One of the most difficult (and arguably most important) elements of academic writing is integrating your voice with the ideas of other scholars and writers because:
- it asks you to have a firm understanding of other ideas from scholars and writers using your abilities as a critical reader
- it asks you to know how to use that understanding and connect it to a larger argument or narrative you are making as a critical reader and writer
- it asks you to organize such synthesis in a logical fashion, which requires connecting not only other ideas to your own ideas, but those other ideas among all of the scholars and writers you cite
- it asks you to adapt stylistically to other voices. That is, you have to use conventions of paraphrase and quoting to meld another writing style to your own to make readable writing
This is difficult, but really helps you as a reader, writer, and learner! If you can do these things well, it means you can enter into complex discussions about a topic and move those discussions forward. That is a really valuable thing to know how to do personally (e.g., as a consumer of news and politics to make political decisions, thinking about medical decisions, weighing disputes among family and friends) and professionally (e.g., writing reports, evaluating possible scenarios for different decisions).
After reading the Qasim research-driven writing project in our textbook, I hope you noticed some moments where Qasim effectively integrates different perspectives and voices together well and that you can use that article as a model for your own writing for your research-driven writing project.
I’m going to isolate one excerpt from the reading on page 242. I’m going to paste the excerpt as a whole at first and then a second version with my annotations.
The United States is not alone in its dependence on immigrants for economic prosperity, and can learn lessons from the consequences of strict immigration policies abroad. Jason Furman, Harvard professor of economic policy and former chairman of Barack Obama’s economic advisors, believes Japan’s harsh stance on immigration has caused its economic instability, concluding that “immigration makes a strong contribution to economic growth” (Furman). For many nations, immigration has become a necessity due to lower birthrates and rising age of the population with lower percentages of workers to take their place. As Furman reports, Japan’s working population has been shrinking due to its rising average age, hindering the growth of their economy. Lest we think this can’t happen in America, Daniel Griswold points out that, without immigration, our labor force would begin to shrink soon, and he contends that immigrants revitalize areas of the country where populations have declined (“Immigrants Have Enriched American Culture”)
Here is the same paragraph with my annotations for what is going on in terms of synthesis of multiple voices with the writer’s own voice.
The United States is not alone in its dependence on immigrants for economic prosperity, and can learn lessons from the consequences of strict immigration policies abroad. [previous sentence sets up argument of paragraph and sources’ relevance to argument]. Jason Furman, Harvard professor of economic policy and former chairman of Barack Obama’s economic advisors [INTRODUCES SOURCE], believes Japan’s harsh stance on immigration has caused its economic instability [paraphrase about case of Japan before setting up direct quote about applicable lesson of Japan], concluding [signal word that identifies main argument of piece] that “immigration makes a strong contribution to economic growth” (Furman). For many nations, immigration has become a necessity due to lower birthrates and rising age of the population with lower percentages of workers to take their place. [previous sentence sums up connection between immigration’s impact on economic instability and economic growth in nation] As Furman reports, Japan’s working population has been shrinking due to its rising average age, hindering the growth of their economy [goes back to source to look at that relationship to Japan]. Lest we think this can’t happen in America, [transition toward relevance for U.S. as way to introduce new source] Daniel Griswold points out that, without immigration, our labor force would begin to shrink soon, and he contends that immigrants revitalize areas of the country where populations have declined (“Immigrants Have Enriched American Culture”). [paraphrase to make parallel to Japan case study complete]
In a below comment, paste something you have already written to revise or something you want to try to write now that uses 2 sources, together, to make a larger point about your research topic. Use the above analysis of the excerpt from the Qasim research-driven writing project on immigration as a way to help you think through how you can do it. If you don’t already have something you can lift from your in-progress draft, just try to do it based on the sources from your Research Question Process Document and your Reflective Annotated Bibliography and give it a quick shot in 3-6 sentences. This is just a rough draft, so don’t stress too much. Try some things out based on your reading of Qasim here.
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The link between depression and social media are two things that only recently have been seen together with detrimental effects. Problematic smartphone use is “related to depression and self-esteem” (Pera, 2020). Arguably, the availability of this type of technology is a contributing factor to the rise in use in the youth of today. The main appeal factor from social media is the sense of community that can be found. “Several mentioned following or creating “fandoms” on Tumblr where they would post and interact with others”(Radovic, 2016) this is widely seen all over the internet due to the popularity of music and other forms of entertainment.
