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They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in…
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They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing (original 2006; edition 2009)

by Gerald Graff

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,975128,251 (4.05)3
This "textbook" is very easy to understand and super easy to read. It gives you helpful tips on how to write better. For example it teaches you to summarize, quote, and so much more. After reading this book I feel like a better writer already. ( )
  klara333 | Mar 7, 2014 |
English (11)  Japanese (1)  All languages (12)
Showing 11 of 11
Lots of great information. It's more so a different perspective of the writing process rather than a whole new style of writing, however this new perspective makes it so much easier to draft your ideas. What's great is that it doesn't conflict with any of the other great writing books I've read (see my Read list), it just simplifies and extends my application of them, which is much appreciated. ( )
  stargazerfish0 | Jan 13, 2024 |
Excellent. This is a book that belongs on the shelf--right next to the latest editions of The Elements of Style and Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary--of every college freshman.
  Mark_Feltskog | Dec 23, 2023 |
A useful book for high school students and college freshmen. Generally speaking, the templates are probably most helpful for students who need to sharpen their writing skills; nothing will be particularly groundbreaking for more advanced students. ( )
  Samantha_Quick | Jul 15, 2021 |
On a re-read, I like this a little less the second time around. Still good, though. ( )
  wordsampersand | Dec 6, 2018 |
This is a very useful guide that introduces students to the basic concepts of argumentative writing at the college level. Graff and Birkenstein stress that students remember they are not writing in a vacuum but rather to a particular audience as part of a larger ongoing conversation. Some of the templates they provide for students to incorporate into their writing are a little clichéd, sure ("On the one hand... On the other hand"), but they will help students who are only beginning to learn how to write critically.

(It's not, after all, necessarily an intuitive skill—one of the things that left me confused and anxious as an undergrad was getting back papers with comments that read, in their entirety, "More analysis." Now when I look back at my earliest work, I can see clearly what my professors meant; then, I thought that that was what I was doing and couldn't figure out how to do better.)

Graff and Birkenstein's templates are like training wheels for student writers, helping them to formulate ideas in ways that are new to them and hopefully to be discarded as composition and analytical skills improve. "They Say/I Say" is also a useful book for instructors to read, as it provides several reminders of the kinds of things that may now be second nature to us but which are likely to be stumbling blocks for students. ( )
1 vote siriaeve | Aug 2, 2016 |
This "textbook" is very easy to understand and super easy to read. It gives you helpful tips on how to write better. For example it teaches you to summarize, quote, and so much more. After reading this book I feel like a better writer already. ( )
  klara333 | Mar 7, 2014 |
They, Graff and Birkenstein, say that writing well is a lot like entering a conversation. It involves listening to what others have said and summarizing it, fairly, prior to stepping up to add your own true, smart, logical statements or opinions (the I say) which may be in agreement with, at odds with, or both in agreement and disagreement with different aspects of what the they have said. The thesis is presented through a sensible division of chapters into the salient points, first, on how to layout what “they say,” e.g. with the art of quoting, moving on to a variety of ways to enunciate and clarify what “I say”, and rounding things off with some useful chapters tying it all together.

I say that this is an excellent and helpful book for students, whose advice, if followed could alleviate stress, low grades and tears, as one makes one’s way through academia. The only chapter I found less than convincing was chapter nine on the use of vernacular or argot in academic writing. But perhaps that is due to cultural differences for a non-American reader/student, or because I am now more than 20 years away from direct classroom experience. In any case, the book as a whole should be of great service to students and educators. ( )
1 vote RandyMetcalfe | Jan 8, 2012 |
Very informative little guide about how to write more effectively. Tools to help you communicate your ideas. ( )
  NathanaelS | Aug 18, 2010 |
This book is fantastic. Argumentation, "entering the conversation," and the basics of academic writing are broken down in manageable ways (and above all, iin direct, approachable language). Much easier to get a student to read a chapter of this book than it is to get them to read many textbooks on writing.

Of particular help are the provided sentence templates, which students can use to practice many of these academic moves in their own writing.

The second edition breaks down genres particular to the social sciences and the sciences. ( )
  AgentJade | Mar 16, 2010 |
Excellent little book on argumentation, expression, and writing arguments to a high academic level. ( )
  EstherReader | Aug 16, 2009 |
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W.W. Norton

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