"What effect has 'They Say' had on my students1 writing? They are finally entering the Burkian Parlor of the university. This book uncovers the rhetorical conventions that transcend disciplinary boundaries, so that even freshmen, newcomers to the academy, are immediately able to join in the conversation."
—Margaret Weaver, Missouri State University
"It's the anti-composition text: Fun, creative, humorous, bril' liant, effective."
—Perry Cumbie, Durham Technical Community College
"This book explains in clear detail what skilled writers take for granted." —John Hyman, American 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
"Students find this book tremendously helpful—they report that it has 'demystified' academic writing for them."
—Karen Gocsik, University of California at San Diego
"I love 'They Say / I Say,' and more importantly, so do my students."
—Catherine Hayter, Saddleback College
'"They Say j 1 Say' reveals the language of academic writing in a way that students seem to understand and incorporate more easily than they do with other writing books. Instead of a list of don'ts, the book provides a catalog of do s, which is always more effective."
—Amy Lea Clemons, Francis Marion University
"This book makes the implicit rules of academic writing explicit for students. It's the hook I really wish I'd had when I was an undergraduate."
—Steven Bailey, Central Michigan University
§
Ö Iff
1
FOURTH EDITION
"THEY SAY/ I SAY
The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing
99
-^ojj-
GERALD GRAFF CATHY BIRKENSTEIN
both of the University of Illinois at Chicago
W- W- NORTON & COMPANY NEW YORK I LONDON
"YES / NO / OKAY, BUT'
impossible can demonstrate your sophistication as a writer. In an academic culture that values complex thought, forthrightly declaring that you have mixed feelings can be impressive, espc cially after having ruled out the one-dimensional positions on your issue taken by others in the conversation. Ultimately, then, how ambivalent you end up being comes down to a judgment call based on different readers' responses to your drafts, on your knowledge of your audience, and on the challenges of your particular argument and situation.
"AND YET"
Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say
Exercises
1. Read one of the essays in the back of this book or on theysayiblog.com, identifying those places where the author agrees with others, disagrees, or both-
2. Write an essay responding in some way to the essay that you worked with in the preceding exercise. You'll want to summarize and/or quote some of the author's ideas and make clear whether you're agreeing, disagreeing, or both agreeing and disagreeing with what he or she says. Remember that there are templates in this book that can help you get started; see Chapters 1-3 for templates that will help you represent other people's ideas and Chapter 4 for templates that will get you started with your response.
If good academic writing involves putting yourself into dialogue with others, it is extremely important that readers be able to tell at every point when you are expressing your own view and when you are stating someone else's. This chapter takes up the problem of moving from what they say to what you say without confusing readers about who is saying what.
DETERMINE WHO IS SAYING WHAT IN THE TEXTS YOU READ
Before examining how to signal who is saying what in your own writing, let's look at how to recognize such signals when they appear in the texts you read—-an especially important skill when it comes to the challenging works assigned in school, Frequently, when students have trouble understanding difficult texts, it is not just because the texts contain unfamiliar ideas or words, but because the texts rely on subtle clues to let
6 6
6 7
- y "AND YET"
readers know when a particular view should be attributed to the writer or to someone else. Especially with texts that ptes-ent a true dialogue of perspectives, readers need to be alert to the often subtle markers that indicate whose voice the writer is speaking in.
Consider how the social critic and educator Gregory Mant-sios uses these "voice markers," as they might be called, to distinguish the different perspectives m his essay on America's class inequalities.
"We are all middle-class," or so it would seem. Our national con' sciousness, as shaped in large part by the media and our political leadership, provides us with a picture of ourselves as a nation of prosperity and opportunity with an ever expanding middle-class life-style. As a result, our class differences are muted and our collective character is homogenized.
Yet class divisions are real and arguably the most significant factor in determining both our very being in die world and the nature of the society we live in.
Gregory Mantsios, "Rewards and Opportunities: The Politics and Economics ot Class in the U.S."
Although Mantsios makes it look easy, he is actually making several sophisticated rhetorical moves here that help him distinguish the common view he opposes from his own position.
