Transcript Academic Writing as Conversation

Academic Writing as Conversation:
How to bring the voices of others
into your text
Emmy Misser,
Manager, Writing Centre
Looking at academic writing as
CONVERSATION
“Writing well means engaging the voices
of others and letting them in turn engage
us.”
Graff and Birkenstein IX
Writing as ongoing conversation
In conversation we
• Listen to other voices
• Reflect
• Evaluate
• Respond using
appropriate language,
tone, and gesture
• According to conventions
of polite behaviour
In writing we
• Introduce what others
have said
• Summarize what others
have said
• Reflect
• Evaluate
• Respond using
appropriate diction and
control of language
• According to conventions
of academic
documentation
Academic Argument
• Takes place in a context of research done
by other academics
• Responds to what these researchers have
found, said, theorized etc.
• Student writers also have to respond to
relevant research and establish their own
work in a research context
Looking at academic writing as
CONVERSATION
• Can help students
– Engage with their sources in a critical way
– Generate material
– Structure their text
– Understand citation practices better
They Say/I Say: The Moves That
Matter in Persuasive Writing
Graff and Birkenstein, 2006
Their advice on constructing arguments
• Remember that you are entering a
conversation and therefore need to start
with “what others are saying”
• Summarize what “they say” as soon as
you can in your text and remind readers of
it at strategic points as your text unfolds
(Graff and Birkenstein 18-19)
Example: Positioning your argument
• “For decades, we’ve worked under the
assumption that mass culture follows a path
declining steadily towards the lowest-commondenominator standards, presumably because
the “masses” want dumb, simple pleasures and
big media companies try to give the masses
what they want. But…the exact opposite is
happening: the culture is getting more
cognitively demanding, not less.”
S. Johnson, “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” qdt. in They Say/I Say
Positioning your argument
• Present your claim as part of some larger
conversation
• Those other views help frame and clarify
your own position
(Graff and Birkenstein 19)
Introducing what others are saying
• A number of sociologists have recently
suggested that X’s work has several
limitations.
• 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 criticism of Dr. X for…………………
(Graff and Birkenstein 21)
Opening with an ongoing debate
• Theories of how the mind/brain works have been
dominated for centuries by two opposing views.
One, rationalism, sees the human mind as
coming into this world more or less fully
formed—preprogrammed, in modern terms. The
other, empiricism, sees the mind of the newborn
as largely unstructured, a blank slate.
Mark Aronoff qdt. in They Say/I Say (24)
The basic template
• In discussion of X, one controversial issue
has been…………………………………….
On the one hand,………….argues……….
On the other hand, ………contends……...
Others even maintain………………………
My own view is……………………………..
(Graff and Birkenstein 24)
“Return Sentences”
• Remind the reader of the ideas you are
responding to
• Ensure that your text maintains a sense of
mission and urgency from start to finish
(Graff and Birkenstein 26)
Reminding the reader: “return sentences”
• In conclusion then, as I suggested earlier,
defenders of…………………can’t have it
both ways. Their assertion that…………….
Is contradicted by their claim that………….
(Graff and Birkenstein 26)
Summarizing
• According to AUTHOR,……………………..
• AUTHOR states that………………………...
• She also stresses that………………………
• The writer points out that…………………...
• In his book_____, AUTHOR maintains that
• Writing in NAME OF JOURNAL, AUTHOR claims
that……………………………………
Loretta Gray
A good summary
• Is true to what the original author says
• while at the same time
• emphasizing those aspects of what the
author says that interest you, the writer
• in a way that fits your own composition’s
larger agenda
(Graff and Birkenstein 29, 34)
Verbs for introducing summaries
and quotations
• Verbs for making a claim
– Argue, assert, believe, claim, emphasize,
insist, observe, remind us, report, suggest
• Verbs for expressing agreement
– Acknowledge, admire, agree, celebrate the
fact that, corroborate, do not deny, endorse,
extol, praise, reaffirm, support, verify
(Graff and Birkenstein 37)
Verbs for introducing summaries
and quotations
• Verbs for questioning or disagreeing
– Complain, complicate, contend, contradict,
deny, deplore the tendency to, disavow,
question, refute, reject, renounce repudiate
• Verbs for making recommendations
– Advocate, call for, demand, encourage,
exhort, implore, plead, recommend, urge,
warn
(Graff and Birkenstein 37)
Templates for introducing quotations
•
•
•
•
•
•
X states, “……………………………. .”
