Macro-structures: Conclusions

Conclusions are notoriously difficult to write. One nice thing about macro-structures (or any attention you might pay to genre conventions more generally) is they can help give you some direction for how to think about structuring your conclusion.

Each of the three macro-structures for academic articles have fairly different approaches to concluding, which reflects values of the sorts of disciplines and purposes for each macro-structure.

What do you notice in each of our three examples? How does each concluding section begin? How does the first paragraph start? What do you notice across paragraphs? What does each paragraph do? What is the tone of the section? The overall purpose of the section? What do you notice about sentences? How are they structured? What about word choice? How does the concluding section end? Do you notice any interesting organizational differences? What about layout? Are there subsections or lists? What is notable about those?

In about 150-200, think about the differences and similarities among the three conclusions of each article in response to some of these questions above. Here are the places to look:

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Macro-structures: Methods

A method is how someone does something. It is a spelled out procedure for how to do carry out a task. Researchers often, but not always, describe their methods. Some macro-structures do this more than others. IMRD structures always require an explanation of a method.

Thesis-driven and problem-solution structures sometimes have space to explain methods, but they don’t always do so explicitly. That is, you kind of have to look for it. For thesis-driven papers, these are usually in the humanities. The methods of the humanities typically use concepts or “lenses” (think back to our Rhetorical Analysis unit!) to interpret texts. These are sometimes described.

In problem-solution papers, it depends. Problem-solution papers are especially malleable because they aren’t always formed in the genre of the academic journal article, but rather in genres that are analogous to the genre of the journal article (e.g., grant proposal, report, white paper). Depending on the purpose of the genre (e.g., report vs. white paper), there is a greater or lesser need to describe methods.

Go back to the three example texts from the last page:

Think about the following questions: Does each of the articles describe the methods in which they will conduct an analysis? If so, what is the method? Where is it at? How is it written? What differences in word choice, sentence structure, or organization do you notice between them?

Why describe a method? Why describe it in the way it is described in each of the places of each article (if they have a place where they describe a method used)?

What does it do? How does it do it (look at each sentence)? What does this say about the function of talking about methods in a thesis-driven macro-structure, a IMRD macro-structure, and a problem-solution macro-structure?

In a comment below, locate areas of each paper where you think methods are described and compare the organization of those paragraphs, the sentence structure, the tone, etc. What do you notice? What does each paragraph do? How does it do that? And, finally, do these differences (or similarities) say something about how these structures call for different kinds of functions in describing methods? Consider some of these questions in a response of about 150-200 words.

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Macro-structures: Introductions

Genres will always provide rules but also be somewhat unsatisfying because genre conventions are never rigid rules that tell you exactly which word to choose, how to exactly structure a sentence, how to exactly order a paragraph, and so on.

Still, different rhetorical situations can provide slightly different decisions for a specific genre.

For academic journal articles, the genre you will be writing in for your research-driven writing project, using macro-structures for organization can be helpful to drill down a bit further on what sorts of moves there are to make to help give you a template for writing.

This page and the next three pages will ask you to think about how writing in introductions, methods, analysis, and conclusion sections differ in the three macro-structures of academic writing:

  • Thesis-driven
  • IMRD
  • Problem-solution

While they are all structured a little differently, each structure does have parts that introduce the topic, explain how an analysis of some kind will be conducted, performs some kind of analysis, and concludes in some way.

However, how this writing is done looks a bit different and is carried out in different ways.

To think about this, we are going to look at three different texts that are all on the topic that Baruch student Suhaib Qasim wrote about in the research article you read today for class: immigration.

You’ll be asked to compare paragraphs across these texts.

What does it do? How does it do it (look at each sentence)? What does this say about the function of an introduction paragraph in a thesis-driven macro-structure, a IMRD macro-structure, and a problem-solution macro-structure?

