what they’re saying about “they say / i say”
“The best book that’s happened to teaching composition— ever!” —Karen Gaffney, Raritan Valley Community College
“A brilliant book. . . . It’s like a membership card in the aca- demic club.” —Eileen Seifert, DePaul University
“This book demystifies rhetorical moves, tricks of the trade that many students are unsure about. It’s reasonable, helpful, nicely written . . . and hey, it’s true. I would have found it immensely helpful myself in high school and college.”
—Mike Rose, University of California, Los Angeles
“The argument of this book is important—that there are ‘moves’ to academic writing . . . and that knowledge of them can be generative. The template format is a good way to teach and demystify the moves that matter. I like this book a lot.”
—David Bartholomae, University of Pittsburgh
“A beautifully lucid way to approach argument—different from any rhetoric I’ve ever seen.”
—Anne-Marie Thomas, Austin Community College, Riverside
“Students need to walk a fine line between their work and that of others, and this book helps them walk that line, providing specific methods and techniques for introducing, explaining, and integrating other voices with their own ideas.”
—Libby Miles, University of Rhode Island
“‘They Say’ with Readings is different from other rhetorics and readers in that it really engages students in the act of writing throughout the book. It’s less a ‘here’s how’ book and more of a ‘do this with me’ kind of book.”
—Kelly Ritter, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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“It offers students the formulas we, as academic writers, all carry in our heads.” —Karen Gardiner, University of Alabama
“Many students say that it is the first book they’ve found that actually helps them with writing in all disciplines.”
—Laura Sonderman, Marshall University
“As a WPA, I’m constantly thinking about how I can help instructors teach their students to make specific rhetorical moves on the page. This book offers a powerful way of teach- ing students to do just that.” —Joseph Bizup, Boston University
“The best tribute to ‘They Say / I Say’ I’ve heard is this, from a student: ‘This is one book I’m not selling back to the bookstore.’ Nods all around the room. The students love this book.”
—Christine Ross, Quinnipiac University
“What effect has ‘They Say’ had on my students’ writing? They are finally entering the Burkian Parlor of the university. This book uncovers the rhetorical conventions that transcend dis- ciplinary boundaries, so that even freshmen, newcomers to the academy, are immediately able to join in the conversation.”
—Margaret Weaver, Missouri State University
“It’s the anti-composition text: Fun, creative, humorous, bril- liant, effective.”
—Perry Cumbie, Durham Technical Community College
“Loved by students, reasonable priced, manageable size, readable.” —Roxanne Munch, Joliet Junior College
“This book explains in clear detail what skilled writers take for granted.” —John Hyman, American University
“The ability to engage with the thoughts of others is one of the most important skills taught in any college-level writing course, and this book does as good a job teaching that skill as any text I have ever encountered.” —William Smith, Weatherford College
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T H I R D E D I T I O N
“THEY SAY I SAY” The Move s Tha t Ma t t e r
i n Academ i c Wr i t i n g
WITH READINGS
H
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T H I R D E D I T I O N
“THEY SAY !I SAY” The Move s Tha t Ma t t e r
i n Academ i c Wr i t i n g
WITH READINGS
H GERALD GRAFF
CATHY BIRKENSTEIN both of the University of Illinois at Chicago
RUSSEL DURST University of Cincinnatti
B w . w . n o r t o n & c o m p a n y
n e w y o r k | l o n d o n
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W. W. Norton & Company has been independent since its founding in 1923, when William Warder Norton and Mary D. Herter Norton first published lectures delivered at the People’s Institute, the adult education division of New York City’s Cooper Union. The firm soon expanded its program beyond the Institute, publishing books by celebrated academics from America and abroad. By mid-century, the two major pillars of Norton’s publishing program—trade books and college texts—were firmly established. In the 1950s, the Norton family transferred control of the company to its employees, and today—with a staff of four hundred and a comparable number of trade, college, and professional titles published each year—W. W. Norton & Company stands as the largest and oldest publishing house owned wholly by its employees.