In the opening sentence, for instance, the phrase "or so it would seem" shows that Mantsios does not necessarily agree with the view he is describing, since writers normally don't present views they themselves hold as ones that only "seem" to be true. Mantsios also places this opening view in quotation marks to signal that it is not his own. He then further distances himself from the belief being summarised in the opening
Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say
paragraph by attributing it to "our national consciousness, as shaped in large part by the media and our political leadership," and then further attributing to this "consciousness" a negative, undesirable "result": one in which "our class differences" get "muted" and "our collective character" gets "homogenized," stripped of its diversity and distinctness. Hence, even before Mantsios has declared his own position in the second paragraph, readers can get a pretty solid sense of where he probably stands.
Furthermore, the second paragraph opens with the word "yet," indicating that Mantsios is now shifting to his own view (as opposed to the common view he has thus far been describing). Even the parallelism he sets up between the first and second paragraphs—between the first paragraph's claim that class differences do not exist and the second paragraph's claim that they do—helps throw into sharp relief the differences between the two voices. Finally, Mantsios's use of a direct, authoritative, declarative tone in the second paragraph also suggests a switch in voice. Although he does not use the words "I say" or "I argue," he clearly identifies the view he holds by presenting it not as one that merely seems to be true or that others tell us is true, but as a view that is true or, as Mantsios puts it, "real."
Paying attention to these voice markers is an important aspect of reading comprehension. Readers who fail to notice these markers often take an author's summaries of what someone else believes to be an expression of what the author himself or herself believes. Thus when we teach Mantsios's essay, some students invariably come away thinking that the statement "we are all middle-class" is Mantsios's own position rather than the perspective he is opposing, failing to see that in writing these words Mantsios acts as a kind of ventriloquist, mimicking what
6 s
6 9
rWik       "AND YET"
others say rather than directly expressing what he himself i thinking.
To see how important such voice markers are, consider what the Mantsios passage looks like if we remove them.
We are a!! middle-class. . . . We are a nation of prosperity and opportunity with an ever expanding middle-class life-style. . . .
Class divisions are real and arguably the most significant factor in determining both our very being in the world and the nature of the society we live in.
In contrast to the careful delineation between voices in Mant-sios's original text, this unmarked version leaves it hard to tell where his voice begins and the voices of others end. With the markers removed, readers cannot tell that "We are all middle-class" represents a view the author opposes, and that "Class divisions are real" represents what the author himself believes. Indeed, without the markers, especially the "yet," readers might well miss the fact that the second paragraph's claim that "Class divisions are real" contradicts the first paragraph's claim that "We are all middle-class."
TEMPLATES FOR SIGNALING WHO IS SAYING WHAT IN YOUR OWN WRITING
To avoid confusion in your own writing, make sure that at every point your readers can clearly tell who is saying what. To do so, you can use as voice-identifying devices many of the templates presented in previous chapters.
Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say
p-   Although X makes the best possibLe case for universal, agvernment-funded health care, I am not persuaded.
>   My view, however, contrary to what X has argued, is that
> Adding to X's argument, I would point out that
> According to both X and Y,_____.-----■
> Politicians, X argues, should —--„—■
»   Most athletes will tell you that
BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD NOT TO USE "l"
Notice that, the first three templates above use the first-person "1" or "we," as do many of the templates in this book, thereby contradicting the common advice about avoiding the first person in academic writing. Although you may have been told that the "I" word encourages subjective, self-indulgent opinions rather than well-grounded arguments, we believe that texts using "I" can be just as well supported—or just as self-indulgent—as those that don't. For us, well-supported arguments are grounded in persuasive reasons and evidence, not in the use or nonuse of any particular pronouns.
Furthermore, if you consistently avoid the first person in your writing, you will probably have trouble making the key move addressed in this chapter, differentiating your views from those of others, or even offering your own views in the first place. But don't just take our word for it. See for yourself how freely the first person is used by the writers quoted in this book, and by the writers assigned in your courses.
70
"AND YET"
Nevertheless, certain occasions may warrant avoiding the first person and writing, for example, that "she is correct" instead of "I think that she is correct." Since it can be monotonous to read an unvarying series of "!" statements ("1 believe ... I think . . . 1 argue"), it is a good idea to mix first-person assertions with ones like the following.