In a comment below, look at the first paragraph of each paper and compare the organization of those paragraphs, the sentence structure, the tone, etc. What do you notice? What does each paragraph do? How does it do that? Skim the rest of the paragraphs (if there are other paragraphs) of the introductions, as well. And, finally, do these differences (or similarities) say something about how these structures call for different kinds of functions in introductions? Consider some of these questions in a response of about 150-200 words.

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Dreamgirls: Not a Movie, It’s Life

Academy award winning actress Lupita Nyong’o once said in an interview that colorism, “is the daughter of racism”. Colorism is the preference of lighter skin often within the same racial group. Colorism ensues mostly within the black community. People that deny colorism exists fail to recognize that its roots date back to slavery.

Light skinned children were often the result of forced sexual acts between slave owner and slave. Although the child was not fully claimed by the slave owner, they were still more preferable because they were related to their owner. As a result, light skinned slaves were given house chores and domestic tasks while darker skinned slaves were put to work in fields and more likely to be beaten and overworked. This treatment difference turned into a practice amongst black people.

The Eurocentric features, like light skin, less kinky hair, etc., that the biracial children possessed became a standard of beauty in the black community. After slavery, black people that were in the upper class were largely fair skinned.

brown paper bag test

The brown paper bag test was utilized in the 19th century to decide who got a “pass” into different social circles. If you were lighter or the same color than the bag, you got more opportunities. If you were darker, you were turned away. There was even a nursery rhyme children sang with blatant colorist connotations:

“If you’re black, stay back; If you’re brown, stick around;

If you’re yellow, you’re mellow; If you’re white, you’re all right.”

Practices like this certainly led to poor self-image of black people with darker skin. Most dark skinned people can recall a time when they disliked their skin or noticed they were treated differently because of their complexion.

Women, in a general sense, are treated differently in society. They are often objectified, critiqued for their figure and treated lesser than in comparison to a man. Women have to deal with body shaming, sexism, and more all the time. Having a dark complexion or more Afrocentric features adds to the list. In other words, black women not only have to combat the struggles of being a woman, but they have to deal with colorism as well. Beauty standards are constantly fed to them through what type of black woman is on ads and beauty products or who gets cast in television shows and movies.

The 2006 film Dreamgirls does a great job at visualizing the struggles of black women in the entertainment industry. The movie tells the story of the Dreamettes, a musical group trying to find their big break in the 60s. The group gets the opportunity to sing back up for a popular soul singer and soon after book their own gig. The only issue the new gig brings up is that there needs to be a change of lead singer. Effie, a curvy brown skin woman, was lead and it was agreed among the group that she had the best voice. The new gig however did not care about talent, it was about appeal. Deena replaces Effie as lead simply because she is slimmer and fair skinned making Deena is more appealing to a white audience. Not only does this offend Effie but it messes with her mind. To make matters worse, the group’s manager who called for the switch was also Effie’s boyfriend.

After the switch the group’s success skyrocketed. For Effie it was a hard pill to swallow that to the eyes of the world she wasn’t beautiful enough to make it. Deena’s beauty was praised so much that the group’s name was changed to Deena and the Dreamettes. Deena was also given outside opportunities like a documentary, a movie deal, and she ended up marrying their manager (Effie’s ex). This whole situation messed with several aspects of Effie’s life and mental health. Her self-image and confidence were ruined, her love life was taken away, and her talent was pushed aside and passed on. All these issues arose from a matter of appearance.

Another way to look at the movie is to show the necessary evil of colorism for black people. White people dictated success so they had to do what was most appealing to that audience, which was a fair skinned woman. It was terrible to watch black people in the music industry tear down one woman for the sake of making it. But the sad truth is this doesn’t just happen in Dreamgirls movie; it plays out in real life all the time.

                        Lena Horne

A great deal of black people that are pioneers in the entertainment world are fair skinned. It makes me wonder: if there weren’t light skinned black people would black people get representation at all? An example of this is Lena Horne. Horne was a very influential black dancer, singer, and activist; however, people feel like a lot of her opportunities came from the fact that she was so fair skinned. At first glance most can’t even tell that she is African-American. A more to date example of this are icons like Beyoncé and Zendaya. Zendaya has even said herself that she is “Hollywood’s acceptable version of a black girl”.