Copyright © 2017, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2006 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America
Permission to use copyrighted material is included in the credits section of this book, which begins on page 747.
The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier edition as follows: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Graff, Gerald, author. “They say/I say”: the moves that matter in academic writing, with readings / Gerald Graff, University of Illinois at Chicago ; Cathy Birkenstein, University of Illinois at Chicago ; Russel Durst, University of Cincinnati.—Third Edition. p. cm Previous edition: 3rd. ed. 2014. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-393-93751-0 (pbk.) 1. English language—Rhetoric—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Persuasion (Rhetoric)—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Report writing—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. Academic writing—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 5. College readers. I. Birkenstein, Cathy, editor. II. Durst, Russel K., 1954- editor. III. Title. PE1431.G73 2014 808'.042—dc23 2014033777
This edition: ISBN 978-0-393-61744-3
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110 wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 15 Carlisle Street, London W1D 3BS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
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To the great rhetorician Wayne Booth, who cared deeply
about the democratic art of listening closely to what others say.
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i x
contents
preface to the third edition xi i i
preface: Demystifying Academic Conversation xviii
introduction: Entering the Conversation 1
PART 1. “THEY SAY” 1 “they say”: Starting with What Others Are Saying 19 2 “her point is”: The Art of Summarizing 30 3 “as he himself puts it”: The Art of Quoting 42
PART 2. “ I SAY”
4 “yes / no / okay, but”: Three Ways to Respond 55 5 “and yet”: Distinguishing What You Say
from What They Say 68 6 “skeptics may object”:
Planting a Naysayer in Your Text 78 7 “so what? who cares?”: Saying Why It Matters 92
PART 3. TYING IT ALL TOGETHER
8 “as a result”: Connecting the Parts 105 9 “a in’t so / is not”: Academic Writing Doesn’t Always
Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice 121 10 “but don’t get me wrong”:
The Art of Metacommentary 129 11 “he says contends”: Using the Templates to Revise 139
PART 4 . IN SPECIFIC ACADEMIC CONTEXTS
12 “i take your point”: Entering Class Discussions 163 13 “imho”: Is Digital Communication Good or Bad—or Both? 167 14 “what’s motivating this writer?”:
Reading for the Conversation 173 15 “analyze this”: Writing in the Social Sciences 184
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x
readings
16 IS COLLEGE THE BEST OPTION? 205
stephanie owen and isabel sawhill, Should Everyone Go to College? 208
sanford j. ungar, The New Liberal Arts 226
charles murray, Are Too Many People Going to College? 234
liz addison, Two Years Are Better than Four 255
freeman hrabowski, Colleges Prepare People for Life 259
gerald graff, Hidden Intellectualism 264
mike rose, Blue-Collar Brilliance 272
michelle obama, Bowie State University Commencement Speech 285
17 ARE WE IN A RACE AGAINST THE MACHINE? 297
Kevin kelly, Better than Human: Why Robots Will—and Must—Take Our Jobs 299
nicholas carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid? 313
brooke gladstone and josh neufeld, The Influencing Machines 330
clive thompson, Smarter than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better 340
michaela cullington, Does Texting Affect Writing? 361
sherry turkle, No Need to Call 373
jenna wortham, I Had a Nice Time with You Tonight. On the App. 393
malcolm gladwell, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted 399
C O N T E N T S
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18 WHAT SHOULD WE EAT? 417
michael pollan, Escape from the Western Diet 420
steven shapin, What Are You Buying When You Buy Organic? 428
mary maxfield, Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating 442
jonathan safran Foer, Against Meat 448
david zinczenko, Don’t Blame the Eater 462
radley balko, What You Eat Is Your Business 466
michael moss, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food 471
marion nestle, The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate 496
david h. freedman, How Junk Food Can End Obesity 506
19 WHAT’S UP WITH THE AMERICAN DREAM? 539
david leonhardt, Inequality Has Been Going on Forever . . . but That Doesn’t Mean It’s Inevitable 542
edward mcclelland, RIP, the Middle Class: 1946–2013 549
paul krugman, Confronting Inequality 561
gary becker and kevin murphy, The Upside of Income Inequality 581
monica potts, What’s Killing Poor White Women? 591
brandon king, The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold? 610
tim roemer, America Remains the World’s Beacon of Success 618
