Writing With Sources

In chapter 7 of The Transition to College Writing Hjortshoj discusses in relatively in-depth detail the process of "Writing in Reference to Others". I, fortunately, was familiar with this process and used it when writing my papers, at least by my senior year. I did not know much about it during my freshman and sophomore years, but really started learning it during my junior year, and by my senior year knew it rather well, which was helpful being that my teacher was pretty strict. Though I knew it relatively well, I knew only the MLA format, since all of my papers during all four years were written using this format. During my senior year we had several seminars in regards to citing sources correctly and not plagiarizing.

My writing here at Richmond has not included a lot of citing of outside sources because my only formal paper thus far has been in my CORE class which forbids the use of outside sources. I was only able to use the primary source, the text, in order to write the paper.

I know that not all of my papers will be like this. I feel that as I write deeply analytical papers that are trying to prove some type of thesis or primary argument.

One section I found really interesting in Hjortshoj's text was the section about having one's own voice. I have never thought about it in quite those terms, but he is exactly right when he says this. When reading academic analytical papers, one does not want to just read fact after fact or quote after quote from other sources. The author has to say what he or she thinks. I think this is done through a move that Writing Analytically calls "making the implicit explicit". Through bringing out the hidden implications in a given text, one establishes his or her own voice and makes the paper flow better and more enjoyable to read.