Darker skinned women are turned down opportunities because of colorist ideals of lack of appeal. Dreamgirls exposes the unspoken colorist actions that take place within and outside of the black community. This is shown by the direct correlation between the switch in lead and the group’s success.

Just as in the movie, colorism can affect many aspects of a black woman’s life. For example, searching for marriage, hiring for a job, disciplinary actions and self-perception. Data gathered from the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) show that it is less likely for a dark skinned black woman to be married. Beauty standards play a role in both how a woman sees herself and also how a partner may see them. In addition, the pay gap between women and men is widely talked about. In another study, NSBA concludes that there is a significant pay gap between light skinned and dark skinned women. Lastly, since blackness is sometimes associated with aggression, darker skinned women and girls are often punished more harshly than their lighter counterparts. Studies show that darker skinned women are more likely to receive longer prison sentences and darker skinned girls are more likely to be suspended from school (Greenidge).

Personally I can attest to being affected by colorism. Most of this discrimination came from my black peers and friends.

In middle school it was jokes about not being able to see me in the dark and getting called names like “blacky”. In high school I was told that I’d be a perfect girlfriend but I was just too dark for their type. They said that they would like to find a girl with my personality just…white.

In another incident, someone I considered my friend told me that he had to marry a light skin girl because he wants beautiful kids and if his kids came out too dark he’d give them away. Maybe he didn’t realize at the time but in saying that his kids needed to be light skinned to be beautiful he implied that I was ugly. This happened about 3 years ago. While reconnecting with that person, and being much more confident that I was before, I confronted him about those comments. He claimed he doesn’t remember saying such things. It is crazy how something he said that he can’t even remember is going to be something that I recall and something that will affect my self-image for the rest of my life.

There is no doubt that colorism and its effects on black women is real; I can certainly attest to this. Racist ideals have managed to disguise itself and wiggle its way into the black community. Since it is so deeply rooted yet hidden, many people have a hard time acknowledging it. Although the movie Dreamgirls wasn’t real, the story and character Effie is.  Black women get turned down, pushed aside, and demeaned all while still rooting for their lighter counterparts for the sake of supporting black excellence. If not from research, personal stories of dark skinned black women validates colorism’s presence. Effects of colorism presents itself every day when a lighter black girl gets more like son TikTok or when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, gets called an ape by other people in power. Beauty comes in all shades and that message needs to be enforced to the fullest in order to reverse or change the self-hate that colorism creates.

The Black Mirror of Social Media

How Social Media Changes Us

We all know that the rise of social media has completely changed the way in which we view the world and other people. Whether it be through pictures of a family trip or a review on our favorite restaurant, we all have an impact when we use social media. This empowerment that social media is able to provide, allows us to feel wanted and to have a presence in platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. There are many issues with how dependent our generation is becoming on social media as many mental illnesses are also on the rise such as depression and anxiety. I have chosen to do an analysis of an episode of one of my favorite shows Black Mirror, focusing on the season three episode “Nosedive”. If you are someone who has never seen Black Mirror before, the main idea of the show is to show the impact of technology on society and to tell a story showing how the “Black Mirror” which in this case would be a device with a screen that is a mirror and we tend to look through it. All of us have definitely fallen into the black mirror, and this is all by design from the engineers who are paid to make sure we the consumer is always connected. How have we as a society allowed ourselves to fall so deep in technology? I will also be divulging into how the episode tends to use intersectionality and the director had the purpose to use social media and its societal effects to connect with the audience. Technology has been able to provide the world with many benefits, but the effects on the main character prove to be detrimental in her friendships and mental health.

