Reading 2/9

Chapters 4 and 5 of They Say I Say described how to respond to other's ideas. There are three ways to do this, according to the authors: agreeing, disagreeing, and agreeing while adding a few of your own ideas. The author says that it is imperative to state very quickly whether you agree or disagree with a quote, as to not leave the reader hanging. It should be the first thing stated, before you go into the details of your position. When disagreeing, he says that you need to not only state your position, but also give a valid reason why you disagree with the statement. If you don't do this, all you are doing is contradicting the author, leaving the reader confused as to who they should believe. Finally, he says that you cannot simply just agree with a statement, either. It is important to bring some of your own ideas to the statement, otherwise you may not appear as credible as you could. This is something that I believe many people could work on, including myself. Especially when I agree with a statement in my writing, I will just say that I agree, not necessarily stating any reasons why.