In the introduction to "They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein provide templates designed to enhance your writing, and help you write a well written paper. Specifically, Graff and Brirkenstein argue that the types of writing templates they offer you an alternative to the way you write your papers. As the authors themselves put it, "Working with these templates can give you an immediate sense of how to engage in the kinds of critical thinking you are required to do at the college level and in the vocational and public spheres beyond." Although some people believe that they can't show their creative side if they use templates, Graff and Birkenstein insist that once you begin to feel comfortable with the templates in this book, you will be able to improvise creatively on them to fit new situations and purposes and find others in their reading.
I agree. In my view, the types of templates that the authors recommend seem like they can really improve your wrinting. For instance, I did excercise one, and just from the basic outline it made my paragraph sound better then if I didn't use the template. In addition, it helped me think of better ideas to support my main idea. Some might object, of course, on the grounds that it can be considered plagarism. Yet I would argue that it's not plagarism it's a basic structure that everyone uses. It's not like your copying word from word, adn if you are you would have to cite where you got your information from. Overall, then, I believe that the templates will work and that Graff and Birkenstein's views are correct -an important point to make given.
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