► X is right that certain common patterns can be found in the communities.
► The evidence shows that __ ______________.
► X's assertion that____________________does not fit the facts.
____......should agree that_.„_.
*■   Anyone famiLiar with
One might even follow Mantsios's lead, as in the following template.
► But________
factor in
are real, and are arguably the most significant
On the whole, however, academic writing today, even in the sciences and social sciences, makes use of the first person fairly liberally.
ANOTHER TRICK FOR IDENTIFYING WHO IS SPEAKING
To alert readers about whose perspective you are describing at any given moment, you don't always have to use overt voice markers like "X argues" followed by a summary of the argument. Instead, you can alert readers about whose voice you're
Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say
speaking in by embedding a reference to X's argument in your own sentences. Hence, instead of writing:
Liberals believe that cultural differences need to be respected. 1 have a problem with this view, however.
you
might write:
i have a problem with what liberals call cultural differences.
There is a major problem with the liberal doctrine of so-called cultural differences.
You can also embed references to something you yourself have previously said. So instead of writing two cumbersome sen-tences like:
Earlier in this chapter we coined the term "voice markers." We would argue that such markers are extremely important for reading comprehension.
you might write:
We would argue that "voice markers," as we identified them earlier, are extremely important for reading comprehension.
Embedded references like these allow you to economize your train of thought and tefer to other perspectives without any major interruption.
7 2
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"AND YET"
Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say
TEMPLATES FOR EMBEDDING VOICE MARKERS
►   X overlooks what I consider an important point about cultural differences.
► My own view is that what X insists is a
a__________.
► I wholeheartedly endorse what X calls
is in fact
_, add weight
►  These conclusions, which X discusses in_„
to the argument that _________.
When writers fail to use voice-marking devices like the ones discussed in this chapter, their summaries of others' views tend to become confused with their own ideas—and vice versa. When readers cannot tell if you are summarizing your own views or endorsing a certain phrase or label, they have to stop and think: "Wait. I thought the author disagreed with this claim. Has she actually been asserting this view all along?" or "Hramm, I thought she would have objected to this kind of phrase. Is she actually endorsing it?" Getting in the habit of using voice markers will keep you from confusing your readers and help alert you to similar markers in the challenging texts you read.
Exercises
1. To see how one writer signals when she is asserting her own views and when she is summarizing those of someone else, read the following passage by the social historian Julie Charlip. As you do so, identify those spots where Charlip refers to the views of others and the signal phrases she uses to distinguish her views from theirs.
74
Marx and Engels wrote: "Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other—the bourgeoisie and the proletariat" (10). If only that were true, things might be more simple. Bur in late twentieth-century America, it seems that society is splitting more and more into a plethora of class factions—-the working class, the working poor, lower-middle class, upper-middle class, lower uppers, and upper uppers. I find myself not knowing what class I'm from.
In my days as a newspaper reporter, I once asked a sociology professor what he thought about the reported shrinking of the middle class. Oh, it's not the middle class that's disappearing, he said, but the working class. His definition: if you earn thirty thousand dollars a year working in an assembly plant, come home from work, open a beer and watch the game, you are working class; if you earn twenty thousand dollars a year as a school teacher, come home from work to a glass of white wine and PBS, you are middle class.
How do we define class? Is it an issue of values, lifestyle, taste? Is it the kind of work you do, your relationship to the means of production? Is it a matter of how much money you earn? Are we allowed to choose? In this land of supposed classlessness, where we don't have the tradition of English society to keep us in our places, how do we know where we really belong? The average American will tell you he or she is "middle class." I'm sure that's what my father would tell you. Bur I always felt that we were in some no man's land, suspended between classes, sharing similarities with some and recognizing sharp, exclusionary differences from others. What class do I come from? What class am I in now? As an historian, 1 seek the answers to these questions in the specificity of my past.
