In Graff and Birkenstein’s book of They Say, I Say, the author argues about how to “put yourself in their shoes” (Graff). In order to write a good summary, we must try to understand what environment does the author stay in. Furthermore, we have to put ourselves in their shoes and come up an assumption of what we would do in that circumstance. In chapter two, the author quotes from Peter Elbow’s theory “believing game” (Graff).
The “believing game” is a method to project yourself in the author’s point of view. This process can help me to increase my critical thinking skills and enhance my ability to understand articles. Another great point that the author claims in chapter two is when we write a summary article, we cannot be subjective and analyze it from our own perspective. In high school, when I write a summary of an article I usually like to pick a side (either agree or disagree) to summarize it. Now I understand that in that way, my summary may distort the author’s intention. Later in chapter two, author provides an example summary for David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater”. The example summary fills up with “angry tone”, which the original does not have. In this situation, the writer changes the original meanings that is delivered by the author. Overall, through the reading in the book of They Say, I say, I am refreshed with the idea that we need to prevent reading the articles subjectively but analyze it with our own understanding in addition to the author’s interpretation.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. “They say / I say”: the moves that matter in academic writing. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
picture sources
www.haikudeck.com/the-believing-game-education-presentation-oLf5wko3lg
mrhappytummy.wordpress.com/reading-response-2/dont-blame-the-eater/