Outcome 2 (Integrating Ideas) – Be able to integrate their ideas with others using summary, paraphrase, quotation, analysis, and synthesis of relevant sources.

Word Count: 284

Over the course of the semester, I have found many aspects of my writing have improved, one of them is my integration of sources. I have seen a lot of improvement since using Barclay paragraphs and the quote sandwich. I used to not introduce my quotes properly and leave them without a lot of contexts. Now I use the quote sandwich and I can smoothly integrate my quotes into my writing and put my own thoughts in instead of relying on summary. In my first essay, I just threw the quote in a sentence without any context. In my third and final essay I used the quote sandwich in my Barclay paragraph, and it connected the quote to my thesis, and I was able to put my voice into my writing smoothly. I think my ideas came through a lot better with the improved integration of sources. 

Here is an example from my 1st essay:

Chen mentions that when Phelps-Roper was in high school she “overheard someone talking about how an airplane had hit the World Trade Center” (Chen). She was excited about this and couldn’t wait to picket Ground Zero, while the other people around her were saddened by this event (Chen). 

I did not really introduce the quote, so it was not really connected to any of my ideas

Example from 3rd essay: Intro (green text), introduction (pink), quote (orange), explanation (red), Connection to thesis (light blue)

One of the stories is about how there is a double standard for how a white person and black person can dress. Cadogan mentions how “the all-American sartorial choice of white T-shirt and jeans, which many police officers see as the uniform of black troublemakers, was off limits to me at least if I wanted to have the freedom of movement I desired” (4). Basically, if a white person wore the jeans and T-shirt, he wouldn’t be looked at differently, but a black person would, I don’t find that to be fair. Black people are not the only ones that suffer from discrimination.

As you can see the example from the 3rd essay introduces the quote well and connects the quote back to my thesis and ideas.

As for putting my voice into my writing I have improved a lot. My first essay I had a full-page summary for the article “Unfollow” talking about how Megan Phelps-Roper grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church. I did not have the confidence to put a lot of my voice into my writing at the beginning of the semester, but I felt more comfortable as the semester progressed and I decreased my summary to a few lines when introducing an article, quote, or paraphrase. By my last essay I had very little summary and my voice made up a large percentage of my essay.

Copy of Copy of Essay #1 – Google Docs (Summary is highlighted in blue)

Essay 3 – Google Docs (Summary is highlighted in blue on the end of page 4 into page 5)