Being able to identify the “moves”,
essentially the strategies, that writers employ in their works can help us to
become better writers ourselves. When we can identify the moves that the
writers use and determine why they use them we can decide if we should use
similar moves in our own writing or not. Some writers have very unique moves, but
other moves used in writing are somewhat generic and can be found in many
different works by different authors.
Kerry Dirk, in Navigating Genres, uses many of the moves that are listed in the They Say, I Say appendix. One of the
first connections I made was between the “Adding Metacommentary” section of the
They Say, I Say appendix and when
Dirk writes: “In other words, Bitzer is saying that…” (Dirk 252). This is a
direct, word for word, link between the appendix and a real world example of the
move being applied. Another link, although this time not word for word, is
between the “Capturing Authorial Action” section of the appendix and when Dirk
writes: “Miller is saying that all genres matter because…” (Dirk 254). When
Dirk writes about what Miller is saying, he is achieving the same impact that
the appendix’s examples of capturing authorial action do, despite not following
the guidelines of the appendix word for word. For example, Dirk could have
easily used one of the appendix’s structures “X argues that…” to replace his
usage of “X is saying that…” and it would not detract from the integrity of his
sentence. Dirk also uses a move that the appendix calls “Introducing Quotation”
when he writes: “Devitt writes that:” (Dirk 252) and then includes an excerpt
from the other authors writings. Another example of this move being used in a
more unique way is when Alex Reid uses it in Why Blog? Searching for Writing on the Web to introduce the list of
top blogs by first writing “According to Technorati.com…” (Reid 305). The “Introducing
Quotations” move is not a particularly spectacular move but it is a move that
is nonetheless imperative to a lot of academic writers because quotes often can’t
be thrown into writing and need to be introduced. Birkenstein and Graff, in their
essay “So What? Who Cares?”- Saying Why
It Matters uses one of the more complex moves listed in the appendix in the
“Making Concessions While Still Standing Your Ground” section when they write
that “Although answering the “who cares?” question is crucial, in many cases it
is not enough…” (Birkenstein and Graff 96). This move, due to being rather
complex, is more difficult than others to find a direct, word for word example
of but I believe that Birkenstein and Graff are achieving the same impact with
their writing as an author who used the exact template of the appendix for
making concessions while still standing your ground would.
Although the They Say, I Say appendix does a great job of compiling moves used
in academic writing, there is no possible way they could cover every single move
used by academic writers. One move I have picked up on within our course readings
is when authors who are addressing and advising student writers restate their
main point by introducing it as a goal. An example of this move can be seen in Why Blog? Searching for Writing on the Web
when Reid writes that “The goal here is to find…” (Reid 311). A good name for
this move is “keeping the focus” because the authors use this move to make sure
that the readers are still focused on the overall purpose, or goal, of the
piece of writing. This is an effective writing move because without it the
readers may forget or never fully grasp what point the author is trying to get
across. One move used by Dirk in Navigating
Genres is what I like to call “the bossy pants move”. This move is when
Dirk uses commands aimed at the reader such as “think back…” and “you just have
to…” (Dirk 261). Dirk uses commands because he wants to stress the importance
of the readers following his advice. This is an effective move because it leads
the reader to believe that they have no other choice but to follow Dirk’s
advice. One interesting move, “the friend move”, is used by Losh and Alexander
in their comic Writing Spaces. “The
friend move” is when the authors introduce themselves and their illustrators to
the reader in the comic. The authors do this in order to establish more of a
relationship with the reader which allows them to draw the reader in and I
would say it is quite effective. In Teaching
Two Kinds of Thinking, Peter Elbow uses the “look with your eyes” move.
Elbow, using this move, encourages the reader to look with their eyes and not
their mouths by asking rhetorical questions that encourage the readers to think
on their own versus being fed answers. This move is somewhat effective only
because the author typically goes on to answer the question only shortly after.
Laura Bolin Carroll in Backpacks vs.
Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis uses the “why ask?” move. This
move is when she writes that “Asking questions about the X helps…” (page 51 and
52) in order to show why a reader should be considering certain aspects of
rhetoric. This is an effective move because she lets the reader know the value
behind doing what she says rather than just commanding they do it without providing
a reason why.
Clearly there are a plethora of
moves that writers make and a student could spend all day analyzing them to determine
which moves they liked and disliked. The main value in analyzing these moves is
picking out the moves that stand out to you as something that could be
effective in your own writing.
