Metacommentary: “Working” Claims. TSIS 123-32

The final chapter of Graff and Birkenstein’s They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing focuses on the art of metacommentary. According to Graff and Birkenstein, “metacommentary is a way of commenting on your claims and telling readers how—and how not—to think about them” (123). They explain further that metacommentary can be seen as the narrator of your writing, guiding readers through complicated ideas and keeping them in check when meaning is seemingly obvious. So if you say something in the main text of your writing, the “metatext” is where “you help readers interpret and process what you’ve said” (124). In other words, metacommentary is like the narrator from The Wonder Years, always supporting or refuting the things protagonist Kevin says and does. Coupled with his metacommentator viewers have a deeper understanding of the character of a kid growing up in suburban United States during the 1960s. Metacommentary exists to clarify and elaborate ideas and discussions—making writing more substantive—offering writers avenues to “work” their claims.

Reading this chapter once again verified a type of notion that I’ve realized more than a few times when reading this book. I realized that I already do the things they are teaching—maybe not as effectively as I should be—but without necessarily knowing I am doing it. Metacommentary is a part of my writing already but I’ve never known its name and that it has a defined purpose in effective writing. In other words, I include metacommentary in my writing only because it seems like the right thing to do—it seems logical to elaborate on certain ideas and claims. However, I never realized the gravity of what it is I am actually doing, and the effectiveness of doing it better. The template section of the chapter is what tipped me off to this revelation. I’m almost certain that I’ve used just about all of them in my writing, and a few of which I know I use near every time I put pen to paper or fingertips to keys (if you will). Still, this realization that I’ve been using these moves without necessarily utilizing their full potential is both disappointing and enlightening at the same time. What I mean is that I wish I had known what I was doing from the get-go and maybe my writing today could be better. On the bright side, this new knowledge may possibly help in making tomorrow’s writing a little better than today’s. Better late than never right?