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TEMPLATES FOR ACADEMIC CONVERSATION
(Balancing sources and your own thoughts)
*The following templates and suggestions are taken from the text They Say, I Say by
Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, published by the University of Chicago in
2006.
1. Templates for Introducing What “They Say”
These are templates for someone who plans on defending X:

A number of sociologists have recently suggested that X’s work has
several fundamental problems.

It has become common today to dismiss X’s contribution to the field
of sociology.

In their recent work, Y and Z have offered harsh critiques of Dr. X for
___________
2. Templates for Introducing “Standard Views”
The following templates can help you introduce a view that has become so
widely accepted that by now it is essentially the conventional way of thinking
about a topic. These templates are popular because they provide a quick and
efficient way to perform one of the most common moves that writers make:
challenging widely accepted beliefs, placing them on the examining table and
analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.

Canadians today tend to believe that ……………….

Conventional wisdom has it that ……………..

Common sense seems to dictate that …………….

The standard way of thinking about topic X has it that ………….

It is often said that …………

My whole life I have heard it said that ………….
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
You would think that ………….

Many people assume that ………….
3. Templates for Making What “They Say” Something You Say
Another way to introduce the views you are responding to is to present them
as your own.

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 that I believe…, I also believe…
4. Templates for 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, she apparently assumes that ……….

While they rarely admit as much, …………often take for granted that
………
5. Templates for 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 …………………………..
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Example: Theories of how the mind 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”
Starting with what many people agree on to highlight the points on which
they disagree:
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 ……………..
6. Templates for Keeping What “They Say” in View
Keep reminding readers what claims you are responding to. The longer and
more complicated your text, the more important it is to do this. “At strategic
moments throughout your text…include…return sentences.”
In conclusion, then, as I suggested earlier, defenders of ……………..can’t have it
both ways. Their assertion that ……………..is contradicted by their claim
that…………
7. Templates for Introducing Summaries and Quotations
She demonstrates that………
In fact, they celebrate the fact that ………
…………., he admits
8. Verbs for Introducing Summaries and Quotations
Verbs for Making a Claim:
argue
assert
insist
observe
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believe
claim
emphasize
remind us
report
suggest
Verbs for Expressing Agreement:
acknowledge
admire
agree
celebrate the fact that
corroborate
do not deny
endorse
extol
praise
reaffirm
support
verify
concedes
Verbs for Questioning or Disagreeing:
complain
complicate
content
contradict
deny
deplore the tendency to
disavow deplores
question
refute
reject
renounce
repudiate
Verbs for Making Recommendations:
advocate
call for
demand
encourage
exhort
implore
plead
recommend
urge
warn
9. Templates for Introducing Quotations

X states, “ ………..”

As the prominent sociologist X puts it, “……………..”

According to X, “ ………………..”

X himself writes, “……………”
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
In here book, ……….., X maintains that “………….”

Writing in the journal Commentary, X complains that “………….”

In X’s view, “………………”

X agrees when she writes, “………………..

X disagrees when he writes, “……………….”

X complicates matters further when she writes, “…………….”
Make sure the language chosen accurately reflects the spirit of the quoted passage. Don’t
hesitate to express the tone of the passage. For example, “X is alarmed that “…..or X
vehemently protests…”
10. Templates for Explaining Quotations
Basically, X is saying……..
In other words, X believes…………
In making this comment, X argues that …………
X is insisting that …………..
X’s point is that ……………..
The essence of X’s argument is that ………
11. Templates for Disagreeing, with Reasons

I think X is mistaken because she overlooks……..

X’s claim that ________ rests upon the questionable assumption that
______
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
I disagree with X’s view that _______ because, as recent research has
shown, _________

X contradicts herself/can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, she argues
_______. But on the other hand, she also says ________.

By focusing on ___________, X overlooks the deeper problem of ______.

X claims _______, but we don’t need him to tell us that. Anyone familiar
with ________ has long known that _______________.
12. Templates for Agreeing (while adding something to the conversation)

I agree that _______ because my experience __________ confirms it.

