My previous understanding about how and when to use quotations in my writing has been limited throughout my high school experience. Generally, I have always been told that if you throw a quote in your essay it will enhance the paper that much more. After reading Thet Say/I say, “The Art of Quoting”, I have a better understanding of how, where, and when to incorporate quotations and a much better sense in the framing of it. What I found to be very useful is that the reader may not always know what the quotation means or what you are trying to say through the writer’s words. One must explain the previous textual evidence in his or her own words so that the point or argument you are trying to make can be that much more evident for the reader. One problem that I have run into many times is that after introducing my quotation the rest of my paragraph tends to steer away from that piece of evidence and confuses the reader given that more than one or two ideas or tangled together throughout the paragraph. In this reading I understand more clearly how important it is to diagnose a piece of textual evidence to the right paragraph and correct argument so that the paragraph will not be so messy. The sandwich analogy that was introduced in the reading, to me, makes perfect sense, the introduction and explanation is the bun and the quotation is the meat. Given this analogy, I am more clear about the significance of the introduction an conclusion and their relevance to the writer’s quotation and therefore, their argument. What is a sandwich without two sides of a bun? After reading “The Art of Quoting”, as a writer, I firmly believe that I have a better understanding of the importance of quotations and the structural integrity of incorporating quotations in my writing to enhance the credibility of my work.
