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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

“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

“My students are from diverse backgrounds and the topics in

this book help them to empathize with others who are differ-

ent from them.”

—Steven Bailey, Central Michigan University

“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 Vermont

“‘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

“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

“My students love this book. They tell me that the idea of

‘entering a conversation’ really makes sense to them in a way

that academic writing hasn’t before.”

—Karen Henderson, Helena College University of Montana

“A concise and practical text at a great price; students love it.”

—Jeff Pruchnic, Wayne State University

“ ‘ They Say’ contains the best collection of articles I have found.

Students respond very well to the readings.”

—Julia Ruengert, Pensacola State College

“It’s the anti-composition text: Fun, creative, humorous, bril-

liant, effective.”

—Perry Cumbie, Durham Technical Community College

“A brilliant book… . It’s like a membership card in the aca-

demic club.”

—Eileen Seifert, DePaul 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

F O U R T H E D I T I O N

“THEY SAY I SAY”

T h e M o v e s T h a t M a t t e r

i n A c a d e m i c W r i t i n g

W I T H R E A D I N G S

H

GERALD GRAFF

CATHY BIRKENSTEIN

both of the University of Illinois at Chicago

RUSSEL DURST

University of Cincinnati

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

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 © 2018, 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 731.

ISBN 978-0-393-63168-5

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

To the great rhetorician Wayne Booth,

who cared deeply

about the democratic art

of listening closely to what others say.

contents

preface to the fourth edition xi

preface: Demystifying Academic Conversation xvii

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 43

PART 2. “I SAY”

4 “yes / no / okay, but”: Three Ways to Respond 53

5 “and yet”: Distinguishing What You Say

from What They Say 67

http://wwnorton.com

6 “skeptics may object”:

Planting a Naysayer in Your Text 77

7 “so what? who cares?”: Saying Why It Matters 91

PART 3. T YING IT ALL TOGETHER

8 “as a result”: Connecting the Parts 101

9 “you mean i can just say it that way?”:

Academic Writing Doesn’t Mean Setting Aside

Your Own Voice 117

10 “but don’t get me wrong”:

The Art of Metacommentary 131

11 “he says contends”: Using the Templates to Revise 141

PART 4 . IN SPECIFIC ACADEMIC CONTEXTS

12 “i take your point”: Entering Class Discussions 162

13 don’t make them scroll up:

Entering Online Conversations 166

v i i

C O N T E N T S

14 what’s motivating this writer?:

