Taking this class has opened my eyes about the meticulous process that is writing. Especially, I have been introduced to the art of deconstructing someone else’s argument in order to incorporate it in my own writing. This reflects the underlying theme of the course, which is “They Say, I say”. This is the theme that I would feel the most comfortable to teach because throughout my writing, I have always been able to effectively use someone’s else argument or statement to support my own. In my Research Paper Draft, for example, I write: “In the New York times, John Mcworther argues that languages provide “variations on a worldwide, cross-cultural perception of this thing called life.”, allowing us to each have different opinions and different ways to express them. (Mcworther, 2014). It can be seen that here I incorporate his own words into my writing in order to validate my point that languages offer different perspectives.

If I were to teach this concept to others, I would first come up with a thesis statement of my own that backs up a particular argument. I would write it on the board giving an idea of what I am to write about. Then, I would ask everyone to find one other classmate to work with and distribute different articles/research papers to each pair of students. I would give them 15 minutes to read the article and find anything that the author says that could support or refute the original thesis statement written on the board. Finally, I would ask them to write a They Say, I Say statement in a paragraph that incorporates how the thoughts of the author they read about are able to either support or contradict the thesis. As a class, we would discuss how effective the article mention is and how it contributes to the development of a well structured argument.
This exercise would be able to make others understand how to incorporate someone else’s argument into one’s writing so to craft an argument or idea that is coherent and original.