Some They Say/I Say Submoves

SOME THEY SAY/I SAY SUBMOVES

1. Although it is often argued _____, I argue _____. [DISAGREE]

2. X argues _____ and I agree because _____. [AGREE]

3. On the surface, this text suggests ___. But a close analysis shows _____.

[COUNTERINTERPRETATION]

4. My first impression of X was that _____. Now, however having ___, I have come to see _____. [I WAS LOST BUT NOW I’M FOUND]

5. Group X argues ____ and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, ____. On the other hand, ____. [I’M OF TWO MINDS]

6. Although it appears consistent to advocates, philosophy X is in fact contradictory. At the same time it says _____, it also says ____. [CONTRADICTION SPOTTER]

7. Although researchers have long wondered about ____, my research suggests an answer: namely, that _____. [PROBLEM SOLVING]

8. Debates over ___ have long obscured the far more important issue of _____.

[DISPLACE THE DEBATE]

9. Esoteric theory X actually sheds light on the practical matter of _____.

[IT’S CLEARER/MORE RELEVANT THAN YOU THINK]

10. Although fierce debates have raged over _____, the debaters actually share a deep-seated commitment to ____--a commitment which, in the realm of ___, makes them more alike than different. [OPPOSITES CONVERGE]

11. Until now I’ve been suggesting/it’s been believed that ____. But it’s really more complicated. First of all, _____. Second of all, ____. And third, complicating matters even further, is the fact that _____. [IT’S MORE COMPLEX]

12. Of course it might be objected that _____. And it is true, of course, that ____. Nevertheless, I would still maintain that _____. [NAYSAYER]

13. We can probably all agree that______. Where our agreement figures to end, however, is on______[WHERE CONTROVERSY BEGINS]

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York: Norton, 2006.

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