Was it just me that was shocked when we learned that personal pronouns were okay to use in college? Much like the infamous early 2000s internet challenge, it was like a face-full of ice water. For so long, high school students left and right were taught to never use personal pronouns in essays for fear of seeming unprofessional. Streaks of red across white paper, much like marks on our souls when we got our papers back.
Dramatics aside, “They Say, I Say” (TSIS, pronounced like the word ‘thesis’ because I’m funny) by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein was a breath of fresh air. Acknowledging the use of personal pronouns in academic papers? Yes please! A semi-short composition book setting out to de-mystify academic writing, TSIS told me both the obvious and not-so obvious; academic writing isn’t hard, if you word your sentences correctly. Specifically, my favorite learning moment came in Chapter 10, “The Art of Metacommentary”.
Graff and Birkenstein define metacommentary as a form of elaboration for the main text, clearing up any misconceptions and misinterpretations that may form as a result of the main text, and processing/interpreting the ideas formed in your work for your audience. TSIS provides examples of introducing metacommentary, and my favorite of them is on entertaining objections: “Although some readers may object that _____, I would answer that ____.” Though the nature of most our work as college students is argumentative, a point that Christopher Gillen makes in Chapter 17, phrasing your words in a less argumentative manner tends to do wonders for your work. Indeed, your work should not be so easily disproven if you find what’s wrong, then fix it first.
However, it can be hard sometimes, looking for places to criticism yourself. Some take it as a matter of pride, while others take it as a matter of proximity, where we cannot find the metaphorical holes in our argumentative wall because we are so close to the bricks to see said wall in its entirety. TSIS’s Chapter 11, “Revising Substantially”, recommends 10 different ways of looking back at your work in order to do just that.
Though the list warrants a blog post all on its own, the method I use the most is that of bringing others into reading your work. This could be anyone from your family, friends, educators, or peers. Specifically, peer review (as much as we all may groan and gripe about group work) is an invaluable source of feedback and information, given that they tend to have a similar grasp on the topic as you do. A great tactic, given that many hands makes light work.
In the words of brilliant mastermind Sun Tzu, in The Art of War; “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril”. Though ‘knowing’ your “enemy” (whether this is the person grading your work or just the world in general, I’ll leave it up to you) doesn’t stop people from finding holes in your argument, it certainly makes it harder, doesn’t it? Knowing yourself and your essays does not stop with your initial work, but is built up with revision and feedback from those around you. There is always room for improvement, for correcting yourself, it’s just that you haven’t seen the forest yet.