X is surely right about _____ because, as she may not be aware, recent
studies have shown that ______

X’s theory of ___________ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on
the difficult problem of _______

I agree that ____, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people
believe ___________

Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know
that it basically boils down to ____________
13. Templates for Agreeing and Disagreeing Simultaneously

Although I agree up to a point, I still insist ____________

Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept his overall
conclusion that _________

Although I disagree with much that X says, I fully endorse his final
conclusion that _______________

Though I concede that ________, I still insist that ___________
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
X is right that ______, but she seems on more dubious ground when she
claims that ________

While X is probably wrong when she claims that ____________, she is
right that ___________

Whereas X provides ample evidence that ____________, Y and Z’s
research on __________ and __________convinces me that __________
instead.

I am of two minds about X’s claim that _____________. On the one
hand, I agree that _________. On the other hand, I agree that
_____________

My feelings on the issue are mixed. I do support X’s position that ______,
but I find Y’s argument about ________ and Z’s research on _________to
be equally persuasive.
14. Signaling Who Is Saying What

X argues____

According to both X and Y, _________

Politicians _________, X argues, should ________

Most athletes will tell you that ________

My own view, however, is that _________

I agree, as X may not realize, that ________

But _______are real and, arguably, the most significant factor in
_________.

But X is wrong that ________
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
However, it is simply not true that ______

Indeed, it is highly likely that ____________

But the view that __________does not fit all the facts.

X is right that ___________

X is wrong that _______

X is both right and wrong that __________

Yet a sober analysis of the matter reveals_______________

Nevertheless, new research shows __________

Anyone familiar with ____________should see that _________
15. Embedding Voice Markers

X overlooks what I consider an important point about _______________

My own view is that what X insists is a _________________ is in fact a
______.

I wholeheartedly endorse what X calls ________________

These conclusions, which X discusses in __________, add weight to the
argument that ________.
16. Entertaining Objections

At this point, I would like to raise some objections that have been inspired
by the skeptic in me. She feels that I have been ignoring _____________.
“___” she says to me, “_______”

Yet some readers may challenge the view that ______. After all, many
believe ______. Indeed, my own argument that ______ seems to ignore
_______and ____
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
Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion that _______.
17. Naming Your Naysayers

Here many feminists would probably object that ________

But social Darwinists would certainly take issue with the argument that
___________

Biologists, of course, may want to dispute my claim that ________.

Nevertheless, both followers and critics of Malcom X will probably argue
that ___

Although not all Christians think alike, some of them will probably dispute
my claim that _________

Non-native English speakers are so diverse in their views that it’s hard to
generalize about them, but some are likely to object on the grounds
that_________
18. Introducing Objections Informally

But is my proposal realistic? What are the chances of its actually being
adopted?

Yet is it always true that ____? Is it always the case, as I have been
suggesting, that _________?

However, does the evidence I’ve cited prove conclusively that
___________?

“Impossible,” you say, “Your evidence must be skewed.”
19. Making Concessions While Still Standing Your Ground

Although I grant that ______, I still maintain that _____
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
Proponents of X are right to argue that _____. But they exaggerate when
they claim that ________

While it is true that ______, it does not necessarily follow that ________

On the one hand, I agree with X that _____. But, on the other hand, I still
insist that _________
20. Indicating Who Cares

________used to think ______. But recently [or within the past few
decades}____suggests that _________

What this new research does, then, is correct the mistaken impression, held
by many earlier researchers, that ________

These findings challenge the work of earlier researchers, who tended to
assume that _________

Recent studies like these shed new light on ______, which previous studies
had not addressed.

Researchers have long assumed that ______. For instance, one eminent
scholar of cell biology, ____, assumed in her seminal work on cell structures
and functions, that fat cells ______. As ___herself put it, “_____” (200).
Ultimately, when it came to the nature of fat, the basic assumption was that
_____. But a new body of research shows that fat cells are far more
complex and that that ____________.

If sports enthusiasts stopped to think about it, many of them might simply
assume that the most successful athletes _______. However, new research
shows ___________.

These findings challenge dieters’ common assumptions that __________.

At first glance, teenagers appear to ______. But on closer inspection
______
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21. Establishing Why Your Claims Matter

X matters/is important because _____________

Although X may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern
over ________

Ultimately, what is at stake here is ___________________

These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of
__________

My discussion of X is in fact addressing the larger matter of ________

These conclusions/This discovery will have significant applications in
________ as well as in ___________

Although X may seem of concern to only a small group of _______, it
should in fact concern anyone who cares about _______.