They Say, I Say chapter 4 summary

Chapter 4 in They Say I Say is all about the three ways to respond. According to the book those three ways are yes, no, and okay, but. Essentially this chapter addresses how to respond to other people’s arguments. If you can correctly bring someone else’s research or analysis into your own paper then you can easily strengthen your argument. The chapter also stresses the importance of introducing facts and details of your own and comparing them with others. For every other reputable person that agrees with your argument the more legitimate your argument becomes. Also the chapter addresses the importance of the inclusion of a counter argument, but also stresses that you should not let your counter argument overwhelm your actual argument. The templates provided in this chapter are very useful because at least for me they took me out of my comfort zone. When you are forced to argue something from both sides you have to set your personal beliefs to the side and focus on the facts that you have gathered. Once you have those compiled it is up to you to phrase those facts in way that makes your argument seem more persuasive than your opposition’s. It is a lot like two people having the same pieces to the puzzle. It is all about how you arrange those pieces to get the big picture. 

In chapter four of “They Say, I Say,” Graff and Birkenstein explain the ways to either respond to another person’s argument or create an argument themselves. They also state that there are three ways to respond to something, by agreeing, disagreeing, or being in the middle of the argument. They go on to say that the best arguments contain originality, and simply agreeing by saying “I agree” with someone else is not a good statement, but rather, you have to build on what someone says by adding your own input that may have not been seen before. Also, they mentioned that there is a certain art to disagreeing with another person’s argument, and just stating that you disagree simply does not suffice. You must elaborate your opinions in order to create a cohesive argument that is noteworthy. Graff and Birkenstein also brought up formats that show how to structure a sentence in which you disagree with something or someone, and they showed multiple examples which they referred to as templates. They did the same thing for agreeing and being in the middle of the two sides. They called being in the middle of an argument “agree and disagree simultaneously”. They also state throughout this entire chapter a person must rely first on their own ideas and intuitions in order to create or build on arguments. They also made interesting points about how arguments are structured and contrasted.

I agree with most of the points that Graff and Birkenstein explain, and most notably, when they described how to structure good arguments. They did not say what I am going to say specifically, but they had the same idea; for many arguments to be solid and intriguing, you many times have to see another person’s argument in a different way or angle in order to structure your own argument about the same subject. The only part that I slightly disagreed with the authors on in this chapter was when they stated to it is okay to take and keep an undecided stance on an argument. I do not fully agree with this because in order to create the strongest argument possible, in my opinion, a side has to be taken fully to make an argument successful and extensively insightful. However, in general, i agree with almost everything that these two authors stated, and in addition, I have used a few of their templates, or some variation of it before in other arguments that I have made for academic writing. One point that they made that intrigued me very much and made me ponder it was when they said it was when they stated that agreeing with someone in academic writing is actually more difficult than disagreeing with them. I found this to be relatively true about most subjects, although I havent really thought of it like that before.  Overall, I think that they made interesting points about an “I Say” portion of their book, and they made me contemplate some of the arguments that they brought up, and I found most of them to be valid and well written.