I will begin by fully explaining the society that we follow during the episode “Nosedive”. The episode begins in a beautiful town that is seen as more dystopian in nature. The main character of the episode is Lacie Pound, who is rated at 4.2 at the beginning of the episode. The ratings in this society are out of 5, the higher you are to 5, the more that you can get out of your daily life in the town and the influence you have on others. The director is able to use the common rating system that we may see in something like Uber or Yelp, but instead, it is so much more personal because the rating system in “Nosedive” deals with an individual and their morals. When comparing this to our society today, it may seem that we are heading towards this kind of society, some tend to believe that the amount of likes they get is symbolic of their popularity and status. “Nosedive” 

The writer of the episode is able to use intersectionality to allow us as the audience to relate to the characters, as we see many times that Lacie tends to put a facade on while she is in public with others, and tends to act much differently than with her own brother who has a low score of 3.1. The individuals with higher scores were seen in another class and lower score individuals would be cut off. The director made sure to show that the purpose of the episode was to show how we seek validation from those who are more influential and important in society.  As a viewer, when we see Lacie at first, at least I tend to think she is a shallow person who only relies on the approval of others, but the only reason she is doing all of this is to get through her life. Everyone wants to be approved by others, and Lacie is just conforming to the standards that society has put her under. 

We only begin to see more of Lacie when she decides to upload a picture of one of her childhood toys, Mr. Rags, which she and her childhood friend Naomi, who is a 4.8 and highly known in the community, made together when they were young. We begin to see the connection that these two vastly different characters have and Lacie is given the task to be her Maid of Honor, which would greatly improve her overall score and influence and allow her to purchase a new home that is only for those with higher scores. This is when it all goes downhill for Lacie, whether it be an outburst at the airport due to a canceled flight, which dropped her rating to a 3.3, and with many other things, her rating dropped to almost 2.9 before the wedding of her “lifelong” friend. Lacie was seen as this perfect character without many flaws, but deep down the purpose of this scene was to show that these characters have a hidden personality when they act like their true character.  The result of these events almost caused her to be blacklisted from society, and in these outbursts in public, the scene was able to show the audience that each person is just playing a false character to satisfy society. 

The wedding turned out to be an emotional rollercoaster for Lacie, once she arrived, she had already been told to not come for the reason that her score was so low, and this sent her off the deep end and she just wanted to be there for her childhood friend. The theme of intersectionality was most seen during the wedding, where the guests were high 4.8 plus rated individuals who acted as the best of the best of society. Lacie followed on her journey and she decided to crash the wedding and she was emotional with the aid of alcohol, she delivered her speech, albeit, without the childhood memories, she began to tell Naomi off and how she was treated as a child and how Naomi only kept her around because she was better than Lacie. Lacie was fully expressing herself as she had never been able to do so before and this completely derailed her rating and eventually, she was arrested for pulling a knife on the groom in her emotional tirade. In the end, we were able to see Lacie express herself, and she broke the facade that had plagued her life for too long.

The writer for the episode was also able to incorporate Logos into the episode by showing how vastly society will treat an individual with a higher score and treat another one with a much lower score. The purpose of this shows the audience that the people who live in society have no choice, but to conform to society. The first example is when we are shown the houses on Pelican Cove, which is a town with nice houses. One of the payment options for these homes relies on how high someone is rated. A 4.5 rating will receive a twenty percent discount compared to someone who is not at this range. We also see how logically, it is practically necessary to have a good score in this society because once Lacie was at around a 2.5, her options at a rent a car location were so limited it ended up in her being deserted to a dead battery. She had lived her whole life trying to keep her image and in the end, she was failed by a missed flight and multiple outbursts which derailed her ratings. When Lacie needed help, the only person who helped her was this woman named Susan, who was rated a mere 1.4 out of 5. Typically, Lacie would never approach an individual with this rating due to her image possibly being ruined. Lacie was practically saved and Susan explained how her rating never got her anywhere even when she was a high four rating individual.

Susan had to deal with pain when she lost her husband to cancer and the rating was the least of her worries. This scene was one that stood out to me as a member of the audience. For the entire episode, we were only seeing the individuals who “mattered” and who appealed to Lacie. She finally had been able to freely express herself and she always wanted and people in this society did not think the same way at all. She went from a life of luxury to become a truck driver and she did not regret anything because her rating was only superficial in her happiness. Lacie in the end was able to freely express herself when she was in her cell and she followed by saying what she felt to her cellmate without fear of repercussions as she always watched in the past.

