READER RESPONSE LETTER #2

Dear Class,

Megan Martin

One of the main things said that stuck out to me was on page 198, there is a strip of comics dealing with summarizing, paraphrasing, and quotations. This was very helpful to me because, especially when dealing with sources, I become lost on what o put. Do I summarize a quote? Do I rewrite it in my own word? Or do I write it word for word and cite the author? There are many options when it comes to citations and including sources into your writings. Pages 199-206 breaks down these steps and tells you exactly when and how to use sources in these three ways. It also gives a clear definition of what each step means. To summarize is to set up contexts and provide background information (page 199), to paraphrase is to give a sense of the authors argument (page 201), and to quote is to draw attention to the authors own words and phrasing (page 202). Sometimes when I use quotes in a paper, there is so much more to the quote than I actually need. I never know if I should shorten it, use the whole thing, or start and stop in random places of the quote. Page 202 says that if you dont need the whole quotation, you can weave short quoted descriptions into our own prose. I like this piece of advice because I often times have trouble with these types of situations. There is also a section of the assigned reading that deals with sources and how to cite them. I found this part particularly interesting because if theres one thing I hate about a paper, its citing sources! Two of the chat bubbles say How do I cite a video I watched online, and what about a comic. These are questions that I often ask when trying to cite sources or a paper. I am hoping that by continuing the reading and with this writing class and the many papers that we have that I will come out with a clear understanding on how to cite and use my sources.