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

A joy to read . . . like having a private tutorial with gifted teachers.--Sarah Duerden, Arizona State University 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, Weatherford College 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, University of Cincinnati 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, Columbia University 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, Agnes Scott College 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, University of Pittsburgh Demystifies academic argumentation. I like this book very much!--Patricia Bizzell, College of the Holy Cross 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, Oregon State University 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, University of California, Los Angeles

"They Say / I Say" shows that writing well means mastering some key rhetorical moves, the most important of which involves summarizing what others have said ("they say") to set up one's own argument ("I say"). In addition to explaining the basic moves, this book provides writing templates that show students explicitly how to make these moves in their own writing.