They Say I Say Summary

In the first part of They Say I Say, it talks about the idea of "They say" The purpose of this is to teach the student how to view and respond to the writings of others. The student needs to first learn how to introduce an idea in their writing. This idea can be someon elses or it can be their own idea but they need to learn the effective way of introducing this concept or idea into their particular piece of writing. This is the basic summary of chapter 1 of the book. Chapter 2 deals with what is called the "art of summarizing". Here it demonstrates an effective way for the student to listen to other's views and ideas and to consider their views, while at the same time keeping their own beliefs and ideas in mind to compare them to. It also describes how the student needs to utilize verbs that "fit the action" of the particular topic which is being described and discussed in the student's writing. In chapter 3, the authors discuss " The art of quoting" and the most effective ways to introduce quotations and citations into their work. Along those same lines, it also describes ways in which the student should avoid introducing quotations, as this will not be proper and cohesive to the writing assignment. In chapter 4, the authors tell the student that there are 3 main or basic ways to respond to another's writing: you can disagree, have a qualified agreement and also " agreeing and disagreeing simultaneously. Here the student learns the proper form of agreeing with a position or disagreeing with one and that you should have views that coincide with whatever your position might be. Chapter 5 describes how you can differentiate your views from someone elses in your paper. It describes how "voice markers" can be used to distinguish between your perspective and someone elses that you might be utilizing in your work. In chapter 6, the authors talk about possibly objections that your reader might have to your particular views expressed in your paper. If you are a saavy writer, you can possibly anticipate these objections and address them first in your writing so that you can basically circumvent the disagreements that might arise from your particular views. In chapter 7, they talk about the ideas of "so what?" and "who cares". The idea behind this particular instruction is to teach the student to really try and help the reader understand your particular views or opinions about your topics and why it is that they should care as well. It is important to express these views, even if it is about a topic that should be obvious to the reader as to the answers. Chapter 8 begins by teaching the student about "tying it all together" and talks about how they student should utilize "pointing words" such as this, that, etc in order that the ideas of the paper coalesce together and form a coherent theme. Chapter 8 also teaches the technique of a "constellation of key terms and phrases" to help the reader understand the student's intent and also describes how the student must rephrase their positions "without sounding monotonous". In Chaper 9, the main theme is in speaking of the tone of the paper. It discusses different styles that a student may choose to invoke in their writing, such as "Academic Style" or "Colloquial Style". The student is instructed to be mindful of their "audience and purpose" when embarking on their writing piece. Chapter 10 closes by talking about "In other words" or different ways of expressing ideas. It also describes the concept of "metacommentary" and then lists some popular examples of this idea.