Integrating ideas isn’t necessarily something I’ve struggled with in the past. Although I may not always choose the most effective and/or meaningful quotes to use in my papers, the actual integration of said quotes into my papers has always been executed well. My significant writing project reflects this. A good example of this is this brief excerpt from paragraph 2 of my significant writing project:
“‘Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control’ (Lukianoff and Haidt 273). Through writing this, Lukianoff and Haidt agree that colleges owe students exposure, not protection. This can only be done when colleges don’t overly empathize with students”.
In this passage, I do a good job of incorporating a quote from Lukianoff and Haidt while concisely summing it up in the terms I had established earlier in the paragraph. I then follow up with a personal conclusion based off of my own ideas and their backing from Lukianoff and Haidt. In my own opinion, this was executed well. On top of all of this, my parenthetical citation is properly formatted.
Another example is this passage from paragraph 3 of the same paper:
“The two note that this rise in sensitivity and its encouragement throughout college campuses ‘is creating a culture in which everyone must think twice before speaking up, lest they face charges of insensitivity, aggression, or worse’ (Lukianoff and Haidt 263). This passage attests to the issue of inhibited discussion, and it even brings attention to the fact that otherwise innocent debate can now be deemed ‘insensitive’ and ‘aggressive'”.
Once again, I think my integration of this quote is executed quite well here. Rather than simply dropping the quote into the paragraph, I set up a sentence and let it flow into the quote. Similarly to before, I then explain the quote. Finally, my parenthetical citation is also formatted properly.
These two quotes demonstrate my ability to incorporate others’ ideas into my own writing effectively. More than this, though, I also believe these quotes demonstrate my improved ability to pick meaningful and impactful quotes in relation to my argument (as opposed to a quote simply for the sake of a quote grade). It’s hard to tell based off of these small passages alone. When viewing the entire paper, though, I think it becomes clear that these quotes align almost perfectly with the points I convey in my paragraphs.
