, despite the fact that,
however, nonetheless
 Cause and effect: as a result, because, since, so, then, therefore, thus
 Concession: admittedly, although it is true, granted, of course
 Conclusion: in short, in sum, to sum up, overall, ultimately
Another way to create connection among ideas is by using the pointing words, like “these,”
“this,” “such,” “that,” “those”; and like “his,” “her,” “its,” and “their.” Of course, if you
use pointing words, make sure your reader can figure out what you’re pointing to! An easy
way to do this is by following up words like “this” and “those” with a phrase to rename
whatever it is that you’re talking about.
Useful exercises from the book (matched to the 1st edition)
I.1 --- Identify the ‘positioning phrases’ that the student writer uses.
1.1 --- Developing plausible ‘they says’ for each claim.
2.1 --- Write two summaries of the same excerpt, for two different purposes/focuses.
3.1 --- Identify top slice and bottom slice in someone else’s quotation sandwich.
4.1 --- Identify how the author of the excerpt positions herself in relationship to the
stances of those who have come before her.
5.1 --- Identify the markers the author of the excerpt uses to set of her ideas from those
of the sources she’s building from.
6.1 --- Plant a naysayer in an excerpt from Schlosser.
p. 126 --- Identify the metacommentary tags in the Postman excerpt.