I found this chapter of ‘They Say, I Say” to be quite interesting. It taught me the importance of reading for a purpose and how to do so. On page 177 it mentioned that you shouldn’t only be reading to look for the author’s argument, but to also be able to recognize that it is a response to an argument already made by someone else and you should be reading it and questioning more than just “What’s Motivating This Writer?” This is important because asking larger, more in-depth questions helps you become a stronger reader because you are able to connect to the author and what they are trying to convey in their writing piece rather than only taking in what they say, but not really engaging. Something I found interesting that I think could be really helpful is that when you are reading you should pretend that the author is in a large discussion group with whoever else is arguing their side and pretend that they are trying to persuade you to agree with their side. I think this could be really helpful because it forces you to recognize the other sides and intelligently engage in the discussion/debate.