Julie Charlip, "A Real Class Act: Searching for Identity in the 'Classless' Society"
7 5
HiVi        "AND YET"
2. Study a piece of your own writing to see how many perspectives you account tor and how well you distinguish your own voice from those you are summarizing. Consider the following questions:
a. How many perspectives do you engage?
b. What other perspectives might you include?
c. How do you distinguish your views from the other views you summarize?
d. Do you use clear voice-signaling phrases?
e. What options are available to you for clarifying who is saying what?
f. Which of these options are hest suited for this particular
text?
If you find that you do not include multiple views or clearly distinguish between others' views and your own, revise your text to do so.
76
"SKEPTICS MAY OBJECT"
Planting a Nay say er in Your Text
The writer Jane Tompkins describes a pattern that repeats itself whenever she writes a book or an article. For the first couple of weeks when she sits down to write, things go relatively welt. But then in the middle of the night, several weeks into the writing process, she'll wake up in a cold sweat, suddenly realizing that she has overlooked some major criticism that readers will surely make against her ideas. Her first thought, invariably, is that she will have to give up on the project, or that she will have to throw out what she's written thus far and start over. Then she realizes that "this moment of doubt and panic is where my text really begins." She then revises what she's written in a way that incorporates the criticisms she's anticipated, and her text becomes stronger and more interesting as a result.
This little story contains an important lesson for all writers, experienced and inexperienced alike. It suggests that even though most, of us are upset at the idea of someone criticizing our work, such criticisms can actually work to our advantage. Although it's naturally tempting to ignore criticism of our ideas, doing so may in fact be a big mistake, since our writing improves when we not only listen to these objections but give them an explicit hearing
7 7
Planting a Naysayer in Your Text
ANTICIPATE OBJECTIONS
But wait, you say. Isn't the advice to incorporate critical views a recipe for destroying your credibility and undermining your argument? Here you are, trying to say something that will hold up, and we want you to tell readers all the negative things someone might say against you?
Exactly. We are urging you to tell readers what others might say against you, but our point is that doing so will actually enhance your credibility, not undermine it. As we argue throughout this book, writing well does not mean piling up uncontroversial truths in a vacuum; it means engaging others in a dialogue or debate—not only by opening your text with a summary of what others have said, as we suggest in Chapter 1, but also by imagining what others might say against your argument as it unfolds. Once you see writing as an act of entering a conversation, you should also see how opposing arguments can work for you rather than against you.
Paradoxically, the more you give voice to your critics' objections, the more you tend to disarm those critics, especially if you go on to answer their objections in convincing ways. When you entertain a counterargument, you make a kind of preemptive strike, identifying problems with your argument before others can point them out for you. Furthermore, by entertaining counterarguments, you show respect for your readers, treating them not as gullible dupes who will believe anything you say
but as independent, critical thinkers who are aware that your view is not the only one in town. In addition, by imagining what others might say against your claims, you come across as a generous, broad-minded person who is confident enough to open himself or herself to debate—like the writer in the figure on the following page.
Conversely, if you don't entertain counterarguments, you may very likely come across as closed-minded, as if you think your beliefs are beyond dispute. You might also leave important questions hanging and concerns about your arguments unaddressed. Finally, if you fail to plant a naysayer in your text, you may find that you have very little to say. Our own students often say that entertaining counterarguments makes it easier to generate enough text to meet their assignment's page-length requirements.
Planting a naysayer in your text is a relatively simple move, as you can see by looking at the following passage from a book by the writer Kim Chernin. Having spent some thirty pages complaining about the pressure on American women to be thin, Chernin inserts a whole chapter entitled "The Skeptic," opening it as follows.
At this point I would like to raise certain objections that have been inspired by the skeptic in me. She teels that I have been ignoring some of the most common assumptions we all make about our bodies and these she wishes to see addressed. For example: "You know perfectly well," she says to me, "that you feel better when you lose weight. You buy new clothes. You look at yourself more eagerly in the mirror. When someone invites you to a party you don't stop and ask yourself whether you want to go. You feel sexier. Admit it. You like yourself better."
