They Say, I Say: Part 1

Chapter 1

Most writers often believe that they can do no wrong when summarizing a text for their readers. Regardless, we all make mistakes that we can learn from. Graff and Birkenstein showed us that anyone can make a mistake with their writing and that it is, of course, inevitable and understandable.

Throughout this chapter, they showed us examples of speakers and writers that we can learn from. The templates they provided us gave us insights of how to improve our writing. With how to start off our writing, how to keep our readers interested during the text, and how to make them want to come back for more.

What I Learned: In this part of the reading, Graff and Birkenstein show us templates. Each Template demonstrated how we can better improve our writing that I will now use in my everyday projects. After finishing each chapter of “They Say, I Say”, I hope to be able to learn how to add each technique that Graff and Birkenstein express to us in my writing from this day forward.

Chapter 2

During this chapter, we’re taught that although you may not agree with a writer or speaker’s words, it is important to understand their point of view while summarizing. As Graff and Birkenstein’s point is, “To write a really good summary, you must be able to suspend your own beliefs for a time and put yourself in the shoes of someone else.” Pg.31.

Graff and Birkenstein then show us some examples of writers who made the mistake of not keeping an open mind while summarizing. In the examples, you can notice a strong difference of how a writer with an open mind allows his audience to see the insights of both arguments then a writer who does not. This then teaches us to allow our readers to be able to understand both sides before throwing your opinion in their face.

Towards the end of this chapter, we are shown two pages of verbs that we can use when beginning our summary and quotations. Instead of repeating the same words, we are shown different ways to use them into sentences. Otherwise, if we begin to repeat ourselves then we begin to bore our readers.

What I learned: As I continue to write, I’m learning to take my time and putting myself in the readers position. No writer wants their audience to be disinterested. Therefore, I am determined to look at the templates and learning how I can apply it to my writing.

Chapter 3

In their book, Graff and Birkenstein write in this chapter on how to properly quote in your writing. Quoting can overall be tricky because you want to make sure you’re not plagiarizing or incorrectly quoting someone’s work.

During “As He Himself Puts It”, We are told that some of the common mistakes in quoting can be quoting with not enough context around it, creating a “dangling” effect. In Graff and Birkenstein’s view, “It is better to risk being overly explicit about what you take a quotation to mean than to leave the quotation dangling and your readers in doubt” Pg.50.

This would cause the reader to be overall confused on what that quote has anything to do with the text. The writers of this book want to assure us that we do not make those mistakes and even provide us with examples on how to do so.

What I Learned: In the past I’ve been confused on how to properly place quotes and when exactly is the best time to even use them. Graff and Birkenstein showed me on exactly how to do that. During this summary, I used one of the templates in this blog to help guide me on how to introduce a quotation.