Integrating Ideas

Prior to taking English courses in college the only source we would use when writing papers was the books that the essay was about. I never got the chance to freely write about a piece written by other authors and develop and idea on my own. Upon taking the English 110 course I was happy to be introduced to something new. By doing this I was able to eliminate most of the summarizing I would do throughout the paper and actually develop some new ideas when writing. Looking at my past works I usually would write my paper and then look for quotes that would fit into what I had already written. When comparing this to paper 3 in the class I notice that there is a difference in how I selected my quotes. For example I used some quotes to describe what certain things meant throughout the paper that way anybody who was reading would understand the context. I also used some quotes as a way to develop my argument in the paper. An example of this in paper 3 is when I used one of Kara Poe Alexander’s texts as a definition and then reintroduced it later in my paper in order to say why I disagreed with her definition on victim narratives. I also learned how to compare different writings as well. What I mean by this is taking something that Alexander said like a definition and then comparing it to something that Deborah Brandt may have said. Then say if they are similar and different and which one I agree with if I even agree with any. I feel like working with things like this is fun because it gave me free range and allowed me to take the paper in any direction I wanted without being criticized. The last thing I liked that we worked with was introducing a quote which is also known as signal phrasing. The reason this is useful is because it grabs the attention of the reader and adds variety to the paper as well. An example of this in paper 3 is when I say things like Bronwyn argues… or Alexander introduces… and then add a quote. I’m glad I was not only introduced to this but actually got to use it in papers.