Over the course of the semester, we used the book “They say I say” to help as gain knowledge over numerous different writing techniques. One of the most useful sections to me started on page 42, titled “The art of quoting”. Within this section, the author mentions framing the quotation. This essentially means “building a frame around them in which you do that speaking doe them”. In other words, it is the writer’s job to first introduce the background of what is happening, and then after integrating it, analyze what the quote means, and draw connections to your own work. Quotes that are just thrown into text are called dangling quotations, something I struggled with in my previous writings. However, this novel, along with numerous class discussions allowed me to gain knowledge, and learn how to successfully build this frame.
For example, in Project 3 (Project 3 ENG110) I was able to build this “frame” for a number of quotes. One in particular, which reads “However, Foer wasn’t experiencing this struggle alone, as it is a common test of morality for everyone. For example, while on a blind date with his future wife, he discovered other people felt this too, saying “Her history with meat was remarkably similar to mine: there were things she believed while lying in bed at night, and there were choices made at the breakfast table the next morning … Like me, she had intuitions that were very strong, but apparently not strong enough”. (Foer 4) The neverending battle between either ignoring the knowledge we have about the treatment of animals and eating them, or not eating them and loosing a huge part of human culture may not have a correct answer.” shows exactly what Graff says in They Say I Say. Here, I give a some context of the quotation I plan on using so the reader understands where it comes from, and then drop the quote into the correct space. Once the quote is placed in, it is important to explain why this is significant. In this case, I go on to show that this quote shows how difficult it is to become a vegetarian or vegan. I used this quote to have someone else besides myself recalling how difficult this transition is. Essentially, I used this quote to strengthen, and validate the claim of my essay. I knew my own word would not be strong enough, so bringing in a outside opinion/example was useful.
However, this skill was not something I came into college having. It took numerous attempts and drafts in order to successfully integrate meaningful quotes, rather than just “dangling” one in. Throughout the semester, I continued to improve, focusing on one thing at a time. First I focused on choosing meaningful quotes. Once I learned this, I focused on providing useful background so I no longer just threw quotes into my text. And lastly, I continued to get better at explaining the importance of the selected quote to illustrate my point to the reader.