Kim Chernin, The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slendemess
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"SKEPTICS MAY OBJECT"
Planting a Naysayer in Your Text
The remainder of Chernin's chapter consists of her answers to this inner skeptic. In the face of the skeptic's challenge to her hook's central premise (that the pressure to diet seriously harms women's lives), Chernin responds neither by repressing the skeptic's critical voice nor by giving in to it and relinquishing her own position. Instead, she embraces that voice and writes it into her text. Note too that instead of dispatching this naysaying voice quickly, as many of us would be tempted to do, Chernin stays with it and devotes a full paragraph to it. By borrowing some of Chernin's language, we can come up with templates for entertaining virtually any objection.
TEMPLATES FOR ENTERTAINING OBJECTIONS
* At this point 1 would like to raise some objections that have been inspired by the skeptic in me. She feels that I have been ignoring the complexities of the situation.
*■   Yet some readers may challenge my view by insisting that
►   Of course, many will probably disagree on the grounds that
Note that the objections in the above templates are attributed not to any specific person or group, but to "skeptics," "readers," or "many." This kind of nameless, faceless naysayer is perfectly appropriate in many cases. But the ideas that motivate arguments and objections often can—-and, where possible, should—be ascribed to a specific ideology or school of thought (for example, liberals, Christian fundamentalists, neopragmatists) rather than to anonymous anybodies. In other
"SKEPTICS MAY OBJECT'
words, naysayers can be labeled, and you can add precision and impact to your writing by identifying what those labels are.
TEMPLATES FOR NAMING YOUR NAYSAYERS
► Here many feminists would probably object that gender does influence language.
► But social Darwinists would certainly take issue with the argument that_____________.
► Biologists, of course, may want to question whether____.
*■   Nevertheless, both followers and critics of Malcolm X will probably suggest otherwise and argue that____________
To be sure, some people dislike such labels and may even resent having labels applied to themselves. Some feel that labels put individuals in boxes, stereotyping them and glossing over what makes each of us unique. And it's true that labels can be used inappropriately, in ways that ignore individuality and promote stereotypes. But since the life of ideas, including many of our most private thoughts, is conducted through groups and types rather than solitary individuals, intellectual exchange requires labels to give definition and serve as a convenient shorthand. If you categorically reject all labels, you give up an important resource and even mislead readers by presenting yourself and others as having no connection to anyone else. You also miss an opportunity to generalize the importance and relevance of your work to some larger conversation. When you attribute a position you are summarizing to liberalism, say, or historical materialism, your argument is no longer just about your own solitary views but about the
Planting a Naysayer in Your Text
intersection of broad ideas and habits of mind that many readers may already have a stake in.
The way to minimize the problem of stereotyping, then, is not to categorically reject, labels but to refine and qualify their use, as the following templates demonstrate.
► Although not all Christians think alike, some of them will probably dispute my claim that________,.
► Non-native English speakers are so diverse in their views that it's hard to generalize about them, but some are likely to object on the grounds that___________.
Another way to avoid needless stereotyping is to qualify labels carefully, substituting "pro bono lawyers" for "lawyers" in general, for example, or "quantitative sociologists" for all "social scientists," and so on.
TEMPLATES FOR INTRODUCING OBJECTIONS INFORMALLY
Objections can also be introduced in more informal ways. For instance, you can frame objections in the form of questions.
►  But is my proposal realistic? What are the chances of its actually being adopted?
_? Is it always the case,
►  Yet is it necessarily true that----
as I have been suggesting, that----
that__------?
3 3
Planting a Nay say er in Your Text
*■   "Impossible," some will say. "You must be reading the research selectively."
Moves like this allow you to cut directly to the skeptical voice itself, as the singer-songwriter Joe Jackson does in the following excerpt from a New York Times article complaining about the restrictions on public smoking in New York City bars and restaurants.
1 like a couple of cigarettes or a cigar with a drink, and like many other people, 1 only smoke in bars or nightclubs. Now I can't go to any of my old haunts. Bartenders who were friends have turned inro cops, forcing me outside to shiver in the cold and curse under my breath. . . . It's no fun. Smokers are being demonized and victimized all out of proportion.
"Get over it," say the anti-smokers. "You're the minority." I thought a great city was a place where all kinds of minorities could thrive. . . . "Smoking kills," they say. As an occasional smoker with otherwise healthy habits, I'll take my chances. Health consciousness is important, but so are pleasure and freedom of choice.
