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, do one of the following:
- paste something you have already written for your research project so far that uses 2 sources, together, to make a larger point about your research topic. Annotate it in the way I did above. 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 to do that. After pasting the annotated version, take a little bit of time to reflect on how it went–could your voice be incorporated more? Did you need to do more work saying something about what you cited? Do you need to do more work connecting what you wanted to say about the one source to what you say about another source?
- Annotate the paragraph you turned in to Discord on Monday for homework. See the example I did above on this page in Qasim’s essay.
- If you don’t already have something you can lift from your in-progress draft, just try to do it based on the sources you have collected already and give it a quick shot in 3-6 sentences. This is just an attempt here, so don’t stress too much. Try some things out based on your reading of Qasim here.
- Choose another paragraph from the Qasim reading and do the sort of annotations that I do above.
If you do option 1 or 3, just try to annotate after any signal words/phrases and at the end of each sentence as best as you can.
After commenting below, click on the button below to continue.
Emotions play a major role in the process of learning. When students are enjoying and having fun while learning, they can better retain the information taught and effectively apply it to problems. The opposite could happen when they are experiencing emotional struggles. In an article titled “Schools must teach emotional resilience: study”, Stark explains (signal word) “teaching children how to regulate their emotions not only helps reduce stress and anxiety but can boost academic performance.” From learning how to regulate your emotions, you are in better control of your own perspectives of approach and achieve better outcomes. This can be further elaborated in “Research on Human Learning” written by Mahar S. Harford, Harford states (signal word) “neuroscientists, through ongoing research, are increasingly able to demonstrate that emotional processes can either help or hinder the educational process.” This further explains how much impact the emotional state has when it comes to a student’s educational learning.
During the last presidential election[REFERENCING TO PAST SOURCE] , the issue of barring immigrants from the country arose often. Conservative candidates[INTRODUCING SOURCE] argued that immigrants commit crimes because they come from violent countries. Some news media outlets have supported this rhetoric, stigmatizing and portraying immigrants as poor, vio-lent and threatening to society, and leading many to believe in these stereotypes.[PREVIOUS SENTENCE EXPLAINS THE REASONING AS TO WHY IMMIGRANTS COMMIT CRIMES] However, politicians’ needs for clear political platforms drive illegitimate and false facts that cloud the news, which then convince media audiences that immigrants give rise to crime and violence. Since the election, politicians have continued to spread these messages. For example, in March of 2018, President Trump[INTRODUCING SOURCE] gave a speech declaring, “Every day, sanctuary cities release illegal immigrants, drug dealers, traffickers, gang members back into our communities” (qtd. in Flagg).[PREVIOUS SENTENCE EXPLAINS HOW SANCTUARY CITIES RELEASE BAD PEOPLE BACK INTO THE PUBLIC] Such rhetoric continues to reach wide audiences and inflame anti-immigrant sentiment.
Military life is characterized in large part by early start times, late working hours, and other non-traditional work schedules. National security [Introducing source] requires around-the-clock attention, and military personnel are often required to work a non-traditional schedule. When deployed and in the U.S., 12-hour and 24-hour shifts are not uncommon.[References to past examples] Because humans have evolved to be diurnal creatures, alternate work schedules can result in misalignment between the body’s natural rhythm and professional demands.[Backs up the previous reasons] As a result[Signal word that identifies the claim], many ADSMs suffer shift work disorder (SWD).
Additionally [signal word to add to the argument made in previous paragraph], immigrants contribute to the labor force in ways that allow [signal word to explain effect] businesses to expand and create more jobs and better wages in the long run. One way they do this is by enhancing the diversity and cultural connections businesses need to thrive in today’s economy. In light of the global economy’s rapid expansion, many business experts express [signal word] the need for matched growth, and the most essential factor in this growth is the interconnectedness of the business world (Goldin et al.). As a country opens its borders to immigrants, it allows [signal word that transitions from a claim to the effect] for the influx and integration of numerous cultures, enriching business with the experience necessary to interact and deal with people of different cultural backgrounds. This practice also diversifies the environment of business communities, allowing [signal word that transitions from a claim to the effect] for the spread of progress across borders due to the fact that people of different cultures bring fresher and newer ideas to the table.
Technology has many drawbacks to mankind, but also some benefits as well. Technology allows our lifestyle to be easier in many ways, including communication and shopping. Danielle Sullivan writes that technology “allows us to keep up with friends, check up on family members, and coordinate with workers” to allow the audience to relate to Sullivan (Source 3). Everyone that has some sort of technology uses it to communicate with others much faster in comparison to other methods such as sending letters or meeting up with them, which satisfies our needs. Shopping online is another factor of technology that satisfies our needs, as it allows us to buy anything we want from anywhere we want with a few taps on a tablet. Sullivan writes that technology not only makes the process of shopping faster, but also “implements social distancing measures” to decrease physical contact between people (which is especially needed in times of pandemics such as the current pandemic, COVID-19) (Source 3). Technology keeps us safer, as well as keeps us entertained in our spare time. Leisure time is improved drastically for anyone with technology as it allows individuals to “turn to video streaming platforms, online gaming, home exercise, or picking up a new hobby” (Source 3). Technology gives us more time to do what we enjoy, whether it is playing games, working out, etc without the hassle of doing things such as going out to buy groceries.