They Say, I Say Response

I felt this reading was extremely useful on many levels. I have always been able to articulate arguments fairly clearly, having been a debater in high school. However, I have never really understood how you should address opposing points of view without making your own position seem weaker, so I think the main thing I took out of the reading was a better understanding of how to address the opposition without undermining yourself. I especially liked how the authors gave templates and examples to illustrate what they were talking about.

I also liked that there was a template given illustrating how to introduce a point of view that is nearly unanimous--the argument I’m focusing on for my paper is almost a common knowledge viewpoint and there aren’t many people arguing the opposing point of view. The reading actually answered my questions about how to approach that kind of situation by agreeing, but drawing some difference between the established position and your stance, or moderating your agreement with a little disagreement on some points. Besides, if you don’t bring anything new to the discussion, you might as well just let people read articles by others and save yourself the trouble of contributing to the conversation. It’s only valuable if you have something original to say.

In the context of this class, I thought that this reading could be applied to all kinds of writing--rather than just the argument essay. I think all writers would benefit from the advice regarding understanding the position of your audience and from the section about stating your topic clearly. I think we’ve all read articles or paper where the author has difficulty getting to any kind of point, and it just makes you feel you’ve wasted your time as a reader. Understanding how to clearly state your point prevents your reader from getting bored before they even get to the relevant portion of your writing.