Integrating Ideas

Outcome II – At the end of the term, students will “be able to integrate their ideas with others using summary, paraphrase, quotation, analysis, and synthesis of relevant sources.”

The Integrating Ideas learning outcome is focused on text engagement, on your ability to represent the relevant “conversation” between texts (They Say), and on your ability to position yourself (I Say) in that conversation.

In choosing your Significant Writing Project to showcase, locate the essay you think best reveals your ability to advance your views in relation to the texts in play. Many important markers of integrating ideas are ones we’ve worked on this term. I encourage you to draw on some of the following markers as you frame your learning and evidence of achievement for this outcome:

● Text-to-text connections, with specific evidence

● Relationships between writer’s ideas and evidence in the texts – confirm, extend/add, challenge

● Quality explanations of relationships between ideas and textual evidence

● Signal phrasing/embedded quotes.

When it came time to integrate sources, I was familiar with the concept from previous courses, but this significant writing project really took it to a whole other level.

When it came time to integrate sources, I was familiar with the concept from previous courses, but this significant writing project really took it to a whole other level. In doing 3 papers that all connected, it was my responsibility to take multiple different authors and their literary works and correctly incorporate their ideas with my own. I believe the work I have completed resembles such work. some of the ways I accomplished this were introducing each author and what they have done, such as being an author of so-and-so work or someone who studies such a subject. This helps instill their credibility and further strengthens my purpose for the writing project. Another thing that I believe tied each of the sources together was using a sort of compare and contrast so that even though they are two different sources, their ideas go together, but with slightly different approaches, which furthers my approach to such a problem that needs to be changed. This type of incorporation provides more context and intent that leads to the next paragraph with new ideas. After such quotes, I have learned that it is extremely important to elaborate on the quotes that tie back to your main point, especially for such a significant writing project. The reader may not have read the works the person is referring to, so giving them context and explaining the quotes only further instills the point that is being made. This writing project has strengthened my ability to incorporate sources, and I will continue to improve in future courses.

Here is the writing I am referring to