Blog 15

I chose to read chapter 9 “You Mean I Can Just Say it That Way?” from our book They Say/I Say. I chose this chapter because I was curious as to what exactly it was going to explain. Along with this, I also chose this chapter because I often find myself trying too hard to find “smart” words to describe something when really I can just put it into my original thought. This chapter goes on to explain how most writers, especially students, spend too much time finding ways to make a sentence sound more intellectual. This just adds more words into their argument and essentially confuses their audience on what it is they are trying to get to. When it comes to making a clear argument, as the authors of this book argue, it is sometimes in our best efforts to write as we normally would, rather than trying too hard to overcomplicate something. Ultimately, students should focus on organizing a clear argument, even if it seems “too simple” by inputting their own voice rather than complicating topics too early in the paper.

That being said, I believe that I often put myself in situations where I try to make sentences sound a lot more structured than they actually need to be. In my multimodal paper, I should work on explaining my quotes in simpler terms and putting my foot down when it comes to my voice. Especially seeing as how this paper is based on my opinion of the way a narrative impacts someone’s life. I think that by doing so this will also take a lot of stress off of my shoulders and allow me to make a much clearer argument than what I have already put down. Of course, this won’t be a tactic I use for my entire paper as that is not what the book suggests, however it is a tactic that can be useful in pieces of evidence throughout the draft.

My next step in revision is to be sure that my arguments are clear, even if they are just plainly and simply stated. Sometimes it’s about getting to the point rather than trying too hard to explain something and having your reader be more confused than they already may be. It will make my argument more organized than it seems to be at the moment, and may even give me room to elaborate on something I may have missed.