Signal, Quote, and Cite and Practice with Paraphrasing, Essay Sample in Academic Writing

Document presentation gives written pieces of work the quality that guides a reader through the text to make connections with the information source. The use of signals, quotations, citations, and paraphrasing helps a writer to connect the reader to the primary source of information without altering the contextual meaning of the message or plagiarism. This resume will demonstrate different citation skills with the application of signal phrases, direct quotations, and paraphrasing of provided text using the MLA document presentation format.

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Item 1: According to Louv, "fear is the most potent force that prevents parents from allowing their children the freedom they themselves enjoyed when they were young. Fear is the emotion that separates a developing child from the full, essential benefits of nature. Fear of traffic, of crime, of stranger-danger--and of nature itself" (123).

Work cited

Louv, Richard. "Last Child in the Woods" Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008. 123

Item 2: Information from Amy Winehouse states: "In today's bland, market-oriented music culture, it's hard to see the Britneys and Beyonces strutting their musical prowess free from record company and press compromises, however, looks and sounds like she's doing exactly what she wants, making music in a way that's true to her soul. Her debut album, Frank, showcases her unique brand of soulful jazz fused with contemporary beats and is winning critical acclaim" (20).

Work cited

"Amy Winehouse Whines: The Varsity", March 5, 2004. 20.

Item 3: Leman acknowledge: "Because family and friends take the first born seriously, he or she often develops greater confidence" (17).

Work cited

Leman, Kevin. "The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are", Revell, 1998. 17.

Item 4: Williams describe: "Many Americans agree that there should be civility training at school and at work."

Work cited

Williams, Ray. "The Rise of Incivility and Bullying in America" Psychology Today.

Item 5: "What most people do when they earn a dollar is pay everyone else first. They pay the landlord, the credit card company, the telephone company, the government, and on and on. The reason they think they need a budget is to help them figure out how much to pay everyone else so at the end of the month--or the year, or their working life--they will have something left over to pay themselves. This is absolutely, positively financially backwards" (Bach, 61).

Work cited

Bach, David. "The Automatic Millionaire" Broadway Books, 2004, 61.

Section Two

Part 1. Over bureaucratization is the primary factor explaining the stalemate in the education status in America, observable on the pressure to consolidate public schools (Hall, 219). Hall claims schools merge forms massive factories used to produce enormous transition into public university even in states with minimum population. For schools to maintain self-serving survival and growth to fulfill the crucial goals and objectives, they need to reduce the bureaucratically engineered challenges on time and workload. Not many schools effectively realize this tactics due to the absence of memory, conscience and soul in organizations. Therefore, bureaucracy is the stumbling block for future roadmap to success, (219).

Part 2. From the text: "A key factor in explaining the sad state of American education can be found in overbureaucratization, which is seen in the compulsion to consolidate our public schools into massive factories and to increase to mammoth size our universities even in underpopulated states" (219). The evaluation of the paraphrases shows whether its acceptable or unacceptable based on the elements in the sentence flow and presentation of ideas revolving around the happenings.

Paraphrase 1

Bureaucratization has proved to be a major stumbling block on the road to our educational future. American institutions have become factories that are more conducive to the growth of bureaucratic procedures than to the growth of the students who attend them. Bureaucracies have to work long and hard to keep from promoting their own survival rather than the educational goals that were their primary objective.

The paraphrase is unacceptable since it fails to acknowledge the source of the information by providing proper citations and the work cited. Also the paraphrase changes the original context of the information making the paraphrasing unauthentic.

Paraphrase 2

In his book, Beyond Culture, Edward T. Hall discusses the problems posed by the increasing bureaucratization of American educational institutions. Hall maintains that overbureaucratization is one of the key factors governing the state of education in America today. He points to the tendency of bureaucracies to promote their own growth and survival first and foremost, and observes that few overcome that tendency. He believes that this is responsible for the fact that many public schools bear a closer resemblance to factories than to educational institutions. In Hall's word, "Bureaucracies have no soul, no memory, and no conscience."

The type of paraphrasing exemplified here shows credibility and accountability in the acknowledgement of primary source of information. Therefore, this paraphrasing is acceptable.

Paraphrase 3

American education is overly bureaucratic. This is manifest in the increasing size of educational institutions, even in small states. Bureaucracies are bad because they tend to work to promote their own survival and growth rather than that of the institution, as was their initial objective. Most bureaucracies fail because they have a conscience or a soul. I believe that bureaucracies are the biggest stumbling block on the road to the educational future.

In paraphrase 3, the work is unacceptable since the primary source of information is not acknowledged as an in-text citation of the list of work cited.

Part 3. Paraphrasing of provided texts

Paraphrase 1

Jacques contrasts the contribution of the sun and the Antarctic in controlling the earth's climate. In the argument Jacques states that Antarctic brings cold while the sun provides the earth with heat (17). Jacques further explains how human activities interrupt the order of the fragile climatic system facilitated by the Antarctic and the sun. From "Captain Cousteau," Audubon (May 1990) p. 17

Paraphrase 2

The consumer Report of 1990 analyzes the bicycling deaths. The study results established that out of the 1000 deaths associated with bicycling, half of them are school going children; and three quarters of the deaths relate to head injuries (348). From the results, "the study concluded that wearing a cycling safety gear like the helment reduces head injury by 85 percent since it absorbs the shock and cushions the head" (348). From "Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers," Consumer Reports (May 1990) p. 348

Paraphrase 3

In recent years, Sears Tower stands out as the greatest achievement in skyscraper engineering. Bachman questions the limits of skyscrapers to produce tall buildings by exemplifying William Lemessurier's one-half mile high design which "is twice as tall as Sears Tower" (15). Bachman expounds on the statement from Robert Sobel, an architect who argues that available technology could design 500 plus story buildings. From Ron Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990) p. 15