What helped me understand this idea of viewing an argument from multiple perspectives a lot clearer, was the description about imagining the author not all isolated by himself in an office, but instead in a room with other people, throwing around ideas to each other to come up with the main argument of the text. What other arguments is he responding to? Deciphering the conversation. What's Motivating This Writer? Keep in mind that you will also be using quotes. They say i say sparknotes chapter 4. Instead, Graff and Birkenstein explain that if a student wants to read the author's text critically, they must read the text from multiple perspectives, connecting the different arguments, so that they can reconstruct the main argument the author is making. Multivocal Arguments. The Art of Summarizing. In this chapter, Graff and Birkenstein talk about the importance of taking other people's points and connecting them to your own argument. When the "They Say" is unstated. Reading particularly challenging texts. Chapter 2 explains how to write an extended summary.
A great way to explore an issue is to assume the voice of different stakeholders within an issue. Some writers assume that their readers are familiar with the views they are including. Figure out what views the author is responding to and what the author's own argument is. What are current issues where this approach would help us?
Write briefly from this perspective. This problem primarily arises when a student looks at the text from one perspective only. When you read a text, imagine that the author is responding to other authors. What does assuming different voices help us with in regards to an issue?
This enables the discussion to become more coherent. The conversation can be quite large and complex and understanding it can be a challenge. They explain that the key to being active in a conversation is to take the other students' ideas and connecting them to one's own viewpoint. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the conversation writers are responding to because the language and ideas are challenging or new to you. When the conversation is not clearly stated, it is up to you to figure out what is motivating the text. Who are the stakeholders in the Zinczenko article? You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. We will be working with this today moving into beginning our essays. Summarize the conversation as you see it or the concepts as you understand them. They mention at the beginning of this chapter how it is hard for a student to pinpoint the main argument the author is writing about. They say i say sparknotes.com. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. Chapter 14 suggests that when you are reading for understanding, you should read for the conversation.
In this chapter, Graff and Birkenstein discuss the importance of grasping what the author is trying to argue. Assume a voice of one of the stakeholders and write for a few minutes from this perspective. Writing things out is one way we can begin to understand complex ideas. Kenneth Burke writes: Imagine that you enter a parlor. A gap in the research. However, the discussion is interminable. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally's assistance. They Say / I Say (“What’s Motivating This Writer?” and “I Take Your Point”. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress. Is he disagreeing or agreeing with the issue? Now we will assume a different voice in the issue.