Overall, I wanted to revise my paper using some tools from They say / I say. Luckily, chapter eleven was all about using multiple tools and strategies from the whole book to revise my paper to be a truly college-level essay.
Chapter eleven basically walked me through each and every process one should go through when writing a paper the first time, and how to apply those principles and skills when revising. Making sure to have what others say, and talk about who they are. Give proper context when explaining. Then onto what I say in my essay, how I should discuss it in tandem with the other sources and their arguments. It reminded me of important things to do when talking about my side of the argument, which when applying it to my current multi model draft, I think it is really helpful. I always give my side of the argument, but this chapter helped me think of ways to do it clearer, or more persuasively. After that, it talked about adding a naysayers paragraph which I think I could definitely fit in if I wanted to expand even more upon my argument. So that is something I will definitely keep in mind as I continue revising. After that, the chapter talked about metacommentary which is something I had never heard of before. It mentions this, because often times it can help when clarifying points one is trying to make. I also thought that was super helpful to me when trying to revise my essay. It reminded me not to just say this briefly, that I can expand upon ideas and claims to really make my point, or to help the reader expand. That helps when revising for me, because I always used to think the shorter or the faster something was explained, the better the argument. That always isn’t the case, and that is aiding my when I go back into my essay to explain some confusing parts of my argument, to help with my momentum as I write. Lastly, the chapter discusses what the whole point is. I think my weak points are usually explaining the “so what” or really displaying what the point of my whole argument is. The chapter gave me examples, or tactics of how to expand upon it better in my essay which benefited me a lot, especially when revising my conclusion.
Overall, I think chapter eleven was extremely helpful. I think it is an important stencil, or checklist every writer should look through to remind them of what is important, or even missing, in an academic essay.