Reading for the Conversation 176

15 “analyze this”: Writing in the Social Sciences 187

readings

16 HOW CAN WE BRIDGE THE DIFFERENCES

THAT DIVIDE US? 209

sean blanda, The “Other Side” Is Not Dumb 212

danah boyd, Why America Is Self-Segregating 219

michelle alexander, The New Jim Crow 230

j. d. vance, Hillbilly Elegy 251

gabriela moro, Minority Student Clubs: Segregation or

Integration? 269

robert leonard, Why Rural America Voted for Trump 279

joseph e. stiglitz, A Tax System Stacked against

the 99 Percent 286

barack obama, Howard University Commencement

Speech 296

17 IS COLLEGE THE BEST OPTION? 315

stephanie owen and isabel sawhill, Should Everyone

Go to College? 318

sanford j. ungar, The New Liberal Arts 336

charles murray, Are Too Many People

Going to College? 344

liz addison, Two Years Are Better Than Four 365

gerald graff, Hidden Intellectualism 369

mike rose, Blue-Collar Brilliance 377

ben casselman, Shut Up about Harvard 390

steve kolowich, On the Front Lines of a

New Culture War 398

v i i i

Contents

18 ARE WE IN A RACE AGAINST THE MACHINE? 421

nicholas carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid? 424

clive thompson, Smarter Than You Think: How

Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better 441

michaela cullington, Does Texting Affect Writing? 462

jenna wortham, How I Learned to Love Snapchat 474

carole cadwalladr, Google, Democracy, and the Truth

about Internet Search 480

kenneth goldsmith, Go Ahead: Waste Time on

the Internet 500

sherry turkle, No Need to Call 505

zeynep tufekci, Does a Protest’s Size Matter? 525

19 WHAT’S GENDER GOT TO DO WITH IT? 531

anne-marie slaughter, Why Women Still Can’t

Have It All 534

richard dorment, Why Men Still Can’t Have It All 555

raynard kington, I’m Gay and African American. As a

Dad, I Still Have It Easier Than Working Moms. 576

laurie frankel, From He to She in First Grade 583

andrew reiner, Teaching Men to Be

Emotionally Honest 589

stephen mays, What about Gender Roles in

Same-Sex Relationships? 596

kate crawford, Artificial Intelligence’s White Guy

Problem 599

nicholas eberstadt, Men without Work 605

20 WHAT’S THERE TO EAT? 621

michael pollan, Escape from the Western Diet 624

olga khazan, Why Don’t Convenience Stores Sell

Better Food? 632

i x

C O N T E N T S

mary maxfield, Food as Thought: Resisting the

Moralization of Eating 641

david zinczenko, Don’t Blame the Eater 647

radley balko, What You Eat Is Your Business 651

michael moss, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive

Junk Food 656

david h. freedman, How Junk Food Can End Obesity 681

sara goldrick-rab, katharine broton, emily brunjes colo,

Expanding the National School Lunch Program to

Higher Education 713

credits 731

acknowledgments 737

index of templates 751

index of authors and titles 767

x

preface

to the fourth 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.

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 effec-

tive writers enter conversations of other writers and speakers,

this book encourages students to engage with those around

them—including those who disagree with them—instead of

just expressing their ideas “logically.” We believe it’s a model

more necessary than ever in today’s increasingly diverse—and

some might say divided—society. In this spirit, we have added

a new chapter, “How Can We Bridge the Differences That

Divide Us?,” with readings that represent different perspectives

on those divides—and what we might do to overcome them.

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,

x i

P R E F A C E T O T H E F O U R T H E D I T I O N

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 academia and the

wider public sphere, the book provides templates 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.

The two versions of “They Say / I Say” are now being taught

at more than 1,500 schools, which 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 fourth edition of “They Say / I Say” with Readings

includes forty readings—half of them new—on five compel-

ling and controversial issues. The selections provide a glimpse

into some important conversations taking place today—and

will, we hope, provoke students to respond and thus to join in

those conversations.

highlights

Forty readings that will prompt students to think—and write.

Taken from a wide variety of sources, including the Chronicle

of Higher Education, the Washington Post, the New York Times,

the Wall Street Journal, medium.com, best-selling books, policy reports, student-run journals, celebrated speeches, and more,

x i i

Preface to the Fourth Edition

the readings represent a range of perspectives on five important

issues:

• How Can We Bridge the Differences That Divide Us?

• Is College the Best Option?

• Are We in a Race against the Machine?

• What’s Gender Got to Do with It?

• What’s There to Eat?

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

taught in the book. Additionally, one question invites students

to write, and often to respond with their own views.

Two books in one, with a rhetoric up front and readings

in the back. The two parts are linked by cross-references in

the margins, leading from the rhetoric to specific examples in

the readings and from the readings to the corresponding writ-

ing instruction. Teachers can therefore begin with either the

rhetoric or the readings, and the links will facilitate movement

between one section and the other.

A chapter on reading (Chapter 14) encourages students to

http://medium.com

think of reading as an act of entering conversations. Instead

of teaching students merely to identify the author’s argument,

this chapter shows them how to read with an eye for what

arguments the author is responding to—in other words, to

think carefully about why the writer is making the argument in

the first place, and thus to recognize (and ultimately become

a part of) the larger conversation that gives meaning to read-

ing the text.

x i i i

P R E F A C E T O T H E F O U R T H E D I T I O N

what’s new

A new chapter, “How Can We Bridge the Differences That

Divide Us?,” brings together diverse perspectives on some of

the issues that have been a source of division in our country,

with readings that offer possible ways to overcome those divi-

sions—from Sean Blanda’s “The Other Side Is Not Dumb” to J. D.

Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy and Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow.

