Jacob Hickey
English 110-H4
Professor Miller
Starting with What Others Are Saying
Chapter 1 starts by giving the reader a tremendous point on writing saying, “a writer needs to indicate clearly not only what his or her thesis is, but also what larger conversation that thesis is responding to.” It is critical in writing to fully explain the thesis. This is the statement in the essay or any writing that makes it very clear to the reader the whole subject of the writing topic. As the writer, you want to make sure not to leave out anything that might be confusing to the reader. The authors of this chapter give an example highlighting a certain speaker failing to mention many key points in his writing. It goes on to give another key point about the order in which specific statements need to be said: “to keep an audience engaged, a writer needs to explain what he or she is responding to.” This is very important as many writers fail to include specific details that make reading these passages confusing and often hard to follow. I also like in this chapter how the authors give examples for introducing what other folks are saying. This is a physical copy to use when writing any paper that will make your writing seem more intelligent and scholarly. They give many other templates or examples on how to make your writing pop and give it substance. Toward the end of the chapter the authors remind the reader to keep in mind what “they say” as you continue through the text telling us “it’s very important to continue to keep those ideas in view.” They highlight the use of “return sentences” which are sentences that “ensure that your argument is a genuine response to others’ views rather than just a set of observations about a given subject.” It is critical to keep others views in sight while you are writing. This enables writers to make it known that they know the material, giving it validity.
