Journal 8
In this chapter of They Say/ I Say they talk a lot about supporting your argument and how you should start off by doing so. There are many powerful and different ways of opening up an argument. One of the ways is by opening with someone else’s opinion, which is something I usually lean towards, as I’m sure as many others do too. However as I read on I found it interesting how they said it is better to open up by using an illustrative quotation or a fact/statistic. But when doing so it is important that whatever quotation or fact you use helps express your view. You want your thesis to be clear and stand out. You want to be able to support it throughout what you are saying. I found it interesting how when you are presenting your own claims you should keep relating to what you say back to what they say. You want your idea to stay motivated. That’s something I never really thought about. I thought it was important to keep what you are saying organized. Having that order allows for your audience to stay engaged and not get confused about what you are saying. I really thought the templates provided were beneficial. There are different ones for different circumstances. For example there are ones for introducing an ongoing debate, something implied/assumed, standard views, what “they say”, and etc. I think when you are stuck on what to say or how to start something off these would come into play and help out tremendously.
