How do you make your voice the strongest? By connecting sources and saying something a bit newer even if not completely new, you start to develop a strong voice that can help address your research question in a robust fashion.
Here are the three main tools to do that:
Summary:
Summary can be helpful for you to understand the source, so could be good to write on your own (as you’ve done with Reflective Annotated Bibliography entries). They can sometimes be useful within your draft, but only if an extended version of contextual information about the source is necessary. In your Rhetorical Analysis, this was sometimes true because your audience was the class and you can’t assume everyone had read/heard/viewed the same text you were analyzing.
For academic arguments, you’ll want to key in on:
- what the main argument (i.e., thesis) is
- background on the author (e.g., academic discipline
- some sort of comment about how this source (and, thus, summary) is relevant to your own argument
Paraphrase:
Paraphrase can be helpful to capture a point from one of your sources (say, a good sentence or paragraph related to your argument) but positioning in your own voice to make for better writing or to better fit it, structurally, into the organization of your writing:
- Identify source and comment on source
- Cover main points in same order author does
- Have page number noted
- Put paraphrase in your own words and sentence structures. If you want to keep something in its original form, use quotation marks.
- Keep your own comments, elaborations, reactions separate from paraphrase
- Have information you need to make in-text citation
- have a note after about where you intend to use it
- Recheck to make sure it reflects your own words and the source’s words accurately
Direct Quotes:
Good to use direct quotes when the author puts something really well that you using paraphrase instead would not put so well. To quote:
- Always, always, always introduce the quote with who it is from. E.g., Susan Sontag argues that; Theorist and critic Susan Sontag explains that…; Sontag has noted that…
- Don’t quote a lot. In MLA, it is no more than 4 lines of text. In APA, it is 40 words or less. But the general rhetorical idea here is that it is easy for a reader to get lost and stop paying attention. Too much of a quote can be hard to follow in its connection to YOUR writing.
- Always, always, always use either no punctuation or punctuation that makes sense in the context of the sentence. Follow the grammar, don’t just drop it in.
Examples
Here are some examples of direct quoting and paraphrasing (we covered summary a bit already in the Rhetorical Analysis, so check that out for review in past lesson plans and Learning Modules):
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- NO: Susan Sontag wrote extensively about photography. “And, contrary to what Weston asserts, the habit of photographic seeing–of looking at reality as an array of potential photographs–creates estrangement from, rather than union with, nature” (97). Photography is about seeing the world. [No introduction to quote, just dropped in there]
- YES: Susan Sontag argues that “the habit of photographic seeing–of looking at reality as an array of potential photographs–creates estrangement from, rather than union with, nature” (97). In this paper, I want to examine a productive form of “estrangement” produced by a series of professional photographs that attempt to capture elements of global warming.
- YES: Susan Sontag writes that professional photography is reliant on “photographic seeing,” which is a habit of “looking at reality as an array of potential photographs” (97). The history of landscape photography is a history of people who had to do research to find opportune places and times to take photographs; they had to use “photographic seeing” in many ways to find the right moment (a convergence of place and time) to do their work.
- YES: Sontag writes about this phenomenon of the photographer being divorced from the scene: “the habit of photographic seeing–of looking at reality as an array of potential photographs–creates estrangement from, rather than union with, nature” (97). Photographers need to acknowledge how their perspective will always color how a photograph is created in a way that is necessarily unnatural.
- YES: According to Susan Sontag, to see photographically, or to “loo[k] at reality as an array of potential photographs,” is the essential ethos of the photographer (97). This way of seeing necessarily produces “estrangement from, rather than union with, nature” (97). This estrangement can be highly productive from an artistic standpoint.
- NO: Susan Sontag (1977) said that photography is really about reality but it is hard to get reality. [this does not really represent what is said in the original–it is way too broad]
- YES: Susan Sontag (1977) has argued that seeing photographically is seeing the world as filled with unrealized photographs.
- YES: Unlike other theorists of photography before her, Susan Sontag claims that photography creates a necessary divide from nature for photographers (97).
Signal Words
In the above examples, you will note some “signal words” or words that help let your readers know that you are gesturing toward another writer. I used words like “writes,” “argues,” and “claims” to do this. But, there is a really great word bank on page 175 in our textbook that has other examples.
In a below comment, choose something from one of your sources for your paper so far. Do three things:
- Paste the full quote
- Write a paraphrase of that quote
- Write a direct quote where the quote is introduced and commented on (like in examples above).
After commenting below, click on the button to continue the module:
“The Iraq invasion or the Brexit mess, to take two recent examples, clearly reflect refusals to engage in long-range planning and to probe common stereotypes.” (p.20, end of par.1)
The Iraq invasion and Brexit are two examples demonstrating lack of planning and cooperation.
UC Berkeley history professor cites two examples from contemporary politics to support the ignorance of basic military conduct of today’s world leaders: “The Iraq invasion or the Brexit mess, to take two recent examples, clearly reflect refusals to engage in long-range planning and to probe common stereotypes.”