shayan zadeh, Bring on More Immigrant Entrepreneurs 623
pew research team, King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal 627
Contents
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20 WHAT’S GENDER GOT TO DO WITH IT? 639
sheryl sandberg, Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid? 642
bell hooks, Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In 659
anne-marie slaughter, Why Women Still Can’t Have It All 676
richard dorment, Why Men Still Can’t Have It All 697
stephen mays, What about Gender Roles in Same-Sex Relationships? 718
dennis baron, Facebook Multiplies Genders but Offers Users the Same Three Tired Pronouns 721
ellen ullman, How to Be a “Woman Programmer” 726
saul kaplan, The Plight of Young Males 732
penelope eckert and sally mcconnell-ginet, Learning to Be Gendered 736
credits 747
acknowledgments 753
index of templates 765
index of authors and titles 781
C O N T E N T S
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preface to the third edition
H
When we first set out to write this book, our goal was simple: to offer a version of “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing with an anthology of readings that would demonstrate the rhetorical moves “that matter.” And because “They Say” teaches students that academic writ- ing is a means of entering a conversation, we looked for read- ings on topics that would engage students and inspire them to respond—and to enter the conversations. The book has been more successful than we ever imagined possible, which we believe reflects the growing importance of academic writing as a focus of first-year writing courses, and the fact that students find practical strategies like the ones offered in this book to be particularly helpful. In addition, some teach- ers have told us that this book works well in courses that focus on argument and research because students find these strategies easier to grasp than those in the books that teach various kinds of formal argumentation. Our purpose in writing “They Say” has always been to offer students a user-friendly model of writing that will help them put into practice the important principle that writing is a social activity. Proceeding from the premise that effective writers enter conversations of other writers and speakers, this book encour- ages students to engage with those around them—including those who disagree with them—instead of just expressing their
x i i i
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ideas “logically.” Our own experience teaching first-year writing students has led us to believe that to be persuasive, arguments need not only supporting evidence but also motivation and exigency, and that the surest way to achieve this motivation and exigency is to generate one’s own arguments as a response to those of others—to something “they say.” To help students write their way into the often daunting conversations of aca- demia and the wider public sphere, the book provides tem- plates to help them make sophisticated rhetorical moves that they might otherwise not think of attempting. And of course learning to make these rhetorical moves in writing also helps students become better readers of argument. That the two versions of “They Say / I Say” are now being taught at more than 1,500 schools suggests that there is a wide- spread desire for explicit instruction that is understandable but not oversimplified, to help writers negotiate the basic moves necessary to “enter the conversation.” Instructors have told us how much this book helps their students learn how to write academic discourse, and some students have written to us saying that it’s helped them to “crack the code,” as one student put it. This third edition of “They Say / I Say” with Readings includes forty-three readings on five compelling and controversial issues. The readings provide a glimpse into some important conver- sations of our day—and will, we hope, provoke students to respond and thus to join in those conversations.
HIGHLIGHTS
Forty-three readings that will prompt students to think— and write. Taken from a wide variety of sources, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Salon, the Atlantic, the
P R E FA C E T O T H E T H I R D E D I T I O N
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Pew Research Center, the New Yorker, Wired magazine, best- selling trade books, celebrated speeches, and more, the readings represent a range of perspectives on five important issues:
• Is College the Best Option? • Are We in a Race against the Machine? • What Should We Eat? • What’s Up with the American Dream? • What’s Gender Got to Do with It?
The readings can function as sources for students’ own writing, and the study questions that follow each reading focus students’ attention on how each author uses the key rhetorical moves— and include one question that invites them to write, and often to respond with their own views.