They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter In Academic Writing

Rhetoric Review is an academic interdisciplinary journal of rhetoric. The journal issues in all areas of rhetoric and writing, and delivers a professional debate for its readers to reflect and discuss the topics and issues. The journal issues texts that investigate the extent and complexity of the discipline. We can conclude from the information that Porter’s main audience were college students mainly in writing classes. Porter’s motive could be helping college students by claiming that once the author knows how to write for a particular audience, they will be more likely to become a successful writer. Porter talks about how students should learn to write for a discourse community instead of writing to

Many authors use different techniques such as appeals, evidence, and sense of urgency to support an argument, or claim. In the essay, "Why Don’t We Complain," by William Buckley, one of his main points is that people today are not complaining and speaking up. In another essay, "The Paranoid Style of American Policing," by Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of his main points is that violence is not always necessary to solve a problem. Both authors use appeals such as pathos, logos, or ethos to make their arguments stronger. Both authors have similar arguments, that the government is getting too much power from the people.

In E. Shelly Reid's book Ten Ways to Think About Writing she expresses the thought we have all had; writing is hard. It's hard to follow the rules and still be passionate about what you are writing. These rules turn writing to a chior instead of an expressive art form. Reid suggests that we rid ourselves of the rules and focus on three key principals instead, write about what interests you, show don't tell and adapted to the audience. It is this consideration of both the author and the audience that defines rhetoric writing. Reid uses several examples to back up her key principles, but in the end it all comes down to the writer. The author has the power to replace the rule with an idea and pick which ones to use and chose which ones

Writing varies from a text message to a novel. Writers often have a difficult task in creating a piece of work that truly identifies the meaning of good writing. Every good writer usually starts with the basics such as genre, audience, rhetorical situation, and reflection of the piece. Throughout this semester, we have gone through all of these key terms in great detail with each new assignment that has come our way. In doing this, not only as students but also as writers, we have come to create our own theory of writing. Every writer has a different theory of writing though most are very similar. Now, at this point in the semester after doing countless journals, in-class exercises, and final assignments, I think I have figured out my own

When I was reading Writing is Easy by Steve Martin, I was thinking if writing was actually that easy. Then I finished the article and realized that writing will never be easy. Mr. Martin examples on how to make writing easier make no sense. His tip to getting over writers block gets the writer nowhere. He says “got to an already published novel and find a sentence that you absolutely adore. Copy it down into your manuscript” (Martin). What he is saying is plagiarism. If I was to use this method to overcome writer block I would be thrown out of college. I still believe that writer block is real because even the greatest authors struggle with writers block.

An argument is a claim supported by reasons and pieces of evidence. Arguments have five primary attributes. Firstly, argumentation is a social process which involves two or more parties responding to one another’s proposal or claim. For the case of a written argument, the writer responds to the content of the essay through a critique process. The responses should not only involve restating the same claims and reasons but rather providing supportive pieces of evidence to the positions taken accordingly. Secondly, the aim of an argument is to make the audience adhere to the written critique. The objective is to influence the audience with the aim of gaining support to

Graff and Birkenstein believe to become an effective writer on would start off with what “They are saying”. After you state the they say you can introduce your viewpoint/ argument so it can give the reader an idea of what you’re writing about. I like the idea of using the “they say” technique. Especially when writing an argumentative essay this strategy gives your essay more credibility. It gives the reader of sense that you can acknowledge a point of view even it opposes your own. Graff and Birkenstein also suggest to summarize the they say. Summarizing helps you understand the information better without

The first part of They Say I Say focuses on how to properly introduce what others are saying and stresses the importance of providing context for one’s own argument. The authors explain how the context and purpose for the writing needs to be established, preferably early on, in order to interest readers to about an argument (20). By giving the readers background information, the readers will have a much easier time relating to the author’s argument. After demonstrating the need to provide the “they say” portion of an essay, the authors move on to how exactly one can introduce others’ arguments. The three main ways of introducing others’ ideas discussed throughout the first part of the book are paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting. For each of the three, the authors discuss pitfalls that writers should avoid and strategies that writers can use to improve. An example of a pitfall when summarizing is how many writers can accidentally create a “list summary”, which does not differentiate the information in the original work that is

What constitutes good rhetoric and argument? How do these factors affect writing? And, the aforementioned questions considered, what practices should then be regarded as bad, or the negation of good? Before these prompts can be adequately addressed, a brief survey on the nature of values is necessary, so as to enframe this discussion of good and bad practices in operationalized terms, localized for our usage. In the process, the prompts will be considered in full.

“I changed my mind because of your argument”, said no one ever. Even when provided damning evidence and masterful techniques of persuasion, people are far too prideful to admit aloud that they were wrong. However, with time and thought, minds can change in the silence of one’s head. Often the only way to even convince people to even change their mind silently is to provide a multifaceted and quality argument. But how can you ensure an argument is of high enough quality that it will likely change minds? You must measure it’s through a multi-step analysis. A rhetorical analysis. A rhetoric analysis is a process by which a piece of writing is measured on “how tactically is applies pathos, ethos, and logos”, and how effectively it panders to

In English 1302, I was instructed on how to write a literature review and a researched argument. While I found literature reviews to be easier than researched arguments, I still learned how to synthesize sources and their respective information. I realized that I did not need to put in much of my own commentary compared to an argumentative paper. Initially, I could not see how subtopics and themes could connect several pieces of writing just as much as the subject of the paper could. I also used to focus on the authors of sources rather than the connected information written by the authors, but now I focus on the latter. Taking this course made me realize that I had never used common ground while writing an argument, but it is very critical for persuasion. For example, in my researched argument I wrote: “… you, as a consumer, have been affected by robotics in more ways than you know; robots aid humans in many

This course has taught me that an argument will be most effective when both sides are presented to the reader. It is not enough to persuade the reader to agree with the opinion of the writer by only presenting evidence that proves his/her view point. Every person will have their own personal opinions on a topic. Most of the time there is no definite answer as to whether or not they are right or wrong.

No one wants to read a boring paper. It will make people tired within minutes. Most textbooks have no word or images that captivate their readers. That’s why people avoid reading them because there’s nothing fascinating about it. Writing about a topic that has conflict and visual literacy will keep the audience interested and wanting to read more about it. In a rhetorical situation, there are tones used for different types of audience. Rhetoric is used for different communities. It needs to be a reliable in a specific topic in order to communicate effectively.

I have learned and improved many skills during my time in GSW 1110. Before I took this class I was very unconfident in my academic writing abilities; however, I have greatly improved them during this last semester. I have learned how to gather and organize credible information; write to audiences with opposing viewpoints; identify the audience I am writing to and cater my writing toward them; draft texts using personalized strategies; use grammar, punctuation, and mechanics to make my writing more interesting; and think critically to synthesize multiple points of view. I believe the skills I have learned and refined will allow me to move on to further college writing classes, as well as help me for the rest of my life at work and in the community.

The expression argument has two meanings in scholarly writing. First, it means a composition that takes a position on one side of a divisive issue. You might write an argument against the death penalty, or for or against censorship of pornography. But argument has another meaning, too. It means an essay that, simply, argues a point. You might assemble an argument about the significance of ancestor myths in a certain aborigine culture, or you might write an argument defending your understanding of any poem or essay that is read in your philosophy class. (Winthrop University) You are not necessarily taking one side of a divisive issue, but you are required to defend your points with credible evidence. You are taking a position. In a sense,