Half of the readings are new, with at least one documented

piece and one student essay in each chapter, added in response

to requests from many teachers who wanted more complex and

documented writing. In the technology and gender chapters,

half of the readings are new, with essays on fake news, wasting

time online (and why that’s a good thing), and men without

work, among others. The education chapter now includes an

essay on problematic elitism in some circles of higher education

and another on one college’s quest to foster tolerance among

its diverse student body. Finally, the food chapter now asks a

slightly different question: what (if anything) is there to eat?

An updated chapter on academic language (now called “You

Mean I Can Just Say It That Way?”) underscores the need to

bridge spheres that are too often kept separate: everyday lan-

guage and academic writing.

A new chapter on entering online conversations further

underscores the importance of including a “they say” when

responding to others on blogs, class discussion boards, and the

like, showing how the rhetorical moves taught in this book can

help students contribute clearly and respectfully to conversa-

tions in digital spaces.

x i v

Preface to the Fourth Edition

New examples—15 in total—appear throughout the rhetoric,

from Deborah Tannen and Charles Murray to Nicholas Carr

and Michelle Alexander.

An updated chapter on writing in the social sciences reflects

a broader range of writing assignments with examples from aca-

demic publications in sociology, psychology, and political science.

what’s online

Online tutorials give students hands-on practice recognizing

and using the rhetorical moves taught in this book both as

readers and writers. Each tutorial helps students read a full

essay with an eye on these moves and then respond to a writing

prompt using templates from the book.

They Say / I Blog. Updated monthly, this blog provides up-to-

the-minute readings on the issues covered in the book, along

with questions that prompt students to literally join the con-

versation. Check it out at theysayiblog.com.

Instructor’s Guide. Now available in print, the guide includes

expanded in-class activities, sample syllabi, summaries of

http://theysayiblog.com

each chapter and reading, and a chapter on using the online

resources, including They Say / I Blog.

Ebook. Searchable, portable, and interactive. The complete

textbook for a fraction of the price. Students can interact with

the text—take notes, bookmark, search, and highlight. The

ebook can be viewed on—and synced between—all computers

and mobile devices.

x v

P R E F A C E T O T H E F O U R T H E D I T I O N

InQuizitive for Writers. Adaptive, game-like exercises help

students practice editing, focusing especially on the errors that

matter.

Coursepack. Norton resources you can add to your online,

hybrid, or lecture course—all at no cost. Norton Coursepacks

work within your existing learning management system; there’s

no new system to learn, and access is free and easy. Customizable

resources include assignable writing prompts from theysayiblog

.com, quizzes on grammar and documentation, documentation guides, model student essays, and more.

Find it all at digital.wwnorton.com/theysayreadings4 or contact your Norton representative for more information.

We hope that this new edition of “They Say / I Say” with Read-

ings will spark students’ interest in some of the most pressing

conversations of our day and provide them with some of the

tools they need to engage in those conversations with dexterity

and confidence.

Gerald Graff

Cathy Birkenstein

Russel Durst

x v i

http://theysayiblog.com

http://theysayiblog.com

http://digital.wwnorton.com/theysayreadings4

preface

Demystifying Academic Conversation

H

Experienced writing instructors have long recognized

that writing well means entering into conversation with others.

Academic writing in particular calls upon writers not simply to

express their own ideas, but to do so as a response to what others

have said. The first-year writing program at our own university,

according to its mission statement, asks “students to partici-

pate in ongoing conversations about vitally important academic

and public issues.” A similar statement by another program

holds that “intellectual writing is almost always composed in

response to others’ texts.” These statements echo the ideas

of rhetorical theorists like Kenneth Burke, Mikhail Bakhtin,

and Wayne Booth as well as recent composition scholars like

David Bartholomae, John Bean, Patricia Bizzell, Irene Clark,

Greg Colomb, Lisa Ede, Peter Elbow, Joseph Harris, Andrea

Lunsford, Elaine Maimon, Gary Olson, Mike Rose, John Swales

and Christine Feak, Tilly Warnock, and others who argue that

writing well means engaging the voices of others and letting

them in turn engage us.