Transcript They Say, I Say

They Say, I Say
Tips for Writing Your DBQ and any Other Academic
Essay
Introduction
When you write an academic essay, you
are entering a "conversation" that has
been going on before you came and will
continue after you leave. Think of this
like an ongoing intellectual party at a big
house with many people clustered in
circles discussing and arguing.You:
Enter
1. Listen to what others say (read)
2. Understand their views/beliefs
(synthesize)
3. Decide what you believe (think)
4. Add to the conversation with your own
claim that either agrees or disagrees with
theirs (write)
Leave
You have the choice to:
1. Agree and add examples
2. Disagree and explain why
3. Agree with part of their claim, disagree
with part, and explain and elaborate.
Templates for how to introduce what
“THEY SAY”
Templates
1.
2.
3.
______________ has suggested that
__________________.
In his/her recent work,
_______________________ has
offered/noted/argued/espoused that
_________________________.
In his/her article
"______________________,"
______________________
insists/states/asserts that
_________________________.
Practice with Document E
The Role of Quinine (from World History: Modern Times, author Jackson
Speilvogal)
Before, 1850, the fear of disease was a major factor in keeping
Europeans from moving into Africa. Especially frightening was malaria, an
often fatal disease spread by parasites. Malaria is especially devastating in
tropical and subtropical regions, which offer good conditions for breeding
the mosquitoes that carry and spread the malaria parasites.
By 1850, European doctors had learned how to treat malaria with
quinine, a drug that greatly reduced the death rate from the disease.
Quinine is a bitter drug obtained from the bark of the cinchona tree,
which is native to the slopes of the Andes in South America. The Indians of
Peru were the first people to use the bark of the cinchona tree to treat
malaria.
The Dutch took the cinchona tree and began to grow it in the East
Indies. The East Indies eventually became the chief source of quinine. With
the use of quinine and other medicines, Euopeans felt more secure about
moving into Africa.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, more than 90 percent of
African lands were under the control of the European powers. A drug
found in the bark of Latin American trees, which were then grown in Asia,
had been used by Europeans to make possible their conquest of Africa.
Example

In an article from World History: Modern
Times “The Role of Quinine,” Jackson
Speilvogal states that the discovery of
quinine gave Europeans the proper armor
against malaria allowing them to colonize
90% of Africa.
Templates for introducing
“I SAY”
If you agree:
I acknowledge/support/admire
___________________'s
assertion/claim/position for
____________________ reasons.
 I agree that
__________________________
because my experience with
_______________________ confirms
it.

If you disagree:



I refute/reject/repudiate
_____________________'s
position/claim/assertion because
___________________________.
I think _____________________ is
mistake because
________________________.
By focusing on
_______________________,
________________________ overlooks
the deeper issue of _________________.
If you agree with some parts, but
not all
I’m of two minds about X’s claim
that___________. On one hand, I agree
that_____________. On the other hand,
I’m not sure if ___________________.
 Although I disagree with much of what
_____________________ says, I fully
endorse his final conclusion that
___________________.

Practice with this claim

In an article from World History: Modern
Times “The Role of Quinine,” Jackson
Speilvogal states that the discovery of
quinine allows Europeans to successfully
colonize 90% of Africa.
Example + Connection to Thesis

I support Speilvogal’s assertion for a
multitude of reasons. Prior to imperialism,
Europeans died time and time again from
malaria. With the discovery of quinine,
Europeans were able to successfully battle
the disease and colonize Africa. They
neglected to share the quinine with the
Africans and only used it to their advantage
making imperialism ultimately beneficial for
Europeans, but detrimental to the Africans.
THE ART OF QUOTING
Don’t be a Hit-and-Run Quoter

Many people drop quotations in the text
and then move on to the next sentence
without any explanation like a driver from
a car accident in which the driver speeds
away without taking any responsibility.
Example of a “Hit-and-Run” Quote

Using Document D (from ED Morel’s Black Man’s Burden)
“What the partial occupation of his soil by the white man has
failed to ; …what the [machine gun] and the rife, the slave gang,
labour in the bowels of the earth and the lash, have failed to do;
what imported measles, smallpox, and syphilis have failed to do;
whatever the overseas slave trade failed to do; the power of
modern capitalistic exploitation, assisted by modern engines of
destruction, may yet succeed in accomplishing…
Thus the African is really helpless against the material gods of
the white man, as embodied in the trinity of imperialism, capitalistic
exploitation, and militarism.”
E.D. Morel eloquently talks about the Black Man’s Burden. “Thus the
African is really helpless against the material gods of the white man,
as embodied in the trinity of imperialism, capitalistic exploitation,
and militarism.” I think he is right. Another point Morel makes…
Templates for Introducing
Quotations
X states, “not all steriods should be
banned from sports.”
 As the prominent philosopher X puts it,
“__________.”
 According to X, “_____________”
 In her book, _________, X maintains
that “_____________”
 X complicates matters further when she
writes, “____________”

Introducing Quotes from a Novel
PROVIDE CONTEXT FOR QUOTE
 In the scene where_____________,
(state character’s name) says,
“______________.”
 In response to (insert a character’s name
or a situation), (insert character’s name)
says, “____________.”
 When (explain scene in the novel),
(author’s name) writes,
“_____________.”

Try using a template to explain this
quote

“[h]e felt a relief within as a hymn poured
into his parched soul. The words of the
hymn were like drops of frozen rain
melting on the dry palate of the panting
earth” (147).
Example

In the scene where the missionaries come
to the village of Mbanta and explain
Christianity to the villagers, Nwoye “…felt
a relief within as a hymn poured into his
parched soul. The words of the hymn
were like drops of frozen rain melting on
the dry palate of the panting earth” (147).
Templates for Explaining Quotes






Basically, X is warning that
__________________________.
In other words, X believes
__________________.
In making this comment, X urges us to
_________________.
X is corroborating the age-old adage
that___________________
X’s point is that _________________.
The essence of X’s argument is that
____________________.
Using templates to explain the
previous quote + connection to
thesis
 In the scene where the missionaries come to the
village of Mbanta and explain Christianity to the
villagers, Nwoye “…felt a relief within as a hymn
poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn
were like drops of frozen rain melting on the dry
palate of the panting earth” (147). Achebe’s point in
writing this section is that while the other villages
might question the seemingly strange religion of
Christianity, Nwoye embraces it. This new religion
fills voids created by the Igbo religion. In this quote,
Achebe says that for Nwoye life was a “dry palate of
panting earth” and Christianity offers “drops of frozen
rain” offering much needed relief. This shows the
beneficial effects of imperialism on colonized people
who questioned their way of life prior to imperialism.