Book Review

Book Review: They Say I SayMany College and university students often have trouble performing well in their academic writing, which is a necessary part of higher education. They cannot assert their argument critically and logically, thus making their writing less forceful and convincing. The reasons may be that cannot get helpful instruction form traditional methods which focuses on abstract principles of writing, while they themselves don’t know how to state their argument appropriately, and engage with the thought of others.The book They Say I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein attempts to solve this problem that college and university students are faced with. Different from traditional books, which pay more attention to writing principles rather than practical use of them, They Say I Say offers students useful templates and directly applies them to practical writing. The book is written on the premise that good argumentative writing begins not with an act of assertion but an act of listening, of putting ourselves in the shoes of those who think differently from us (p. xiii). Its goal is to help college and university students become excellent writers and critical, independent thinkers by applying “moves”---steps to perform students’writing activities---to academic writing and offering specific methods and techniques.You mustn’t miss the first two sections of this book. They are worth reading if you want to have a general knowledge of this book. Two prefaces talk authors’intention of writing the book, innovation and improvement and also arguments on it. In introduction section, it’s clearly to know the foci of the book, and the authorsmake an explanation of their writing templates, and respond to some people’s argument on its use. It is helpful for you to know other’s opinions and meantime make your own judgment.The book includes 4 parts: Part one tells us the art of listening to others. It contains 3 chapters, with chapter 1 on importance of “Starting with What Others Are Saying”, and chapter 2 and 3 talk 3 techniques in citing what others say. These techniques include direct quotation, summary and paraphrase. They can play active parts in improving students’analytical and summarizing abilities, and furthermore, students may have a comprehensive understanding about the passage. Part two talks about stating one’s own response to what others say. There are 4 chapters in this part. Chapter 4 offers us 3 ways to respond, and next chapter tells us use of “voice-markers” to separate your argument from others’, and the following chapter focuses on application of opposing views to boost credibility of your writing, and finally with chapter 7 relates what you say to what others say, and demonstrates broader relevance. This move can draw reader s’ attention and also make your writing more forceful, convincing. Part three contains strategies connecting different parts by using transitions, pointing words etc. This move plays a crucial role in the whole passage to link all parts together to a closely related integration. Part four is about academic writing in specific academic situations. It’s helpful for students who are required to write about specific fields, so it is an innovation of the book.This book highlights use of templates for students in academic writing. And each chapter offers some templates, namely, writing models, for students and also appliesthem directly to examples; therefore, it is of high practicability. Moreover, there are several authentic, extensive reading materials involving different disciplines at the end of the book for students to practice. As a result, they can broaden their knowledge in other fields and boost their comprehensive abilities. It is indicative of broad applicability of this book.In spite of positive features of this book, I hold different views from the authors who argue that students can learn to use first-person pronoun in their writing. It seems to me that first-person pronoun may lead to less creditability and more subjectivity of writing. Moreover, I am of mixed feeling about use of these templates. They are definitely useful for students to organize their writing, but if students, especially students of arts, follow the same pattern, it will make readers tired of reading such writings with fixed forms, no matter how excellent the contents are. As for use of in academic writing,In sum up, although some may disagree with the authors on some points, the “moves”in They Say I Say are quite helpful for students. They are very important learning skills in any college-level academic courses. Through these “moves” students can integrate others’ voices with their own ideas by using template formats, so that they can improve their overall abilities, especially writing ability and independently critical ability. Through using this book, students are encouraged to extract main points of other s’views, analyze and evaluate them, and motivate their arguments and then make their own responses to what others say.。