1) Identify the author/person who says something important, and use a phrase to show that person's qualifications/credibility:



Patrick Robel, an English teacher at Carmel High School, declares, "When reading multiple sources of information, students must decide which sources are trustworthy and which sources should be viewed with skepticism because of bias or insufficient evidence."

 

Marisa McClellan, a genetics researcher at U.C. Berkeley, argues, “__________.”



According to Emilia Smith, a ninth-grader at Carmel High School, “__________.”



2) Identify the title or type of source, as well as the author/person who says something important in it:



In her letter to the editor, First Lieutenant Marta Hernandez argues, “__________.”



In the article, "Article Title," X explains that __________.



In an interview, X maintains that __________.



The 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that _________.



3) Agreeing with someone's claim or argument:

I agree that __________.

 

Author X argues, "__________," and I agree because __________.

 

X's argument that __________ is supported by new research showing that __________.

 



4) Disagreeing with someone's claim or argument:

 

Even though X argues that _______, I think that __________.



Although X believes that _______, he is mistaken because __________.



I think that X is mistaken because she overlooks __________.

 

I disagree with X’s view that __________ because, as recent research has shown, ________.



Some people argue that _______. However, _____.



5) Writing a Summary:

 

The article "Article Title" demonstrates that __________.

 

The interview with X makes it clear that __________.



X shows the complexity of the issue when she writes that __________.



6) Showing Contrasts, Contradictions, or Controversies:

 

On the one hand, __________. On the other hand, __________.

 

Author X contradicts herself. At the same time that she argues __________, she also implies __________.

In recent discussions of __________, a controversial issue has been whether __________. On the one hand, some argue that __________. On the other hand, however, others argue that __________.

 

 

7) Introducing Standard Views:

 

Americans today tend to believe that __________.

 

Conventional wisdom has it that __________.

 

My whole life I have heard it said that __________.

 

 

8) Making Standard Views Something You Say:

 

I have always believed that __________.

 

When I was a child, I used to think that __________.

 

 

9) Introducing Your Point of View:

 

X overlooks what I consider an important point about __________.

 

I wholeheartedly endorse what X calls __________.

 

My discussion of X's ideas addresses the larger matter of __________.

 

These conclusions will have significant applications in __________ as well as in __________.

 

Some of these sentence frames have been adapted from the following source:

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

Last modified: Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 11:46 AM