They Say I Say Response

In the beginning chapter of the book They Say I Say Gerald Graff describes academic writing as merely a process of examining the ideas of another and either refuting them with facts or proving them with facts to support each stance. I agree in one sense that when you are writing to inform other people you have to assume that they already have a predisposed stance on whatever topic you are putting before them. I am a Christian and I have very strong beliefs based very strongly on what I have read and found out for myself in the Bible and from others who I have read and heard teach about the Bible. You can automatically assume then that there would be Christians who would not fully agree with what I agree with since one person may take certain verses in the Bible to mean one thing while another person takes it to mean a totally different thing. Therefore often times in discussions, whether voice to voice or over email or myspace, I have to address their beliefs and state verses from the Bible that either agree with them or disagree with what they hold true. Mr. Graff also says that there are certain structures or templates of writing that can improve the quality your writing. I'd agree to an extent since if you aren't creative and have many different ways of writing certain points, you can get repititive. Therefore I think that Mr. Graff's templates are one of the many ways to express writing and can be used.