“Physical negative effects are rooted in excessive smartphone use (29). However, addictive smartphone behavior may resemble addiction as regards immoderate use (30), impulse control issues, and adverse effects, without being a disorder with serious consequences on physical and psychological health (31). ”
Addiction to smartphones and technology have similar negative effects to other substances without the major harmful effects:
Aurel Pera is able to emphasize the adverse effects of technology and its similarities to other types of addiction by saying “Physical negative effects are rooted in excessive smartphone use. However, addictive smartphone behavior may resemble addiction as regards immoderate use, impulse control issues, and adverse effects, without being a disorder with serious consequences on physical and psychological health.”
“Forty- five percent of Black household heads had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 80 percent of White household heads.”
White household heads in DC are more likely to hold a bachelor’s degree or higher in comparison to Black households.
In the statement, Kijakazi attests that access to educational opportunities is unfair as “Forty- five percent of Black household heads had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 80 percent of White household heads.”
““If you thought disinformation on Facebook was a problem during our election, just wait until you see how it is shredding the fabric of our democracy in the days after,” Bill Russo, a deputy communications director on Biden’s campaign press team, tweeted late Monday.
Russo then attacked Facebook over the course of eight tweets for allowing violent and misleading content to flourish on the platform in the week following Election Day.
He referred to a video in which Steve Bannon called for the head of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the proliferation of “Stop the Steal” Facebook groups.”
Bill Russo, a top Biden staffer, accuses Facebook of not keeping their promises for curbing disinformation.
It’s not difficult to see why Russo is so frustrated with Facebook’s content moderation. Isobel Asher Hamilton links a prominent example of the platform hosting, “…a video in which Steve Bannon called for the head of Dr. Anthony Fauci…”
Full quote: “As a result, most White Americans believe that discrimination is on the decline, that racism is no longer a significant factor in the lives of people of color, that they are personally free of bias, and that equality will be shortly achieved” (Sue et al., 330).
Paraphrase: in the article by Sue et al, there is reason to believe that there is some degree of confusion about the prevalence of racism since a majority of white Americans believe that the problem is no longer an issue for people of color who are expected to achieve equal treatment in the near future.
Direct Quote: Sue at al (330) argue that there is a confusion about the prevalence of racism because “most White Americans believe that discrimination is on the decline, that racism is no longer a significant factor in the lives of people of color, that they are personally free of bias, and that equality will be shortly achieved”
“In addition, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the right hippocampus. Both orbito-frontal and hippocampal regions have been implicated in emotional regulation and response control. Thus, larger volumes in these regions might account for meditators’ singular abilities and habits to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability, and engage in mindful behavior.”
Eileen Luders found that people who practice mindful meditation have “significantly larger volumes of the right hippocampus” (14), a region of the brain that is responsible for emotional response and impulse control. Luders’s findings may explain why meditators have skills related to “retain[ing] emotional stability” as well as being able to “engage in mindful behavior”.
“The war on drugs thus offers seamless continuity with the most shameful episodes of our past. Slaves were bound in plantations from which they could not escape. Now, it is prisons that deprive black men of their freedom.”
Paraphrase: Boyd argues that the war on drugs allows a continuation of our dishonorable past. He says before slaves’ freedom was taken by plantations and now it’s prisons.
Direct Quote: Boyd argues that the war on drugs is not something new but it “offers seamless continuity with the most shameful episodes of our past”. With that “past” meaning slavery, he says that slavery kept black people “bound in plantations from which they could not escape” and “now it is prisons that deprive black men of their freedom”.
“Recycling is something that everyone can do, thus providing a universal opportunity to invest some part of one’s life’s energy for the benefit of others.”
Everyone can recycle, by doing this you are not only helping yourself – but everyone around you.
In Ikerd’s article, we see how important it can be to recycle not just for yourself but for everyone when he says, “Recycling is something that everyone can do, thus providing a universal opportunity to invest some part of one’s life’s energy for the benefit of others.”
“Language skills can be an advantage in police work, for example if you are based in an area where there are large numbers of speakers of other languages. There are opportunities to work as a translator or interpreter for the police or for other employers, such as hospitals. The ability to speak another language fluently could also be an advantage in a career with the ambulance service.”
Speaking an additional language can be a huge benefit when working in the police force. Being able to speak a different language serves many purposes, especially when an emergency comes up and the people do not speak or understand English.
In an excerpt presented by TARGETjobs, the author explains, “Language skills can be an advantage in police work, for example if you are based in an area where there are large numbers of speakers of other languages. There are opportunities to work as a translator or interpreter for the police or for other employers, such as hospitals. The ability to speak another language fluently could also be an advantage in a career with the ambulance service.”
“The drop was caused by unbridled global fears about the spread of the coronavirus, oil price drops, and the possibility of a 2020 recession. Only two other dates in U.S. history had more unsettling one-day percentage falls.”
Paraphrase: The stock market crash was caused by investors’ fears about COIVID-19, oil price drops, and the possibility of a recession. The U.S. market has only seen two other dates with greater percentage falls than this one.
Direct Quote: Amadeo claims that “the drop was caused by unbridled global fears about the spread of the coronavirus, oil price drops, and the possibility of a 2020 recession.” She moves on to highlight the fact that “only two other dates in U.S. history had more unsettling one-day percentage falls.”