Anxiety is a natural mechanism to keep us alert and ready to escape any type of threat. Under control, anxiety is an effective mechanism under flight-or-flight circumstances. However, anxiety disorder or frequent anxiety can impair cognitive processes (study 3) as well as take over attentional resources like [put examples from anxiety text] may be impaired. (anxiety study). “Anxiousness contributes to poor impulse control, inability to sustain attention, impaired working memory, and lack of cognitive flexibility” (™ vs anxiety page 7). A study by Arizona’s University CIE (Current issues in Education), conducted by Sarina J. Grossland [position] determined that transcendental meditation practice was effective in reducing anxiety and the cognitive toll that it takes in our brains, as well as symptoms of other disorders such as ADHD and depression.Even as a complementary treatment to medication, when this one was not giving the expected results. It was also found to give children in the subject increased frontal brain coherence -an area associated with attention and impulse control- as well as executive function – brain resource management. Improvement was self-reported and also noted by teachers and family members of the children (7). This especially promising since a decrease in anxiety has been positively correlated to improved cognitive function in measures of [mention measures of study 3] (study 3).
This is very raw and full of notes to myself because it is still under construction. I have my sources ready but during writing, I use code words like “study 3” or “anxiety study”
According to Bloomberg, a company reputed as one of the fastest and most credible digital information sources in the financial industry, “China’s trade surplus with the US has grown almost 25% since the start of the Trump presidency, exceeding $300 billion on an annualized basis” (Brown, “Bloomberg New Economy”). A separate research also contended that “US trade balance will worsen [as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act], running counter to the administration’s efforts to reduce the nation’s trade deficit” (Chen & Tan 216). So not only has the administration not decreased the trade deficit significantly, it also exacerbated the situation, intentionally or unintentionally, through means of other policies–another evidence of the trade war’s folly.
In recent years, it has become much more socially unacceptable for Americans to be overtly racist or discriminatory; thus, many individuals believe that they are not racist and that racism no longer exists (D. W. Sue, 2010). Despite this belief, previous authors have purported that while most people would not consider themselves to be racist (nor engage in hate crimes or blatantly racist activities), they may still hold racial biases and participate in subtle and unconscious racially motivated behaviors (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2006). This covert form of discrimination has been labeled as aversive racism (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000), modern racism (McConahay, 1986), and racial microaggressions (C. M. Pierce, Carew, Pierce-Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978; D. W. Sue, Capodilupo, et al., 2007).
Even though all races and ethnicities of people are using the same amount and type of drugs, the great majority of people arrested are only black and latino (JayZ). In other words, while there are far more people of color in prison for drug violations, it doesn’t mean that more people of color are drug offenders (Small). Now there has been a shift in ideals about drug usage in the U.S. starting with marijuana (Small). The legalization of marijuana in some states that has allowed many white people to create big businesses that black and latino people are criminalized and locked up for (JayZ). Hopefully as more and more states lose criminalization of marijuana, there is less racial injustice and less stigma against drug users.
The stock market crash in March of 2020 was not the only time we have seen the markets plunge. The stock market has crashed several times throughout history, including the infamous Crash of 1929, Black Monday in 1987, and the financial crisis of 2008 (Frankel). What was unique about the crash in 2020 was how quickly the market fell in a single day. On March 16, the Dow hit a new record. It lost 2,997.10 points to close at 20,188.52. That day’s point plummet and 12.93% freefall topped the original October 1929 Black Monday slide of 12.82% for one session (Amadeo). Only two other dates in U.S. history had more unsettling one-day percentage falls. They were Black Monday on Oct. 19, 1987, with a 22.61% drop, and Dec. 12, 1914, with a 23.52% fall (Amadeo).
Social media has a central role in the proliferation of disinformation. In the study, “COVID-19 on Social Media: Analyzing Misinformation in Twitter Conversations,” Karishma Sharma asserts: “Increased reliance on social media for news, and the risk of misinformation exposure on public health, have made tackling of misinformation claims time critical. Existing misinformation datasets are either pertaining to general newsworthy events during a particular time period (Ma et al., 2016, 2018), or domain specific, such as related to the Syrian civil war or Hurricane Sandy” (4). Thus, responsibility rests on social media companies to act like publishers for hosting content. This could pose huge challenges in the future, because companies such as Twitter and Facebook are based in the United States of America and are subject to US regulation. In the article “A top Biden staffer accused Facebook of ‘shredding the fabric of our democracy’ – yet another sign the social-media giant should fear the new administration”, Hamilton cites an interview from the New York Times: “In that interview, Biden referred to Facebook and the spread of misinformation on the platform. “It should be revoked because [Facebook] is not merely an internet company,” he said. “It is propagating falsehoods they know to be false.” The president-elect is fully aware that Facebook has full control of content moderation without oversight.
In the Middle East, two example countries are Saudi Arabia, a Sunni majority, and Iran, a Shia majority. Whether it is “a war that has pitted a Saudi-led coalition against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels”(Beaumont 3) in Yemen, or “an economic battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia over who will control the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes”(Amadeo 1), the two countries are at constant political and economic war.