This episode was able to use these lenses in ways that we as the audience could clearly understand and apply it to our lives today. Social media is becoming more and more attached to our personal happiness and “Nosedive” could be a preview of what the future can hold. The more importance that social media is given, the newer generations will have a tougher time breaking from this addiction which never fully satisfies the user. Most social media is temporary gratification and never allows for a full human connection. The episode reveals the dark truth of social media, albeit it is quite extreme, could it possibly be something we see in the future?  Each decade, technology finds more ways to become a part of our lives, such as Amazon Alexa which has proved to be a monumental invention and even used by someone like myself, I feel that it has been able to make tasks easier. The idea of having a rating system seems more like a science fiction movie, but each day the possibility becomes greater.

 

Learning Module 7 Recap and Next Time

In this module, we:

  • Reflected on the Rhetorical Analysis final draft
  • Reviewed Unit 3 so far
  • Thought about next steps for organizing sources
  • Thought about summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting
  • Looked over assignment due for 11/12

Next time:

    • Read “Organizing Your Ideas” by Lisa Blankenship, p. 195-199 (textbook)
    • Reflective Annotated Bibliography Process Document by 3pm
    • Reading Annotation for Blankenship by 3pm (In our #reading-annotation Slack channel, mention one thing that stood out to you in the reading and why in about 100 words or more for each reading we do.)

Reflective Annotated Bibliography Check-in

On Thursday (11/12), the Reflective Annotated Bibliography is due.

You will submit 2 entries following the 6 criteria outlined in the instructions on Blackboard (see Process Documents in Assignment Prompts).

I want at least 1 of the entries to be an academic source (i.e., in an academic journal or in a book published by a university press).

Take some time to look over the instructions and my feedback on your first attempt at an entry for this (from last week).

Do you have any questions on this assignment? Comment below. If you have no questions, just write “I have no questions.”

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Documentation Style Nuts and Bolts

Last class, we talked about documentation style as rhetorical. That is important to consider, but so is just knowing the nuts and bolts. There are two main things to consider with documentation style:

  1. In-text citation
  2. Having a reference list/endnotes/footnotes

There are also other formatting requirements, but these are easier to learn on your own. You can go to the UW-Madison writing center page for some of this information as well as the Purdue OWL to learn about the most popular documentation styles. It is great to consult these about more information on in-text citation and reference lists, as well (e.g., Mendeley and Zotero are both free).

I thought I’d spend a little time showing some stuff on in-text citation and then refer you to either resources like UW-Madison or Purdue OWL or to software that can help you format reference list entries like these. I’m going to use MLA and APA since these two are very commonly used, but for the assignment, you can choose any documentation style that you think would work for your research project (or one you just want to kind of learn if you think you’ll be using it a lot).

MLA Quote and Paraphrase

The MLA direct quote will look a lot like examples I used on the page on paraphrasing and quoting. It will include author either in sentence or at end of sentence in the citation. After the citation is the period. Signal words are in the present tense and never the past tense.

Example: Libertz claims that in class last week “we talked about documentation style as rhetorical. That is important to consider, but so is just knowing the nuts and bolts” (45).

The direct quote can also include the last name in the parentheses at the end, too. Typically, you never want to do this the first time you use the author in your writing, because you want to introduce the source a bit first (so you are mentioning name anyway). after that, it is clear you are using who you are using so you can put it at the end like in the below example.

Example: In class last week, “we talked about documentation style as rhetorical. That is important to consider, but so is just knowing the nuts and bolts” (Libertz 45).

The MLA paraphrase will typically have the author mentioned with the paraphrase and parentheses at the end with the page number.

Example: Libertz argues that documentation style is not just about rules but is highly reliant on rhetoric (45).

