They Say I Say

1. They Say I Say By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

2. What You Already Know • Quoting • Documenting • The need to introduce and discuss your sources

3. What You Don’t Know • There are innumerable ways to “use” or discuss a quote. • The rules: • Again, you get thirty seconds to think of as many ways to “use” a source in the manner I direct. Winner of each round gets extra credit.

4. Let’s Play a Game

5. Game • Introduce what “they” say. Just the source/ideas, not a direct quote. • A number of sociologists have recently suggested the X’s work has sever fundamentals problems. • It has become common today to dismiss X’s contribution to the field of sociology • In their recent work, Y and Z have offered harsh critiques of Dr. X for _____________.

6. Game • Explaining a quote: (full sentences) • Basically, X is saying ______________. • In other words, X believes ____________. • In making this comment, X argues that _______________. • X is insisting that _______________. • X’s point is that _______________. • The essence of X’s argument is that _______________.

7. Game • Disagreeing, with reasons. • I think X is mistaken because she over looks______________. • X’s claim that _______________ rests upon the questionable assumption that ______________. • X contradicts herself/can’t have it both ways. On the one hand she argues _________________. But on the other hand, she also says _____________. • By focusing on ________________, X overlooks the deeper problem of ______________.

8. Game • Agreeing with a difference • Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know that it basically boils down to _____________. • X surely is right about ___________ because, as she may not be aware, recent studies have shown that _______________. • X’s theory of ____________ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult problem of_____________. • If group X is right that ___________, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular assumption that ___________.

9. Game • Agreeing and disagreeing simultaneously • Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that _________________ • Though I concede that ________________, I still insist that __________. • Although I disagree with much that X says, I fully endorese his final conclusion that ________________. • Whereas X provides ample evidence that _______________, Y and Z’s research on _____________ and ____________ convices me that ______________ instead.

10. Game • Similarly, making concessions while still standing your ground • Although I grant that ______________, I still maintain that ________. • Proponents of X are right to argue that ____________. But they exaggerate when they claim that _____________. • While it is true that _______________, it does not necessarily follow that ______________. • On the one hand, I agree with X that _____________. But on the other hand, I still insist that _____________.

11. Game • Establish why your claims matter • X matter/is important because _______________. • Although X may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over _______________. • Ultimately, what is at stake here is ____________. • These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of ______________. • My discussion of X is in fact addressing that larger matter of ____________. • These conclusions/this discovery will have significant application in__________ as well as _____________. • Although X may seem to concern only a small group of ____________, it should in fact concern anyone who care about ___________.

12. In summary… • There are other ways to use sources. You just have to think about what the relationship each source/quote has with your material.

13. Source • Graff, Geralf and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say I Say. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. Print.