They Say I Say

They Say I Say

Chapter One of They Say I Say focused on the 'they say' part of writing. I'll be honest, I didn't want to read it but once I did it was actually extremely informative and I can see it being very helpful. It informs the reader on how to discuss what they say (or the view you're agreeing with/ arguing in this example) so that their piece isn't confusing to others. If you don't inform people on what they say and then just go on and on about something that you believe, the reader will be extremely confused as to what the point of it was. The chapter gives many examples as to how to reference what they say. Examples include introducing it as a debate, as an assumption and a few other ways.

 Chapter Two of the book gives a detailed explanation on how to write a summary(which I will now write a summary of). The book brings up an interesting point, as it says to bring some of your own voice into the summary. They claim that a normal summary that just lists what the author says is way too boring, and doesn't actually get anything done. On the other hand, they also say to not put too much voice into the summary. Once that happens and you show your bias, the summary is no longer a summary. Its just you ranting about something you believe in and that rant was fueled by the piece. A good summary should be subtle with its bias, the reader should not be able to tell the authors views on the piece.

Chapter Three of They Say I Say focuses on the art of quotation. It explains how quotes should be used in a piece. Before a quote is used, a frame should be built around it. It can't just be stuck into an essay. It must come at a relevant time, and then be explained after it is said. If it's kind of just there, it'll stick out like a sore thumb and potentially ruin the essay. Same thing goes for the language used in a quote. A quote should match the writing that it's in. If your writing is in the personal form and then the quote you use is extremely formal, then it just doesn't work well at all. An essay must flow, that's the beauty of writing. Don't quote too much. Or too little. Those are bad too.

These chapters were very informative. I like the way that this book is setup. Surprisingly, I actually kind of enjoy reading this book. It finds a way to talk about these informative topics in an interesting manner. Just these three chapters gave me a better understanding on how I am going to write this paper.