予秋对《"They Say / I Say"》的笔记(7)

394 The eleven-year-old girl looked up at the police officers. "What's that word?" she asked. "Home-a-seed?" She was told the word was homicide. "What's that?" she asked. The interrogation room grew quiet. No one answered. 403 Time is not on our side. We've been attacked from without, but the greater danger to the essence of America is within. There's is a fire in the basement of the United Sated and we're behaving as if we cannot even smell the smoke. (Yu: what about China? A fire in the living room, no one notices that)

2. It is true, of course, that critical thinking and writing go deeper than any set of linguistic formulas, requiring that you question assumptions, develop strong claims, offer supporting reasons and evidence, consider opposing arguments, and so on. But these deeper habits of thought cannot be put into practice unless you have a language for expressing them in clear, organized ways. 10 In our view, the above template and the others in this book will actually help your writing become more original and creative, not less. After all, even the most creative forms of expression depend on established patterns and structures...Ultimately, then, creativity and originality lie not in the avoidance o established forms, but in the imaginative use of them. 12 Kenneth Burke: you come late. When you arrive, others have long precede you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about...You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers, you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you... The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress. (the Philosophy of literary form) 13 The mere act of crafting a sentence that begins "of course, someone might object that ..."may not seem like a way to change the world; but it does have the potential go jog us out of our comfort zones, to get us thinking critically about our own beliefs, and perhaps even to change our minds.

18 to give writing the most important thing of all: a point, a writer needs to indicate clearly not only his or her thesis, but also what larger conversation that thesis is responding to. 24 Theories of how the mind/brain works have ben dominated for centuries by two opposing views. One, rationalism, sees the human mind as coming into this world more or less fully formed-preprogrammed, in modern terms. The other, empiricism, sees the mind of the newborn as largely unstructured, a blank slate. (Mark Aronoff: Washingto sleeped here) return sentences. 29 believing game, to suspend your own beliefs for a time and put yourself in the shoes of someone else, in which, you try to inhabit the worldview of those whose conversation you are joining, and whom you are perhaps even disagreeing with, and try to see their argument from their perspective. 31 Whenever you enter into a conversation with others in your writing, then it is extremely important that you go back to what those others have said, that you study it very closely, and that you not collapse it to something you already have heard or know. 37 verbs for introducing summary and quotations: verbs for making a claim: argue, assert, believe, claim, emphasize, insist, observe, remind us, report, suggest. Verbs for expressing argument: acknowledge, admire, agree, celebrate the fact that, corroborate, do not deny, endorse, extol, praise, reaffirm, support, verify. Verbs for questioning or disagreeing: complain, complicate, contend, contradict, deny, deplore the tendency to, disavow, question, refute, reject, renounce, repudiate. Verbs for making recommendations: advocate, call for, demand, encourage, exhort, implore, plead, recommend, urge, warn.

40 But the main problem with quotation arises when writers assume that quotations speak for themselves. Because the meaning of a quotation is obvious to them, many writers assume that this meaning will also be obvious to their readers, when often it is not. Writers who make this mistake think that their job is done when they have chosen a quotation and inserted it into their text. They draft an essay, slap in a few quotations, and whammo, they are done. (remind us from the reader's perspective) In a way, quotations are orphans: words that have been taken from their original contexts and that need to be integrated into their new textual surroundings. This chapter offers two key ways to produce this sort of integration: 1. by choosing quotations wisely, with an eye to how ell they support a particular part of your text, and 2. by surrounding every major quotation with a frame explaining whose words they are, what the quotation means, and how the quotation relates to your text. The point we want to emphasize is that quoting what they say must always be connected with what you say. 41 Dangling quotations for the way they are left dangling without any explanation. Quotation sandwich, with the statement introducing it serving as the top slice of bread and the explanation following it serving as the bottom slice. The introductory or lead-in claims should explain who is speaking and set up what the quotation says, the follow-up statements should explain why you consider the quotation to be important and what you take it to say. 56 After all, suppressing disagreements doesn't make them go away, it only pushes them underground, where they can fester in private unchecked. 58 Some writers avoid the practice of agreeing almost as much as others avoid disagreeing. In a culture like America's that prizes originality, independence, and competitive individualism, writers sometimes don't like to admit that anyone else has made the same point, seemingly beating them to the punch. In our view, however, as long as you can support a view taken by someone else without merely restating what he or she said, there is good reason to rejoice when you agree with others since those others can lend credibility to your argument. While you don't want to present yourself as a mere copycat of someone else's views, you also need to avoid sounding like a lone voice in the wilderness. 61 Another classic way to agree and disagree at the same time is to make what we call an "I am of two minds" or a "mixed feeling" move. This move can be especially useful if you are responding to new or particularly challenging work and are as yet unsure where you stand. It also lend itself well to the kind of speculative investigation in which you weigh a position's pros and cons rather than come out decisively either for or against. But again, as we suggest earlier, whether you are agreeing, disagreeing or both agreeing and disagreeing, you need to be as clear as possible, and making a frank statement that you are ambivalent is one way to be clear.

