I want to talk about Outcome 2 which is about critical thinking and reading resulting in writing.

Throughout this semester, I have learned how to find a scholar and reliable article and information sources, how to use the abstract to understand the essence of one article instead of reading the whole passage and how to correctly and ethically cite others’ work in my paper. For example, in the rough draft of my paper “Mirroring our reality: how people desire closeness but hide behind electrical devices in ‘Her’ ”, I cite several sentences from an article called “My students don’t know how to have a conversation” in which the author describes a situation when his students can not have a conversation without phones. And then I evaluate his description by saying that “From these descriptions from the article, it is clear that reaching out for our phones has become an involuntary and automatic impulse when we are confused or stressed as if grabbing a phone in our hands can bring mental power and relief.”

By using a structure of quotation sandwich which first introduces the article that I want to cite and then after the citation, integrates this citation into my own paper by illustrating the relationship between the article and my thesis and its application in my paper. This is a new skill I have learned which I believe, has made my paper more clear and understandable because if I do not connect the citation with my paper, it will be confusing for readers to build a connection.

Moreover, despite increasing my paper’s credibility, a citation can even further push my thesis forward to a higher and deeper level because when I am citing others’ words, I am exchanging ideas with outside, a process which can trigger idea conflicts and generate new realizations. So I really believe that by this semester, I have improved my ability to read, think, cite and evaluate critically.