Be able to integrate their ideas with those of others using summary, paraphrase, quotation, analysis, and synthesis of relevant sources.
This semester gave me a great deal of practice for improving my use of quotation and its integration into texts. I was partially excited about having this opportunity as this has always been something that I’ve struggled with a great deal in the past. This is certainly reflective in my earlier work this semester which can be described as fairly adequate. Yet my skills were still able to extract and developed and ideas from a text. With one of the best examples being as follows from my first paper.
“Yet thoughts of this nature don’t go through one’s mind when this occurs, we just think of what we know which most often is the societal standard. We see it as out of place and thus see a need to put it back into its place. In this thinking a great deal of harm can be dealt to both self-expression and one’s wellbeing. Yet this did not keep Abbe from expressing himself in a way he felt appropriate.
“As before—even worse than before—Abe suffered taunts and teasing for his style of dress and his love of style. But he did not back down; he doubled down. He flew the freak flag of his Tigran Avetisyan shirt high. And though I couldn’t fathom the impulse driving my kid to expose himself, every day, to mockery and verbal abuse at school, I admired him for not surrendering,”(Chabon).
Abbe instead decides to put his foot down and doubles down on his true self and his freedom of expression. Not allowing fear and the thoughts and judgments of others limit his own personal happiness. Yet with Abbe it should be considered that he comes from a position of privilege and thus is given a certain amount of leeway with things of this nature.” (Jackson Schuyler)
This although able to certainly reflect upon the ideas and develop them in reference to a larger concept still poses a certain level of lacking. With it feeling slightly stilted and robotic with it feeling more like a regurgitation of the quotes content rather than a true reflection or usage of its ideas. I think my progression made in this field is best demonstrated by my usage of outside materials in my second paper. One of the best examples of me being able to implement this properly is as follows.
“But as one would expect this is hardly the case with the assimilation in its true form best being put into context by Lalami. “What does assimilation mean these days? The word has its roots in the Latin ‘‘similar,’’ meaning to make similar. Immigrants are expected, over an undefined period, to become like other Americans, a process metaphorically described as a melting pot. But what this means, in practice, remains unsettled. After all, Americans have always been a heterogeneous population — racially, religiously, regionally. By what criteria is an outsider judged to fit into such a diverse nation? For some, assimilation is based on pragmatic considerations, like achieving some fluency in the dominant language, some educational or economic success, some familiarity with the country’s history and culture. For others, it runs deeper and involves relinquishing all ties, even linguistic ones, to the old country.” (Lalami). To simply abandon your past and heritage is a reality that is often faced by almost all who come to live in the US. But full abandonment of one’s culture and past are often hard and next to impossible to fully do. This is where covering enters to fill the void and need for assimilation. Covering enters as a “happy” medium in this situation allowing for the appearance of assimilation but not the total loss of one’s self. This is what in part has created the following and level of general acceptance and application seen around it. Having covering as a sort of necessary evil to fully fit into the societal norms. Without the complete loss of oneself and or their past.” (Jackson Schuyler)
This I feel was able to far better reflect upon and develop the ideas that was put forward by the source. With it being able to be contextualized and set into a larger and more precise context. That can allow for it to use in tangent with other source and ideas to make the paper and thusly its argument stronger. With this considered I would have to say I’ve been able to improve my skills in integrating sources, but once again more practice would be needed to get a full mastery.
