High Level Argumentation
English, the most important language of the world that with its richness has conquer the
interest of so many people to learn. College students need to communicate in an educated and
sophisticated form to classmates, teachers and future employers. The book, They Say/ I Say
written by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein allow students to think outside the box. In the
introduction the authors provide templates designated to help expand the imagination of
students. On one hand, a group of students believe that it is helpful to have templates to write
essays. On the other hand, a second group of students believe that templates stifle creativity
and restrict them to express their feelings, thoughts, emotions and make them all sound
the same. Isn’t everything around us composed of guidelines and rules? Why do some
students argue that their creativity will vanish if they follow templates?
The authors in this book give a well explained reason why students need to advance in their
writing. As children we were taught by our elementary teacher how to put sentences together
and as we were growing up we learned how to write essays. We learned that essays are
composed of introduction, body and conclusion. These type of essays help students transmit
their point of view but never forced them to make argumentation or persuade others. Those
essays proved only the writers point but do not allow the reader to argument about it. Where as
in this book, Graff and Birkenstein argue that the types of writing templates they offer allow
students to think beyond their point of view and to start an educated fight with examples, facts
and personal experiences that allow the reader to see both sides of the topic. These templates
will force students to use critical thinking, develop strong ideas on both sides. The most
successful writers use argumentative writing.
As, Aristotle, the father of rhetorical...