Towards the beginning of the course, one topic we covered was how to properly use source quotes to support our writing claims. As a writer quotes give your paper more credibility and help aid in the explanation of the many ideas and claims you make in your text. They also offer another perspective either similar or different than your own for the reader to draw from. For one of our classes journals, we had to read and reflect on the They say, I say chapter “The Art of Quoting”. The chapter goes into detail on how to properly introduce quotes into your writing. Before reading this chapter, I thought I was quoting correctly but it turns out I wasn’t properly introducing and explaining the quotes and instead carelessly tossing them into my writings. The chapter also provides templates outlining the proper introduction, quote, and explanation formula you would want to follow in your writing. In my Project 2 paper, I tried to follow the formula they set for quoting and I was pretty successful. This paper specifically had a lot of texts that needed to overlap and connect with each other so the quotes I ended up including really helped explain all the different claims and perspectives I was analyzing in my paper.  Overall I would say learning how to correctly integrate quotes and use them as evidence for my claims has made my writing much stronger and is a skill I can now say I have mastered.

Quoting examples from Project #2:

SkyBlue= Introduction

Green= Quote

Blue = Explanation

They Say, I Say Journal: 

10 September 2018

Journal #3

Quoting in general is a pretty vital skill in order to be a good writer. Quotes can help make you look more credible as an author and prove you have not only read a text or source but you have formed enough of an opinion to quote and use it in your argument.Without quoting essays or other writing pieces would just be a jumble of hear-say. Quotes overall are helpful for elevating not only your writing but your arguments. After reading “The Art of Quoting” I have a better understanding on how to integrate and explain my quotes in a way that makes sense in the essay and to my reader. I was unfamiliar with the dangling quote concept and looking back I have definitely included them in my past writing. I am guilty of randomly throwing in quotes with good analysis but no initial introduction. I now see how this can be problematic for a reader’s understanding of my points. I was able to make a connection between the reading and our current class discussions. We have been going over drafting and revision but i had not consider how quoting played a role in it. When i usually draft or revise i never took the time to look at my quotes and see if they still aligned with their new surroundings. I now know i should also consider how my quotes are doing in my paragraphs. Do they still fit? Should they go in that paragraph or would they fit better in a new one? Or is there another quote that would work better with the point i’m trying to to address? This reading has opened a new door in the drafting process for me. If my paper is changing then the quotes included can change too. Overall i really enjoyed the passage and found it helpful.