In this post I will review some of English language we bloggers typically use for reporting on what others are saying, discussing how we feel about it, and commenting on each other’s posts.
Reporting
Sophisticated discussion of what others say usually involves an elaborate framing of quotations, paraphrases, or summaries in report structures, such as, “The author suggests … ” or “The writer claims …”, that help us remain honest, think about what we are doing, and build our arguments.
We remain honest when we use report structures to preclude any confusion about the origin of our commentaries: when we learn from someone else, we give credit where credit is due. For more on this, you might consult articles on Plagiarism and more general discussions of Quotations.
We think about what we are doing when we choose carefully the reporting verbs which frame our reports on what others say. We typically start off just trying to explain in simple, direct, and neutral terms what the author “states,” “reviews,” “outlines,” “explains”, and so on. But as we think about what the author is doing and what we might feel about it we might note that the author “claims,” “confuses,” “disregards” or “dismisses” one or another thing that interests or bothers us, and from there we build our case. Google will help you find many lists of “reporting verbs” in the event that you might need more than you find here: Using Reporting Verbs.
Discussing
Just as you might consult a list of reporting verbs and choose among them to clarify your thoughts, so you might consult and try out some of the conversational patterns Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein have identified, in They Say, I Say: the moves that matter in academic writing. For example:
Many assume that ____________ .
invites us to break these assumptions apart …
I agree that ____________. On the one hand, ____________. On the other hand ____________.
In discussions of ____________, a controversial issue is whether ____________. While some argue that ____________, others content that ____________.
Of course, some might object that ____________. Although I concede that ____________, I still maintain that ____________.
Author X contradicts herself. At the same time that she argues that ____________, she also implies that ____________.
Reporting, Discussing, Commenting
In this post I will review some of English language we bloggers typically use for reporting on what others are saying, discussing how we feel about it, and commenting on each other’s posts.
Reporting
Sophisticated discussion of what others say usually involves an elaborate framing of quotations, paraphrases, or summaries in report structures, such as, “The author suggests … ” or “The writer claims …”, that help us remain honest, think about what we are doing, and build our arguments.
We remain honest when we use report structures to preclude any confusion about the origin of our commentaries: when we learn from someone else, we give credit where credit is due. For more on this, you might consult articles on Plagiarism and more general discussions of Quotations.
We think about what we are doing when we choose carefully the reporting verbs which frame our reports on what others say. We typically start off just trying to explain in simple, direct, and neutral terms what the author “states,” “reviews,” “outlines,” “explains”, and so on. But as we think about what the author is doing and what we might feel about it we might note that the author “claims,” “confuses,” “disregards” or “dismisses” one or another thing that interests or bothers us, and from there we build our case. Google will help you find many lists of “reporting verbs” in the event that you might need more than you find here: Using Reporting Verbs.
Discussing
Just as you might consult a list of reporting verbs and choose among them to clarify your thoughts, so you might consult and try out some of the conversational patterns Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein have identified, in They Say, I Say: the moves that matter in academic writing. For example:
invites us to break these assumptions apart …
Commenting
… to be added in a few minutes