I was always told to incorporate other texts into my own work, in highschool I would use clunky quotes and summary to bring ideas into my papers. I would rarely incorporate the ideas of others and most of my paragraphs would be summary. I learned from class and reading “They Say, I Say” that the best way to argue a claim is to support it with evidence from the text. Barclay paragraphs were quite helpful they forced me to break the paragraph down into several parts and talk about two different texts in one paragraph. I also worked on forming quote sandwiches. A quote first introduced by an argument and followed by a brief explanation and connection to my claim. 

In my first essay I struggled the most but I made attempts to introduce the quote sandwich into my work. My first quote is a good example of what not to do. 

 He believed that people who identified as homosexual were wrong and that America should be condemed for allowing them to be considered equal. As Chen writes, “Phelps believed Obama was the Antichrist (9).” Shortly after, Chen explains Phelps’s prophecy “Obama would be crowned king of the world, then lead every nation in war against Israel (9).” Both of these quotes which are found in very close proximity to each other give a very good idea about the people who are raising Megan.

This as you could probably tell is not a well formed quote sandwich. I have my quotation but I dont support it after and I only related it to the text itself. I did introduce the quote quite nicely for my first essay. 

As we continued to practice these skills I took advantage of the book “They Say, I Say” to work quotes into my writing. Once I could introduce the quote the easy part was explaining it. If chosen correctly the quote should match your claim therefore explaining the quote will only strengthen your claim and help the reader understand more about your argument. 

In essay 3 I found it very easy to relate the texts to real world situations. The years of 2020 and 2021 both recent and tragic in many ways. Both Cadogan and Serhan worte about topics which are very relatable to those years but specifically my first quote on Serhan was well done. 

Our politicians can control our lives more than we may think and even a man who might want a smaller government might fight harder to control his people than a man who favors a larger government.  Serhan says “right-wing parties in Europe, for example, have latched onto the outbreak to reiterate their calls for tougher immigration restrictions (serhan, 3).” While it may be biased Serhan is stating a fact that right-wing leaders in Europe, North America, and nations across the world are becoming more xenophobic.

Although both examples are roughly the same length I do a much better job of connecting the text to a real world situation and the quote helps build upon my argument greatly. 

In conclusion something as simple as a brief connection between the quote and my claim improves my writing greatly. I use less summary while still bringing in supporting ideas and I can engage my reader on a deeper level. Using the quote sandwich may seem like cheating but in real writing it fits naturally in a body paragraph and its a simple way to extend upon a topic and bring a different perspective into your work.