According to X, “……………… .”
In X’s view, “…………………….. .”
X agrees when she writes, “…………….. .”
X disagrees when he writes, “…………. .”
X complicates matters further when she
writes, “…………………………………… .”
(Graff and Birkenstein 43)
Templates for explaining quotations
•
•
•
•
•
•
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………
(Graff and Birkenstein 44)
“Yes / No / Okay, But”
Three Ways to Respond
“Yes / No / Okay, But”
• Readers come to any text needing fairly
quickly to learn where the writer stands,
and they do this by placing the writer on a
mental map of familiar responses:
• agreeing
• disagreeing
• or some combination of both
(Graff and Birkenstein 51)
Responding, with the grain
• My experience confirms AUTHOR’S
suggestion/belief that ……………………….
• I agree with AUTHOR that ………., a point
deserving emphasis since………………….
• If AUTHOR is correct, then we need to….
………………………………………………..
• Recent research convinces me that AUTHOR
is correct in asserting that……………………
Loretta Gray
Responding against the grain
• By focusing on……….,……………………
AUTHOR misses a more important issue.
• I find it hard to accept AUTHOR’S claim that
………………. because it is based on the
assumption that…………………………….
• AUTHOR is mistaken because he fails to
consider that…………………………………
• In arguing that ….,AUTHOR overlooks
recent research that…………………………
Loretta Gray
Responding against the grain
• Several of AUTHOR’S statements are
contradictory. On the one hand, she
asserts that………………………….
On the other, she states that
..………………………………………..
Loretta Gray
With the grain-against the grain
• Although I agree with AUTHOR that………,I disagree with
his conclusion that ………………………………………..
• While I disagree with AUTHOR’S assumption that
…....………………..,I fully endorse her proposal to……....
• I have mixed feelings about this issue. In a way…………
But from a different perspective……………………………
• I cannot endorse AUTHOR’S view that ……., even though I
will concede that……………………………………………
• Though AUTHOR may be right that………, I must point out
that…………………………………………………………….
• AUTHOR provides no evidence that……., but other
researcher have convinced me that………………………..
Loretta Gray
Synthesizing
• The claim that……………………………….is supported
by the observations of AUTHOR 1 and AUTHOR 2.
• AUTHOR1 insists that……………….Likewise AUTHOR 2
believes that………………………………………………….
• AUTHOR 1 and AUTHOR 2 give examples of……………
………….AUTHOR 1 asserts that…………….AUTHOR 2
supports his position by…………………………………….
• Although AUTHOR 1 believes that……………………,this
interpretation is not held universally; for example,
AUTHOR 2 notes that………………………………………
• AUTHOR 1 claims that………;however, he fails to explain
……………..AUTHOR 2 points out that…………………….
Loretta Gray
Organization and Structure
Introductions and Paragraphs
Booth, Colomb, and Williams:
A Common Structure for Introductions
Common Ground: Opening Moves
Context - of shared understanding about the
current status of the problem or taken-for-granted
background
Disruption:
Denial: but, however,on the other hand,
etc.
Statement of the problem -This statement
includes what we do no know or fully understand
and what the costs will be if we do not respond to
the problem or what the benefits will be if we do
Resolution:
Statement of response
Main point or launching point
(249)
The organization and flow
• Of the writing sustains continuous reading
from a point of departure
– In a clear direction
– Towards a destination
• The writing supports this continuous,
directed movement
– Does not let us down with disconnections,
unexpected turns, or loops that force us to
read back over previous sections
(Gottschalk and Hjortshoj 10)
Works Cited
• Bean, John. Raft Handout in “Theory and Praxis Workshop on
ABGW4, August 16, 2006. Aug.2007.
<http://www.unm.edu/~was/CurriculumResources/BeanAgenda.pdf>
• Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams.
The Craft of Research. Chicago; London: U of Chicago P,
1995. (New edition 2003)
• Gottschalk, Katherine and Keith Hjortshoj. The Elements of
Teaching Writing: A Resource for Instructors in all
Disciplines. Boston: Bedford/St. Matrin’s, 2004.
• Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves
That Matter in Academic Writing.New York: W. W. Norton,
2006.
• Gray, Loretta. “Formulaic Expressions: Scaffolding for
Fluency”. Conf. on Coll. Composition and
Communication. New York City, March 21, 2007.