The paraphrase also can leave out the author (though, typically it makes things easier to include the author). If you do this, you move the last name of the author to the parentheses at the end.

Example: Documentation style is not just about rules but is highly reliant on rhetoric (Libertz 45).

Finally, I wanted to note two things that can happen. Sometimes there are no page numbers and sometimes there is no author. For page numbers, if there are not, then don’t worry about it. Just carry on like there are none. If there is no author, go to the works cited list and include the next option. So, if the entry is a journal article, then the next prioritized item in the entry would be the title of the journal article.

Example for both no page numbers and no author: Documentation style is not just about rules but is highly reliant on rhetoric (“Documentation Style Nuts and Bolts”).

APA Paraphrase and Quote

APA prioritizes paraphrase and really discourages direct quotes unless really necessary. This is because social sciences are more interested in the gist of findings rather than very specific language (something the humanities tends to value more). Still, direct quotes can be valuable in social science writing so it is important to know how to do it.

First, paraphrase. APA values years and puts them right next to the mention of the author’s name. Things are written in past tense this time, not present tense.

Example: Libertz (2020) argued that documentation style is not just about rules but is highly reliant on rhetoric.

If the paraphrase is really specific to an idea on a specific page, you could include the page number:

Example: Libertz (2020) argued that documentation style is not just about rules but is highly reliant on rhetoric (p. 45).

You can also load the author name into the parentheses.

Example: Documentation style is not just about rules but is highly reliant on rhetoric (Libertz, 2020, p. 45).

For short quotations, the year follows the author and the page number follows the quote like in the paraphrase. It follows same logic overall (e.g., putting author/year with page number if author not mentioned in sentence)

Example: Libertz (2020) claimed that in class last week “we talked about documentation style as rhetorical. That is important to consider, but so is just knowing the nuts and bolts” (p. 45).

If no page numbers, you offer the paragraph number.

Example: Libertz (2020) claimed that in class last week “we talked about documentation style as rhetorical. That is important to consider, but so is just knowing the nuts and bolts” (para. 1).

 

Odds and Ends

Lots of stuff is just searching the internet for answers to format things correctly. It is easier to just find answers that way rather than trying to learn it all at once.

-If using a quote longer than 4 lines in MLA or more than 40 words in APA, there are different rules for quoting. Look on Purdue OWL or UW Madison WC for more information or find somewhere else.

-Depending on the type of source, it will be cited in the text and listed in the reference list differently. Look on Purdue OWL or UW Madison WC for more information or find somewhere else.

-If you aren’t familiar with using documentation styles, don’t stress. Lots of it is just getting used to it. I’ll guide you along with this first draft.

 

In a comment below, take about 50-100 words to explain which documentation style you think you will use and why for your research-driven writing project.

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Functions of Paraphrasing and Quoting

It can be helpful to think about the range of purposes for paraphrasing and quoting.

Establish Context. Use a source to be an example of some sort of context for your writing to matter, to be interesting, to be relevant to your audience.

Review the research on your subject. Who else has written about what you are saying and what can you quickly tell me about it?

Introduce a term or define a concept. Any term that might be central or highly important to your argument should be defined, and using a quote from an expert can be helpful to do that work. When doing this, make sure you connect the definition back to your argument.

Repeating something from an expert to support or amplify what you argue. You can use a paraphrase or direct quote from an expert to echo or further support what you say to enhance your own credibility. So, perhaps not much in the way of new information, but you amplify your point and make it last a bit longer for a reader while also showing that other people agree with you.

Highlight differences or counterarguments. It can be valuable to highlight counterarguments or people who see things a little differently. It shows that you are aware of other arguments and you have thought about them. Make sure to build in how these counterarguments either enhance your own position or provide evidence for how they don’t quite support the argument you are making.

 

In a comment below, spend about 100 words explaining how the paraphrase/quote might fill one of the above uses (even if it doesn’t do that yet, you could speculate how you could further develop it for one of these purposes).

After commenting, click on the button below to continue the module:

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Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

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):

    • 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:

Button that says click to continue