PB2B

            The moves that an author makes are what give their writing individuality and personality. Not all moves that a particular author makes will necessarily be specific and unique to the author, but it is the combination of all of the different moves that the author makes that give their writing uniqueness. In the articles that we’ve read so far this quarter many of the authors have made moves in their writing that correspond to the moves listed in the They Say, I Say Appendix. Although some of the moves that these authors make are more generic and can be put into a list of moves, they also make some moves of their own.

            In “Navigating Genres”, one of the moves that Dirk makes that can also be found in the They Say, I Say Appendix is his use of “Explaining Quotations”. She uses “In other words…” (254) to begin explaining a quote that he had previously inserted into his writing. Dirk also uses the move “Introducing Quotations” when she writes, “Devitt writes…” (252), and “Devitt points out that…” (252), which shows readers that she will be using words or information from someone else. In “Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis”, Carroll uses the move “Capturing Authorial Action” when she writes, “Bitzer argues that…” (48) to emphasize that Bitzer is making a strong argument and is showing authority. She also uses many “Commonly Used Transitions” such as “in fact) (46), “however” (49), “finally” (50), and “although” (48) to show a sequence of events and to provide a sequence to her writing. Lastly, one move that Bunn makes in “How To Read Like a Writer” is “Introducing Standard Views”. He writes “Instead of reading for the content or to better understand the ideas in the writing…” (72 in which he point to reading for the content to be the standard view on reading, whereas reading to better understand the ideas in writing is the way that he believes more people should read.

            One of the moves that I noticed in the articles that was not listed in the They Say, I Say Appendix was the use of “one-liners” where authors write really short, concise sentences which I believe are meant to make a statement. Bunn uses “one-liners” in his writing and creates statements such as “You are reading to learn about writing” (72) and “I came to realize that all writing consists of a series of choices” (72). When there are so few words being said, the statement being made becomes intensified and has more power. Bunn also uses “dots for thoughts, or dotted lines, through his piece to separate different thoughts and ideas that he is expressing. Through his piece, Bunn inserted anecdotes, what I like to call “story time”, that make his life and his experiences more relatable to readers. One of the anecdotes that he used began “In 1997, I was a recent college student living in London for 6 months…” (82). This would make him more relatable to college students who he probably believes comprise the majority of his audience. I also noticed that some authors such as Boyd and Dirk used “Point to Point”, or bullet pointed lists, in their articles. The use of bullet pointed lists emphasizes the important points that the author wants the readers to fully capture. Boyd uses bullets to list ask questions to get her readers in a certain mindset, and Dirk uses bullets to provide examples and emphasize important information. Dirk also uses is “the Enlightened” where he often uses the phrase “I realize” or “I have come to realize” in which he states time when he made a new discovery or came across new information that he was not previously aware of.