Joe Jackson, "Want to Smoke? Go to Hamburg"
Jackson could have begun his second paragraph, in which he shifts from his own voice to that of his imagined nay-sayer, more formally, as follows: "Of course anti-smokers will object that since we smokers are in the minority, we should simply stop complaining and quietly make the sacrifices we are being called on to make for the larger social good." Or "Anti-smokers might insist, however, that the smoking minority
8 4
should submit to the nonsmoking majority." We think, though, that Jackson gets the job done in a far more lively way with the more colloquial form he chooses. Borrowing a standard move of playwrights and novelists, Jackson cuts directly to the objectors' view and then to his own retort, then back to the objectors' view and then to his own retort again, thereby creating a kind of dialogue or miniature play within his own text. This move works well for Jackson, see chapter s but only because he uses quotation marks and other ^°rv™^n voice markers to make clear at every point whose voice    using voice
markers.
he is in.
REPRESENT OBJECTIONS FAIRLY
Once you've decided to introduce a differing or opposing view into your writing, your work has only just begun, since you still need to represent and explain that view with fairness and generosity. Although it is tempting to give opposing views short shrift, to hurry past them, or even to mock them, doing so is usually counterproductive. When writers make the best case they can for their critics {playing Peter Elbow's "believing game"), they actually bolster their credibility with readers rather   see pp. 31-32 than undermine it. They make readers think, "This is a thebeiieving writer 1 can trust." game' We tecommend, then, that whenever you entertain objections in your writing, you stay with them for several sentences or even paragraphs and take them as seriously as possible. We also recommend that you read your summary of opposing views with an outsider's eye: put yourself in the shoes of someone who disagrees with you and ask if such a reader would recognize himself in your summary. Would that reader think you have
3 5
Planting a Naysayer in Your Text
ANSWER OBJECTIONS
Do be aware that when you represent objections successfully, you still need to be able to answer those objections persuasively. After all, when you write objections into a text, you take the risk that readers will find those objections more convincing than the argument you yourself are advancing. In the editorial quoted above, for example, Joe Jackson takes the risk that readers will identify more with the anti-smoking view he summarizes than with the pro-smoking position he endorses.
This is precisely what Benjamin Franklin describes happening to himself in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1793), when he recalls being converted to Deism (a religion that exalts reason over spirituality) by reading anti-Deist books. When he encountered the views of Deists being negatively summarized by authors who opposed them, Franklin explains, he ended up finding the Deist position more persuasive. To avoid having this kind of unintentional reverse effect on
readers, you need to do your best to make sure that any counterarguments you address are not more convincing than your own claims. It is good to address objections in your writing, but only if you are able to overcome them.
One surefire way to fail to overcome an objection is to dismiss it out of hand—saying, for example, "That's just wrong." The difference between such a response (which offers no supporting reasons whatsoever) and the types of nuanced responses we're promoting in this book is the difference between bullying your readers and genuinely persuading them.
Often the best way to overcome an objection is not to try to refute it completely but to agree with part of it while challenging only the part you dispute. In other words, in answering counterarguments, it is often best to say "yes, but" or "yes and no," treating the counterview as an opportunity to see pp. 59-62 revise and refine your own position. Rather than build    for more on
' 1 agreeing, with
yout argument into an impenetrable fortress, it is often 3 difference, best to make concessions while still standing your ground, as Kim Chernin does in the following response to the counterargument quoted above. While in the voice of the "skeptic," Chernin writes: "Admit it. You like yourself better when you've lost weight." In response, Chernin replies as follows.
Can I deivy these things.7 No woman who has managed to lose, weight would wish to argue with this. Most people feel better about themselves when they become slender. And yet, upon reflection, it seems to me that there is something precarious about this well-being. After all, 98 percent of people who lose weight gain it back. Indeed, 90 percent of those who have dieted "successfully" gain back more than they ever lost. Then, of course, we can no longer bear to look at outselves in the mirror.
"SKEPTICS MAY OBJECT"
Planting a Naysayer in Your Text
In this way, Chernin shows how you can use a counterview to improve and refine your overall argument by making a concession. Even as she concedes that losing weight feels good in the short run, she argues that in the long run the weight always returns, making the dieter far more miserable.
