Significant Writing (Big Data) Project
Although I felt confident about my source integration before I entered English 110, I have improved tremendously. One thing I know I always rely on in terms of source integration is including quotations as my evidence and sticking to them exclusively. However, I was always confident about the explication of my quotes because I practiced it repeatedly in high school. Even though quotes are great for evidence, there also needs to be a variety of source integration present. In my Big Data final draft, I used a mixture of quotations, summary, as well as paraphrasing for my sources and did a great job of distributing them evenly throughout the essay. With all of the skills I learned in the course about text-to-text and text-to-self connections, I was also able to tie the sources with both the ideas of others as well as those of my own to strengthen my main argument. For example, in my paragraph about how public health affects Epidemiology, I chose to integrate a quote from Journalist Adam Frank’s article “The Big Idea Behind Big Data” after we reviewed it in class. I wanted to select this article as one of my sources because one of the sections tied in perfectly with the discussion of my essay. I introduced Frank and his article and briefly summarized what he talked about in his article, including the part that specifically related to public health and epidemics. I then chose a quote where he specifically talks about how big data and the network theory have allowed researchers, as well as the CDC, to time the production and distribution of vaccines in response to disease outbreaks more efficiently. After including the quote, I briefly summarize what Frank is saying in my own words as part of the “I Say” for my source essay; I said, “Essentially, Frank is arguing these new technological advances permit epidemiologists to accurately conclude facts about the flu. Thus, the CDC is able to produce and distribute vaccines to the public before the disease begins to impact large portions of the population.”
It also helps for the framing of the quotation, as described in the TRIAAC and Barclay’s Formula handouts. To conclude the framing, I begin to add more “I Say” of my opinion on the quote and topic to show how I integrate my ideas with the source. At the end of the paragraph, I always add a transition into the next paragraph so that it does not transition abruptly. With all of the skills I have acquired in English 110, source integration has definitely been an area of improvement for me.