70 You can also embed references to something you yourself have previously said. So instead of writing two cumbersome sentences, you might write: We would argue that "voice markers", as we identified them earlier, are extremely important for reading comprehension. Embedded references like these allow you to economize your train of thought and refer to other perspectives without any major interruption. 74 It suggests that even though most of us are upset at the idea of someone criticizing our work, such criticisms can actually work to our advantage. (Planting a naysayer in your text) 75 Paradoxically, the more you give voice to your critics' objections, the more you can disarm those critics, especially if you go on to answer them in convincing ways. When you entertain a counter-argument, you make a kind of preemptive strike, identifying problems with your argument before others can point them out for you. Furthermore, by entertaining counter-arguments, you show respect for your readers, treating them not as gullible dupes but as independent, critical thinkers who are aware that yours is not the only view in town. In addition, you come across as a generous, broad-minded person who is secure enough to open himself or herself to debate. 78 Templates for entertaining objections: At this point I would like to raise some objections that have been inspired by the skeptic in me. She feels that I have been ignoring ...2. Yet some reads may challenge my view that ....After all, many believe that...Indeed, my own argument that...seems to ignore ...3. Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion that ... 84 Often the best way to overcome an objection is not to try to refute it completely, but to agree with certain parts while challenging only those you dispute. In other words, in answering counter-argument, it is often best to say, yes, but, or yes and no, treating the counter-view as an opportunity to revise and refine your own position. Rather than building your argument into an impenetrable fortress, it is often best to make concessions while still standing your ground. 85 But what if you have tried out all the possible answers you can think of to an objection you have anticipated and you still have a nagging feeling that the objection is more convincing than your argument itself? In that case, the best remedy is to go back and make some fundamental revisions to your argument, changing its very substance. Although finding out late in the game that you aren't fully convinced by your own argument can be painful, it can actually make your final text more intellectually honest, challenging, and serious. After all, the goal of writing is not to keep proving that whatever your initially said is right, but to stretch the limits your thinking. So if planting a strong naysayer in your text forces you to change your mid, that is not a bad thing. Indeed, some would argue that that is what the academic world is all about.

89 Who cares? Scientists used to think body fat and the cells it was made of were pretty much insert, just an oily storage compartment. But within the past decade research has shown that fat cells act like chemical factories and that body fat is potent stuff: a highly active tissue that secrets hormones and other substances with profound and sometimes harmful effects.... 90 Offering a clear claim and also framing that claim as a response to what someone else has said. In so doing, author immediately identifies at least one group with a stake in the new research that sees fat as active, potent stuff, namely the scientific community, which formerly believed that body fat is insert. By referring to these scientists, author implicitly acknowledges that her text is part of a larger conversation and show who besides herself has an interest in what she says. (this is for writing a news for published paper) 91 Templates for indicating who cares: 1. ...used to think...But recently or within the past few decades, ...suggests that...2. This interpretation challenges the work of those critics who have long assumed that ...3. These findings challenge the work of earlier researchers, who tended to assume that...4. Recent studies like these shed new light on....which previous studies had not addressed. 5. Researchers have long assumed that ...for instance, one eminent scholar of cell biology....assumed in ..Another leading scientist, ...argued that ...Ultimately, when it came to the nature of fat, the basic assumption was that. ...But the new body of research shows that fat cells are far more complex and that ..

103 to establish clear relations between one statement and the next by connecting those statements together. This chapter offers several moves you can make to put this principle into action: 1. using transition terms, 2. adding pointing words, this, such, 3. using certain key terms and phrases through out your entire text, and 4. repeating yourself, but with a difference , a move that involves repeating elements in your previous sentence, but with enough variation to move the text forward and without being redundant. All these moves require that you always look back and, in crafting any one sentence, think hard about those that precede it. 105 Transitions: addition: also, and, besides, furthermore, in addition, indeed, in fact, moreover, so too. Example: after all, as an illustration, for example, for instance, specifically, to take a case in point. Elaboration: actually, by extension, in short, that is , in other words, to put it another way, to put it bluntly, to put it succinctly, ultimately. Comparison, along the same lines, in the same way, likewise, similarly. Contrast, although, but, by contrast, conversely, despite the fact that, even though, however, in contrast, nevertheless, nonetheless, on the contrary, on the other hand, regardless, whereas, while yet. Cause and effect, accordingly, as a result, consequently, hence, since, so , then, therefore, thus. Concession, admittedly, although it is true, granted, naturally, of course, to be sure, Conclusion, as a result, consequently, hence, in conclusion, in short, in sum, therefore, thus, to sum up, to summarize. 125 use metacommentary to clarify and elaborate. So, even when you may think you have said everything possible in an argument, trying inserting the following types of metacommentary:1. in other words, 2. what ...really means is ...3. my point is...