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

“Delaying this explanation for more than one or two paragraphs in a very short essay or blog entry, three or four pages in a longer work, or more than ten or so pages in a book reverses the natural order in which readers process material—and in which writers think and develop ideas. After all, it seems very unlikely that our conference speaker first developed his defense of Dr. X and only later came across Dr. X’s critics. As someone knowledgeable in his field, the speaker surely encountered the criticisms first and only then was compelled to respond and, as he saw it, set the record straight.”

This quote illustrates the importance of arranging one’s arguments in a logical order. Presenting one’s points in conversation with someone else’s assertions demonstrates the natural process of absorbing information and responding to it. This makes it easier for the reader/listener to grasp the context and significance of the argument.

“Even when presenting your own claims, you should keep returning to the motivating ‘they say.’ The longer and more complicated your text, the greater the chance that readers will forget what ideas originally motivated it—no matter how clearly you lay them out at the beginning. At strategic moments throughout your text, we recommend that you include what we call ‘return sentences.’ […] We ourselves use such return sentences at every opportunity in this book to remind you of the view of writing that our book questions—that good writing means making true or smart or logical statements about a given subject with little or no reference to what others say about it.”

Graff and Birkenstein frequently draw attention to They Say/I Say as an argumentative text; they exemplify the argumentative and structural methods they recommend in their own writing. This turns their otherwise theoretical text into a practical demonstration of their argumentation methods.

“Many writers shy away from summarizing—perhaps because they don’t want to take the trouble to go back to the text in question and wrestle with what it says, or because they fear that devoting too much time to other people’s ideas will take away from their own.”

This quote helps new writers to identify the reasons for rhetorically weak choices they may be making. However, instead of addressing the reader directly as “you,” Graff and Birkenstein refer to “many writers.” This allows their readers (who may be guilty of this foible) to identify it on their own terms without feeling ashamed for their mistake. Knowing that “many” writers also have this problem may soften the pain of making an error.