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

by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein

Overview

The best-selling book that demystifies academic writing

This book identifies the key rhetorical moves in academic writing. It shows students how to frame their arguments as a response to what others have said and provides templates to help them start making the moves. The fourth edition features many NEW examples from academic writing, a NEW chapter on Entering Online Discussions, and a thoroughly updated chapter on Writing in the Social Sciences. Finally, two NEW readings provide current examples of the rhetorical moves in action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393631678
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/11/2018
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.30(h) x 0.60(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.

Table of Contents

Preface To The Fourth Edition ix

Preface xiii

Demystifying Academic Conversation

Introduction 1

Entering the Conversation

Part 1 "They Say"

1 "They Say" 19

Starting with What Others Are Saying

2 "Her Point Is" 30

The Art of Summarizing

3 "As He Himself Puts It" 43

The Art of Quoting

Part 2 "I Say"

4 "Yes / No / Okay, But" 53

Three Ways to Respond

5 "And Yet" 67

Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say

6 "Skeptics May Object" 77

Planting a Naysayer in Your Text

7 "So What? Who Cares?" 91

Saving Why It Matters

Part 3 Tying It All Together

8 "As A Result" 101

Connecting the Parts

9 "You Mean I Can Just Say It That Way? 117

Academic Writing Doesn't Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice

10 "But Don't Get Me Wrong" 131

The Art of Metacommentary

11 "He Says Contends" 141

Using the Templates to Revise

Part 4 In Specific Academic Contexts

12 "I Take Your Point" 162

Entering Class Discussions

13 Don't Make Them Scroll Up 166

Entering Online Conversations

14 What's Motivating This Writer? 176

Reading for the Conversation

15 "On Closer Examination" 187

Entering Conversations about Literature

16 "The Data Suggest" 205

Writing in the Sciences

17 "Analyze This" 224

Writing in the Social Sciences

Readings 243

Don't Blame the Eater David Zinczenko 245

Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff 248

"Rise of the Machines" Is Not a Likely Future Michael Littman 256

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander 261

Everything That Rises Must Converge Flannery O'connor 275

Credits 295

Acknowledgments 297

Index Of Templates 309