TEMPLATES FOR MAKING CONCESSIONS WHILE STILL STANDING YOUR GROUND
even reversing your position completely if need he. Although finding out late in the game that you aren't fully convinced by your own argument can be painful, it can actually make your final text more intellectually honest, challenging, and serious. After alt, the goal of writing is not to keep proving that whatever you initially said is right, but to stretch the limits of your thinking. So if planting a strong naysayer in your text forces you to change your mind, that's not a bad thing. Some would argue that that is what the academic world is all about.
Although I grant that the.MPkJ^porliioig,atiized, I still maintain that itra.ises_gn.Jmp^g_nt jssue.
►   Proponents of X are right to argue that exaggerate when they claim that___
. But they
►   While it is true that that
.., it does not necessarily follow
►   On the one hand, I agree with X that other hand, I still insist that
..... But on the
Templates like these show that answering naysayers1 objections does not have to he an all-or-nothing affair in which you either definitively refute your crirics or they definitively refute you. Often the most productive engagements among differing views end with a combined vision that incorporates elements of each one.
But what if you've tried out all the possible answers you can think of to an objection you've anticipated and you still have a nagging feeling that the objection is more convincing than your argument itself? In that case, the best remedy is to go back and make some fundamental revisions to your argument,
Exercises
I. Read the following passage by the cultural critic Eric Schlosser. As you'll see, he hasn't planted any naysayers in this text. Do it for him. Insert a brief paragraph stating an objection to his argument and then responding to the objection as he might.
The United States must declare an end to the war on drugs. This war has filled the nation's prisons with poor drug addicts and smalltime drug dealers. It has created a multibillion-dollar black market, enriched organized crime groups and promoted the corruption of government officials throughout the world. And it has not stemmed the widespread use of illegal drugs. By any rational measure, this war has been a total failure.
We must develop public policies on substance abuse that are guided not by moral righteousness or political expediency but by common sense. The United States should immediately decriminalize the cultivation and possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Marijuana should no longer be classified as a Schedule ! narcotic, and those who seek to use marijuana as medicine
8 9
"SKEPTICS MAY OBJECT"
should no longer face criminal sanctions. We must shift our entire approach to drug abuse from the criminal justice system ro the public health system. Congress should appoint an independent commission to study the harm-reduction policies that have been adopted in Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. The commission should recommend policies for the United States based on one important criterion: what works.
In a nation where pharmaceutical companies advertise powerful antidepressants on billboards and where alcohol companies mn amus-ing beer ads during the Super Bowl, the idea of a "drug-free society" is absurd. Like the rest of American society, our drug policy would greatly benefit from less punishment and more compassion.
Eric Schlosser, "A People's Democratic Platform"
2. Look over something you've wrirten that makes an argument. Check to see if you've anticipated and responded to any objections. If not, revise your text to do so. If so, have you anticipated all the likely objections? Who if anyone have you attributed the objections to? Have you represented the objections fairly? Have you answered them well enough, or do you think you now need to qualify your own argument? Could you use any of the language suggested in this chapter? Does the introduction of a naysayer strengthen your argument? Why, or why not?
'SO WHAT? WHO CARES?'
Saying Why It Matters
Baseball is the national pastime. Bernini was the best sculptor of the baroque period. All writing is conversational. So what? Who cares? Why does any of this matter?
How many times have you had reason to ask these questions? Regardless of how interesting a topic may be to you as a writer, readers always need to know what is at stake in a text and why they should care. All too often, however, these questions are left unanswered—mainly because writers and speakers assume that audiences will know the answers already or will figure them out on their own. As a result, students come away from lectures feeling like outsiders to what they've just heard, just, as many of us feel left hanging after talks we've attended. The problem is not necessarily that the speakers lack a clear, well-focused thesis or that the thesis is inadequately supported with evidence- Instead, the problem is that the speakers don't address the crucial question of why their arguments matter.
That this question is so often left unaddressed is unfortunate since the speakers generally could offer interesting, engaging answers. When pressed, for instance, most academics will tell you that their lectures and articles matter because they address
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