In the Introduction to “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein provide templates designed to better a student’s writing. Specifically, Graff and Birkenstein argue that the types of writing templates they offer a higher level of thinking and writing. As the authors themselves put in, “(The templates) represent the stock in trade of sophisticated thinking and writing, and they often require a great deal of practice and instruction to use successfully.” Although some people believe that copying the templates is plagiarism, Graff and Birkenstein insist that it is not. In sum, then, their view is that using templates is not plagiarism but is instead there to help a student better their writing.

I agree. In my view, the types of templates that the authors recommend are not only useful but offer a different view of writing styles than what I am used to. For instance, the authors offer different ways of how to enter a conversation that I would have not considered before. Some might object, of course, on the grounds that this copying of a template is plagiarism. Yet I would argue that it is not because the template is a base for your writing. The writer still has to fill in the blanks with their own argument or viewpoints and in doing so, might have to adjust the template to fit their writing. Overall, then, I believe that templates are useful and help students better their writing while teaching them ways to improve their writing syles.