Answers
(TSIS) What does "enter the conversation" mean? - ANSWER:Express one's own ideas as a response to
what others have said (become an active participant in in important conversations of the academic and
public sphere)
(TSIS) Why do they want you to use "I"? - ANSWER:Gives students practice using it well and learning its
use (both by supporting claims with evidence and by attending closely to what "they" say)
(TSIS) What are the reasons for why you might want to introduce source material? - ANSWER:If you don't
have source material, your argument probably won't have a point (the reader won't know why you are
saying what you're saying)
(TSIS) What are some tips for how to introduce source material well? - ANSWER:-Play the "believing
game"
-Know where you are going
-Frame every quotation (introduce, cite, explain)
-Prepare the reader for your own slant or spin
-Use signal verbs
-Summarize satirically (risky)
-Quote only relevant passages
-Blend the author's words with your own
(TSIS) What are signal verbs? - ANSWER:Verbs that suit the precise action you are describing (sometimes
signals the athors views)
(TSIS) What are some mistakes people make when integrating source material? - ANSWER:-Quoting too
little
-Overquoting
-Assuming quotes speak for themselves (hit-and-run quoting)
(TSIS) What are the three ways you can respond to sources? - ANSWER:Agreeing, disagreeing, or some
combination of both
(TSIS) What are the reasons for why you might disagree? - ANSWER:-Argument fails to take relevant
factors into account
-Based on faulty or incomplete evidence
-Rests on questionable assumptions
, -Uses flawed logic
-Is contradictory
-Overlooks what you take to be the real issue
-Assumption that it is a new or stunning revelation
-Through a twist of logic that this evidence actually supports your own, contrary position
(TSIS) What are three ways you can agree with a difference? - ANSWER:-Point out some unnoticed
evidence/line of reasoning that supports X's claims that X herself hadn't mentioned
-Cite some corroborating personal experience or a situation not mentioned by X that her views help
readers understand
-Can provide an accessible translation (explanation for readers not already in the know)
(TSIS) Why can it be good to agree and disagree simultaneously? - ANSWER:Helps us get beyond the kind
of "is too" / "is not" exchanges
(TSIS) What are the different ways to use "voice markers" to distinguish what you say from what they
say? - ANSWER:-"Or so it would seem"
-Place views that are not your own in quotation marks
use explanations of the views so readers can get a sense of where you stand before you even declare
your position
-Open with a buzzword like "yet"
-Use parallelism between claims/paragraphs
-Use a direct, authoritative, declarative tone
(TSIS) Why is it important to plant naysayers? - ANSWER:-Enhances your credibility, doesn't undermine it
-"The more you give voice to your critics' objections, the more you tend to disarm those critics
-Answer their objections in convincing ways
(TSIS) What are some different ways to introduce naysayers? - ANSWER:-Answering to an inner skeptic
-Not attribute objections to any specific person or group
-Name and/or identify a specific person/group that is your naysayer
-Frame objections in the form of questions
-Let your naysayer speak directly
(TSIS) What are some different ways to respond to naysayers? - ANSWER:-Choose to mock a view that
you oppose
-Agree with part of it by challenging only the part you dispute