Chapter 1 “They Say”
In this chapter Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein talk about the art of writing using the technique of “They say”. The authors do this by first telling a story about how they attended a talk where the speaker talked about a Dr called Dr. X. The speaker goes on and on about how great Dr X’s work is but fails to give a point as to why he needs to make this talk. It’s clear to them that the Dr’s work is good but what made him need to give the talk in the first place? Did someone disagree with Dr X? By not telling his listeners what other people are saying about Dr X he fails to enter into a conversation and engage his listeners. As a writer you want to make what you’re writing about clear as early as possible to keep readers engaged. If you wait too long readers tend to wonder what your point is and lose interest. The advice Graff and Birkenstein offer to make your point and to keep readers engaged is to treat writing as though you’re entering into a conversation. You can do this by starting with “what others are saying” and then respond with what your own ideas are. Telling readers what “They say” can give them a better understanding of what you’re writing about. As you move through your text it’s a good idea to keep reminding readers of what “They Say”. A good way to do this is to use what Graff and Birkenstein call “return sentences” throughout your text. Using return sentences helps show the importance of what you’re writing about throughout your piece.
Chapter 2 “Her Point Is”
For this section Graff and Birkenstein talk about the best ways to summarize. To write a good summary it’s all about balancing. Balancing what the original author has to say along with what stuck out to you as the writer. When writing a summary you want to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the original writer. If you’re able to adapt the beliefs of the writer you’re summarizing for a moment you can produce unbiased articles. At the same time as doing that you want to remember what your view is. If you forget to include your influence in your summary you can fall victim to creating list summaries. Another thing to keep in mind for good summaries is using signal verbs. If you use boring phrases such as “she says” or “they believe” it can be draining to the idea you are summarizing. Instead of using things like “he says” you can try to use more passionate signal verbs like “he states” or “he comments”. Graff and Birkenstein give us some good examples of passionate verbs such as assert, praise, reaffirm, and question.
Chapter 3 “As He Himself Puts It”
Chapter 3 is all about how to use quotations properly and efficiently. Selecting a quote can be tricky. You want to make sure the quotation you select supports the narrative of your text. As your text evolves you may go back and find that the quotation you originally picked doesn’t fit with your narrative anymore. There’s a lot of back and forth for selecting quotes when you start revising what you are writing. A main issue that writers have when quoting is assuming a quote can speak for itself. Just because a quote is obvious for you as the writer doesn’t mean it will always be for the reader. Graff and Birkenstein tell us here “In a way, quotations are orphans: words that have been taken from their original contexts and that need to be integrated into their new textual surroundings.” Here the authors are telling us that when we take quotes and put them into our text they need to be adequately framed by giving them an intro and an explanation after the quote. Sometimes writers can worry about over explaining a quote. Not all quotes require the same amount of explanation. If you are not sure if you should further explain a quotation it’s best to just go for it so you don’t leave your quotes stranded and your readers wondering.
Something that really helped me in this chapter is learning that writing is like having a conversation. I think the biggest challenge for me though in writing is figuring out how to translate that conversation into a writing piece that flows and makes sense. And also figuring out how to write quicker and more efficiently.
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