“They say, I say” by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein Breaks down to its readers on what it takes as a writer to keep the audience engaged. Chapter 1 states before giving the readers you own thoughts in the matter. You must summarize what “they say” in order to provide the audience a glimpse of where in “they say” does you motivation come from. As templates are provided from pages 23-28 some may argue that it takes away from the writers ability to write in there own style. Those should not be intimidating for they are just examples to show some ways on how to start your argument.

What I learned: Giving your argument from the very beginning can reduce the chances of the reader to be less engaged in your thesis. You must summarize what “they say” first in order to show the audience

In order for readers to have a better understanding of your argument you must also see the point of view of the author. As chapter 2 goes into just that, it states the many writers most likely will be biased due to lack of understanding of what “they say”. They may get a bit timid do to the risk of losing site of there own beliefs.

what I learned: In order to have a strong enough argument you must be able to see from the authors perspective in what ” they say”. Seeing where the author comes from gives a better understanding of what they mean.

Final piece of having a strong argument is quoting the author. Paraphrasing and giving the proper meaning behind the quote helps back up you thesis. Explaining what the author meant in his quote gives the readers a better understanding.

What i learned: That in order to catch the readers attention and have them understand what your arguing. when using quotation you must elaborate on what the quote really means.

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I’m going to start off with being completely honest with everyone. My experience with writing wasn’t the greatest from kinder all the way to the border line of child and adult hood(12th grade). Throughout the years of being in school it was a struggle to comprehend majority of the vocabulary words and terms that my teachers used or wanted us to use. My teachers always said that one of my strengths was pronouncing majority of the words that’s was in each text provided for us whether it was in a textbook, a printed article, a review, etc… What ever it was compare to other students I was one of the few that was on top when it came to just that. When it came down to the rest like knowing the proper meaning to a word and knowing how to use each vocab, well everyone excelled but me. Putting it into use, well let me tell you that’s where the difficulty lied. I had a very hard time grasping everything; like my brain would get every other thing the teacher was lecturing us about. I wasn’t a big fan of reading or writing at the time mainly because of that particular reason. I said it was a struggle but it felt more like a giant nightmare, while the whole class was advancing to the other lessons I was still caught up trying to figure out how punctuation worked. Where to place commas,how to use or how not use colons ,or when it is appropriate to use rhetorical questions. I even got teased for not knowing stuff like that each time, for a long time my confidence level was very low I didn’t want to read my own paper in front of my classes, participate in class discussions, nor was I willing to engage in conversations with my friends. I didn’t feel comfortable asking for help due to the thought of looking stupid after being in school for so long and I still didn’t know half of the stuff the other students already knew. I did my best to avoid reading pretty much anything that was laid out in front of me a lot of the time the teachers would let me slide considering the fact that they would get terrified that I would pass out because each time I read my head would glow bright red like a tomato. I guess they didn’t need another incident to occur. Not with me by the way the other incidents were with other students but that’s a whole different story though.

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Entering the new school year as a senior getting ready to graduate and be done with high school for good. I still had trouble with writing and for the most part reading as well. Guess that’s what happens when you spend a lot of your time avoiding the things that should help you out. I thought I could go another year doing the same thing keeping my head down, staying quiet to the point where hopefully the teachers didn’t notice I was even the same room as them. As weeks go by I thought that I was doing pretty good for myself teachers haven’t called on me yet to read or to give my input on the topic the class had discussed. It wasn’t until one day I was in my English class at the time that one of the teachers in the school had figured out right away what I was doing and believe me when I tell you she did not like that one bit. I get called into her office/classroom and she introduces herself and happen to tell me that from here on out I was expected to participate in the class at all times no matter what. As time passed she did everything in her power so that I could become a better writer and reader. She had me start my homework and do a few exercises as well. She would call me each time I had my elective class FYI I was a teacher assistant for an art class. She didn’t care that it was the only period I was able to kick back you could say. She genuinely wanted to help me be a better student. So we’re getting close to the finishing the first semester and before we part ways for winter break she has me and the other 4 student in her room and asked us to please be productive while we’re on break. I didn’t hesitate to comply with what she had asked of us at that point she had become a figure to us someone we well respected and looked up to. So during my break instead of playing video games all the time I sat in my bed grabbed a book and started reading and writing a summary for each book I read. Little by little I started seeing the results of her teaching and it came to the point where I was reading and writing at the same grade group as my classmates.

Doing these exercises had developed my skills as a writer over time. Taking the time to read and to do free writing here and there not only helped me become a good writer but also boosted up my social skills and confident as well. My cover letters and Resume are better presented now and now using words more advance than what I was comfortable using before. Don’t get the wrong idea though this doesn’t mean that I am perfect at reading and writing now. No, not all I still have a little bit of trouble till this day. “So wait, you told you struggled hard in the beginning just to find out that you’re still struggling?!” Yes, even though I still might be struggling but, the point is that I am in a far better position now because of the impact reading and writing did. All of this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the influence I had in order to pick up a book and read.

In “Seeing is believing” there’s a thought that modern technology and many people having different perception is devaluing pieces of art we come to recognize in today’s society. Let me clear things up a bit in what it’s saying . For example you can take one piece of art and display it for many to view. The artist is gonna having a certain view point on the piece that was created but upon taking that exact same piece and displaying it for others to see,it doesn’t necessarily mean that the the outcome will be the same. The artist can describe there work and say that it is important piece because its a symbolic piece of there struggle. If you were to ask everyone else the response will be a bit different. Its the same concept with what happens around us all. When a bad thing happens many cope with it in different ways. Some will play the blame game and make it to be every once fault while others see this as a test of will or gods test to see what you’re capable of. John Berger claims that taking a camera and duplicating pieces of art with photography is what causing art to losing its meaning when you encounter it by person because now others when they see the photo they have a whole different point of view. In a sense its fair to see where hes coming from. I would have to disagree with that statement though because when it comes to seeing a photo of an art piece or place it gets me excited every time and motivates me to experience it for myself even more. So in the end cameras do not devalue the arts its way to inform or introduce the arts to those who are not too familiar with it.

“They say, I say” by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein Breaks down to its readers on what it takes as a writer to keep the audience engaged. Chapter 1 states before giving the readers you own thoughts in the matter. You must summarize what “they say” in order to provide the audience a glimpse of where in “they say” does you motivation come from. As templates are provided from pages 23-28 some may argue that it takes away from the writers ability to write in there own style. Those should not be intimidating for they are just examples to show some ways on how to start your argument.

What I learned: Giving your argument from the very beginning can reduce the chances of the reader to be less engaged in your thesis. You must summarize what “they say” first in order to show the audience

In order for readers to have a better understanding of your argument you must also see the point of view of the author. As chapter 2 goes into just that, it states the many writers most likely will be biased due to lack of understanding of what “they say”. They may get a bit timid do to the risk of losing site of there own beliefs.

what I learned: In order to have a strong enough argument you must be able to see from the authors perspective in what ” they say”. Seeing where the author comes from gives a better understanding of what they mean.

Final piece of having a strong argument is quoting the author. Paraphrasing and giving the proper meaning behind the quote helps back up you thesis. Explaining what the author meant in his quote gives the readers a better understanding.

What i learned: That in order to catch the readers attention and have them understand what your arguing. when using quotation you must elaborate on what the quote really means.

Hey everyone so I am a first year college student. Current studying to become an engineer. I enjoy going on adventures, my goal is to travel to many different places and hopefully be able to connect with different types of people. I really enjoy photography so with my goal of traveling and connecting with everyone I hope to capture each moment with my camera.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
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The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
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• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.