They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

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They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy
Birkenstein

• writing well means entering into a
  conversation with others. Academic writing in
  particular calls upon writers not simply to
  express their own ideas, but to do so as a
  response to what others have said (IX).

• Your voice their voices
• A conversation of ideas and meaning
• Their voices your voice
• Regurgitation (blah!)

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Creating Effective Body Paragraphs
TBEAR

• So your reader is sitting on the couch eating
  bon-bons

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• Body paragraphs are integrated.
• This means they weave together the writers voice
  and the voices of the authors or sources the
  writer wants to include to prove his/her points.
  (I have something to say, and heres why you
  should trust me.)
• How does this journalist integrate her sources
  into her news story? Should it be all research?
• Does the Tryptophan in Turkey Really Make You
  Tired?

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Topic Sentence with Transition

• Questions to Ask
• What is the general statement that organizes this
  paragraph?
• How is it connected to my previous
  paragraph/idea?

• Dont forget the importance of transitions within
  the paragraph. The reader shouldnt have to make
  the leap from one idea to the next.

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Background/Introductions of Evidence

• Questions to Ask
• What specific information is leading up to my
  evidence or examples?
• What is needed for the reader to understand my
  point before I make it?
• Where did I get this evidence from?
• Or, what gives my evidence credibility?

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Ways to Introduce Quotations(Capturing the claim)

• In his article, ___, X states, ____().
• As the prominent researcher X puts it,
  ______().
• According to X, ____().
• X argues that ____().
• In her book, _________, X maintains that
  ___().
• In Xs view, _____().
• X agrees when she writes, _____().
• X disagrees when he writes, _______().
• Writing in the magazine Newsweek, X complains
  that ______().
• In her book, ______,X acknowledges that
  _______().
• X emphasizes this when he argues, ______ ().

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Effective Verbs for Introducing Summaries and
quotations
Making a claim
Questioning or disagreeing
Expressing agreement
Making recommendations
Argues Asserts Believes Claims Emphasizes
Insists Observes Reminds us Reports Suggests
Complains Contends Contradicts Denies Questions Re
futes Rejects Renounces
Acknowledges Admires Agrees Does not
deny Endorses Praises Reaffirms Supports
Verifies
Advocates Calls for Demands Encourages Implores Pl
eads Recommends Urges Warns
Use stronger verbs than just said, states, or
writes!
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Evidence/Examples

• Questions to Ask
• What pieces of evidence or examples should I
  include to prove my point?

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Analysis of Examples

• Questions to Ask
• What does the evidence mean? For instance if it
  includes statistics, what do the statistics show?
  What do my quotes show/prove?
• Its your job to do the work for the reader!

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Important note about analysis!

• Analysis is not a simple restatement of the
  evidence put into different words. Effective
  analysis talks about the evidence, giving it
  meaning to the reader.
• Remember-
• Its your job to create meaning for the reader!
  This is what analysis is for!

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Some Examples for Explaining Evidence (Not a
simplistic re-wording of the quote!)

• Basically, X is saying _____________.
• In other words, X believes ______________.
• In making this comment, X argues
  ________________.
• Xs point is that ___________.
• The essence of Xs argument is that
  ________________.
• These statistics demonstrate the need for
  ____________.
• These events illustrate _____________.

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Responding to the Thesis(Concluding Sentence)

• Questions to Ask
• How did this whole paragraph prove my overall
  point of the paper?
• Do not simply restate the thesis!
• Respond to the so what question that your thesis
  generates. This is where you make the connection
  of this paragraph (the subtopic) to the big
  picture of your whole paper (the main topic).

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Example Integrated Paragraph

• Large circus animals are a danger to the public
  and to entertainers. In some circuses, elephants
  have gone on rampages and attacked or even killed
  others. According to a government House
  Committee website, In Palm Bay, Florida in 1992,
  an elephant named Janet went on a rampage while
  carrying children on her back (Captive).
  Furthermore, in 2003, there was a well publicized
  tiger attack on Ray Horn, a trainer for Siegfried
  and Roy. In both these examples, the animals
  acted in ways that put trainers and children in
  danger. This is one of the major reasons we need
  to stop using large animals as performing pets.

T
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B
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A
R
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Label this example paragraph.

• As landfills are filled with refuse or closed
  because of environmental threats, the number of
  available waste dumping facilities in America
  dwindles. According to Newsweek magazine, more
  than two-thirds of Americas landfills have
  closed since the late 1970s, and one-third of
  remaining landfills will be full by 1994
  (Anderson 11). By calculating these figures, this
  will leave a total of two-ninths of original
  waste dumping facilities open after 1994.
  Communities will have problems with where to ship
  their trash. Many will have to ship it
  out-of-state, raising the dumping prices.
  However, this doesnt always work out, as one
  example shows In the late 1980s, the Mobro
  garbage barge from Islip, New York was turned
  away from 11 states and 5 countries (California
  Department of Conservation 81). Because America
  cannot deal with these problems for long, we need
  to vastly increase our recycling facilities.

B
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Create your own paragraph.

• Thesis While adults claim teenagers are
  apathetic about what goes in the world and life
  in general, teenagers actually do care but feel
  that they are not heard.
• Evidence Katelyn Burstead decided not to
  participate in local city council hearings about
  a new skate park. Its pointless. Theyre not
  going to listen to us anyway (Haley).
• Evidence Justin Butchers grades dropped
  dramatically while attending Northgate High
  School, going from all As to a 1.6 average in a
  year. I dont have a say in my teachers,
  classes, electives are being taken away, and no
  one ever listens to my complaints about the way
  we are overlooked when decisions are being made
  about us (Besthoff).
• Evidence Merissa Mastero, writer for the New
  York Times states, Its not that teens dont get
  involved its that when they do, nothing gets
  done (B8).
• .

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Just for fun