The reason we write is in response to another’s view, we make arguments based off of other people. Graff and Birkenstein state, “…if you don’t identify the ‘they say’ you’re responding to, your own argument probably won’t have a point” (4). The audience in which you are speaking to needs to know the context of your writing or else they won’t be interested or understand your point of view. Another reason it’s important to engage other’s views is because you simply can not have a conversation by yourself, “…stating an argument (putting in your oar) can only be done in conversation with others; that entering the dynamic world of ideas must be done not as isolated individuals but as social beings deeply connected to others”(16).  Graff and Birkenstein go into how you need to engage with others, whether you agree or disagree, to be able to have a conversation and begin an argument.

 

While writing in high school, we were always told to have our thesis be one of the first things in our essays. But, Graff and Birkenstein say that “…remember that you are entering a conversation and therefore need to start with ‘what others are saying’” (20). They also say that this can contradict what we were told about leading with a thesis, but I feel like this is a good way to enter your argument and then insert the thesis after you say what ‘they say’. In high school, most of the time I would start my papers this way because I found it as a good gateway into my own argument.

 

Throughout your literacy career as a student, you have been told the importance of directly quoting another author’s words and how exactly to embed it into your own writing. Graff and Birkenstein explain this process by comparing it to a sandwich, they say, “… the statement introducing it serving as the top slice of bread and the explanation following it serving as the bottom slice” (47). This is essentially the same concept I had been taught in each of my english classes. Each quote needs to have context before hand to make it relevant and then expanded upon afterwards to explain why it is there and how it is furthering your argument.