Writing a They Say / I Say Conclusion: Exploring Causality

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Writing a They Say / I Say Conclusion Exploring
Causality

• Puente English
• Fall 2007

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Step 1 Brainstorm about how your life and Luis
have been similar and different.

• Consider aspects of your life like these
• educational experiences
• gender and your experiences as a person of that
  gender
• relationship with your parents and siblings
• living conditions food, housing, health care
• experience with religion
• experience with language
• economic standing of parents (class, job status,
  income, etc.)
• feelings about art (literature, murals, music,
  etc.)
• Experiences with and attitudes about Latino
  cultural heritage.
• experiences with the police and authority figures.

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Step 2 Brainstorm an answer to this guiding
question.

• The Question How have our life experiences
  shaped our views on this issue?
• Explore the connections between the similarities
  and differences that you listed in the previous
  brainstorm.
• How do these similarities and differences explain
  the similarities and differences in your views.
• For example, if you had a good experience in
  school, you might have a different view of the
  educational system than Rodriguez does.

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Step 3 Draft a Topic Sentence

• Your topic sentence should sum up the major life
  differences that explain why you disagree and/or
  similarities that explain why you agree.
• This sentence should identify for the reader the
  similarities and differences you will discuss in
  your conclusion.
• Often the word because will play a prominent
  role in this kind of topic sentence.

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Sample Topic Sentences

• Rodriguez and I agree about how our education
  system treats Latinos because of our experiences
  in school and our parents struggles to learn
  English.
• Rodriguez and I disagree about how gender shapes
  the lives of Latinos because I am a woman who has
  direct experience with sexism and he is a man who
  does not have that experience.
• I agree with Rodriguez about the impact of
  poverty in the Latino community because I have
  seen how many Latinos have suffered from the
  conditions he describes, but I disagree with
  Rodriguez about poverty because I have also seen
  how hard working families can overcome these
  conditions in California.

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Step 4 Explain Your Topic Sentence

• Break down the similarities and differences you
  identified in your topic sentence.
• For each one, write a sentence or two explaining
  how those similarities or differences have shaped
  your lives.
• Finish with a clincher sentence that sums up how
  these similarities and differences

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Sample Conclusion 1

• Rodriguez and I agree about how our education
  system treats Latinos because of our experiences
  in school and our parents struggles to learn
  English. Like Rodriguez, I too have witnessed how
  counselors unfairly direct Latino students to
  remedial classes and assume that Latino students
  are cholos or gang members. Too many of my
  friends have dropped out of school because of
  teachers and schools who did not care about them.
  Rodriguez and I have both also watched our
  parents struggle in a society that demands
  English but also makes it difficult for working
  adults to learn the language and improve
  themselves in school. These similarities in our
  experiences have left both Rodriguez and I with
  the believe that Americas school system works
  against Latinos.

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Sample Conclusion 2

• Rodriguez and I disagree about the role of police
  in our culture because police abused him while
  they have protected me. For Rodriguez, the police
  were an enemy that he and his friends had to
  avoid, another gang brining violence into his
  life. For me, the police have been important
  guardians of my safety in my neighborhood, at my
  school, and even on the freeways. Given these
  differences, he believes the police are a
  negative force for Latinos while I believe that
  Latinos should see the police as people who can
  help us improve our neighborhoods.

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Sample Conclusion 3

• I agree with Rodriguez about the impact of
  poverty in the Latino community because I have
  seen how many Latinos have suffered from the
  conditions he describes, but I disagree with
  Rodriguez about poverty because I have also seen
  how hard working families can overcome these
  conditions in California. In my neighborhood,
  many families endure real poverty. Most people
  rent and many struggle to have the money to pay
  their bills and feed their families. These kinds
  of conditions can make people desperate. But I
  have also seen people from my community go on to
  do great things. My cousin is at Harvard, my
  neighbor, Pancho, runs a very successful
  restaurant business, and a group of parents from
  my community have worked together to create an
  after school program. Because I have seen a
  neighborhood successfully work to triumph over
  poverty and Rodriguez has not, my views of
  poverty in America are more optomistic than his.