Response to “Don’t Get Me Wrong: The Art of Metacommentary,”

Response to “Don’t Get Me Wrong: The Art of Metacommentary,”

Response to “Don’t Get Me Wrong: The Art of Metacommentary,”

We have probably used metacommentary in our essay without realizing it. According to Graff and Birkenstein (2010), metacommentary is a way of commenting on your claims and telling others how—and how not—to think about them. The authors note that metacommentary should be clearly distinguished from the main statements “metatexts,” for which it is clarifying and interpreting.  A clear distinction between metatext and metacommentary is essential in preventing readers from misinterpreting the metatexts. Besides, Graff and Birkenstein (2010) argue that metacommentary is not just a way of supporting the writer’s ideas but also a way of allowing the readers to view the writer’s work from a different perspective. Generally, metacommentary relates to the methods writers add supplementary texts to support their main statements and thus adding a different view that quickly makes sense to the intended reader.

I agree with the author’s argument that metacommentary is useful tools in expanding the length and depth of an essay. Graff and Birkenstein (2010) argue that when students learn to use metacommentary, they get more out of the idea and write more extended and more substantial texts. I have often used metacommentary to expand on my points to increase the length and the level of understanding of my essays as wells as to avoid unnecessary misinterpretation of statements made. It is always important to follow up on your main statements with things like examples that can help illustrate and expound more on the main statement. Besides, examples make statements more relatable to the audiences, thus improving their overall understanding of what the author talks about. The main statement can also be followed by another metacommentary like; other arguments that may be confused with your statement or how they differ from your main statement. When these metacommentary techniques are used in an essay, it will not only improve on the length but also on the depth of the essay.

Furthermore, I agree with the author’s arguments hat metacommentary helps in delivering clarity in any written material.  According to (Graff and Birkenstein ) “, no matter how prolific a writer is or how straightforward a written material is presented, readers still require assistance to grasp the main points and the true meaning of the essay. Because essays and other written materials are prone to so much mischief and can be interpreted in different ways, metacommentary is needed while writing essays in order to keep misinterpretation and other communication mischief’s at bay.” Echoing the authors’ arguments, the use of metacommentary helps in delivering clarity by telling the reader what to think and why to think about it in a certain way. Besides, using an example as a metacommentary improves the audience’s comprehension of an essay and brings the main ideas into perspective, thus adding more weight to clarity aspect of the written material.

Finally, I want to applaud the writer on his ability to clearly explain what metacommentary is by providing relevant examples where need be. For instance, it was a good idea to use pictorial examples like showing images of two people supporting each other’s ideas while be joined together at the hips. This picture makes it easy for readers to understand what the whole idea of metacommentary. Besides, the author’s choice of diction was simple and easy to understand, making the whole idea more comprehensible possible to simulate.

References

Graft,G., & Birkenstein, C. (2010). “They say, I say” The moves that matter in academic writing (2nd ed). New York:Matrix Publishing Services Inc