They Say / I Say with Readings (6th Edition)

The most widely taught academic writing guide in the country, updated for its sixth edition. Graff and Birkenstein's core insight has not changed: academic writing is a form of conversation, and the templates are training wheels for entering it. The readings anthology gives students something worth arguing about.

Every writing instructor who has assigned They Say / I Say knows what happens: students who have never successfully written an argument suddenly produce one, because the templates give them the moves before they have internalized them. The book demystifies academic discourse without pretending it doesn't exist. It names the conventions that intimidate first-generation students precisely because no one ever explained them, and it treats those students as capable of learning them.

The sixth edition updates the readings anthology with new selections that reflect current conversations in race, technology, and higher education. The core approach is unchanged. This is the textbook for introductory writing courses, first-year seminars, bridge programs, and any context where you want students to understand that academic argument has a grammar that can be taught. If you are building or revising a first-year writing sequence, this is the book the field has converged on for a reason. W.W. Norton, 2024. Paperback with readings.