Engaging in Scholarly Conversation

Stop using sources just to prove you're right. Your papers are meant to be a conversation,

not a book report. It's all about the "They Say / I Say" method. First,

you explain what the experts ("they") are saying about a topic. Then,

you bring in your own original idea ("I say"). You can agree, disagree,

or find a middle ground. You can even combine different sources to make a bigger

point they all missed, or identify a question nobody has answered yet. That's how you go

from just repeating information to creating a truly original argument.