"They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing

by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein

Overview

The little book that demystifies academic writing, reading, and research.

Used and loved by millions of students for its lively and practical advice, this is the book that demystifies academic writing and shows how to engage with the views of others. Extensively revised in response to feedback from our community of adopters, this edition of “They Say / I Say” is an even more practical companion for students, featuring a new chapter on research, new exercises, expanded support for reading, and an expanded chapter on Revising.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393538700
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/15/2021
Edition description:	Fifth Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Gerald Graff, Emeritus Professor of English and Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and 2008 President of the Modern Language Association of America, has had a major impact on teachers through such books as Professing Literature: An Institutional History, Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education, and Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind.

Cathy Birkenstein is a lecturer in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has published essays on writing in College English, and, with Gerald Graff in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Academe, and College Composition and Communication.

Editorial Reviews

"I absolutely love the governing idea of this book. As a teacher and WPA, I'm constantly thinking about how I can teach my students-and how I can help instructors teach their students-to make specific rhetorical moves on the page. This book offers a very powerful way of doing that."

Joseph Bizup

"Brilliantly simple . . . adds to the argumentative strategies students already possess . . . distills the essence of academic discourse in a way that students can understand and employ in their own writing."

Russel Durst

"Graff and Birkenstein's basic argument is both persuasive and congruent with my own experience: these are the moves I needed to learn as a student. A very, very smart book."

Lisa Ede

"Especially for beginning writers, "They Say / I Say" offers an excellent roadmap to the new world of academic discourse."

Daniel Zimmerman

"This book demystifies rhetorical moves, tricks of the trade that many students are unsure about. It's reasonable, helpful, nicely written—and hey, it's true. I would have found it immensely helpful myself in high school and college."

Mike Rose

"The ability to engage with the thoughts of others is one of the most important skills taught in any college-level writing course, and this book does as good a job teaching that skill as any text I have ever encountered."

William Smith

"The argument of this book is important-that there are 'moves' to academic writing . . . and that knowledge of them can be generative. The template format is a good way to teach and demystify the moves that matter. I like this book a lot."

David Bartholomae

"A joy to read . . . like having a private tutorial with gifted teachers."

Sarah Duerden

"I like the way the Graffs pick apart what's really happening in an argument. Many students get to college not knowing how to make the moves necessary to put forth an argument, and this book helps them work through that process."

Christine Cozzens

"Demystifies academic argumentation. I like this book very much!"

Patricia Bizzell

This book uncovers the rhetorical conventions that transcend disciplinary boundaries, so that even freshmen, newcomers to the academy, are immediately able to join in the conversation.

Margaret Weaver

Students need to walk a fine line between their work and that of others, and this book helps them walk that line, providing specific methods and techniques for introducing, explaining, and integrating other voices with their own ideas.

Libby Miles

A brilliant book. . . . It’s like a membership card in the academic club.

Eileen Seifert

The best tribute to “They Say / I Say” I’ve heard is this, from a student: “This is one book I’m not selling back to the bookstore.” Nods all around the room. The students love this book.”

Christine Ross