I found “the Art of Quoting” in “They Say I Say”, extremely beneficial. Specifically, I know for a fact that I will use the templates for introducing quotes and explaining quotes because after seeing them, I have a feeling my quotes look a little out of place as well as not explained well. I don’t have a ton of quotes in my paper currently, but now that I read those useful tips, I know I can confidently add more.
Before (quote paragraph 1): A controversial question that is currently being asked by Rhys Southan is “Is Art a Waste of Time?”. As Steven Soderbergh once said, “I think this world would be unlivable without art” and I couldn’t agree more. However, according to the mindset of Effective Altruists discussed in Southan’s article, they would tend to disagree. Essentially, Effective Altruists or “EA’s” believe that art is a waste of time and creating it is a selfish act because it is not directly helping anyone. Effective Altruism by definition, is a growing activism movement that believes in working hard to earn money and then giving as much of it as you can to the needy. This of course is a very honorable concept, but the issue of this movement is its view on art. To me, art is often an intangible thing that can not be measured, but the impact it makes on the world is definitely something that can help people, just as Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn exemplified.
After (quote paragraph 1): A controversial question that is currently being asked by Rhys Southan is “Is Art a Waste of Time?”. As Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh once said “I think this world would be unlivable without art” and I couldn’t agree more. However, according to the mindset of Effective Altruists discussed in Southan’s article, they would tend to disagree. Essentially, Effective Altruists or “EA’s” believe that art is a waste of time and creating it is a selfish act because it is not directly helping anyone. Effective Altruism by definition, is a growing activism movement that believes in working hard to earn money and then giving as much of it as you can to the needy. This of course is a very honorable concept, but the issue of this movement is its view on art. To me, art is often an intangible thing that can not be measured, but the impact it makes on the world is definitely something that can help people, just as Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn exemplified.
Before (quote paragraph 2): The Effective Altruists strongly agree with this analogy and live their life by intense views of the world similar to the shallow pond analogy. Another core concept they embody is the idea of replaceability. By Southan’s definition, replaceability is “the idea that the only good that counts is what you accomplish over and above what the next person would have done in your place.” It is a rather competitive and sort of negative viewpoint yet again being made by the movement, to get people to volunteer or donate money if you think about it.
After (quote paragraph 2): The Effective Altruists strongly agree with this analogy and live their life by intense views of the world similar to the shallow pond analogy. Another core concept they embody is the idea of replaceability. By Southan’s definition, replaceability is “the idea that the only good that counts is what you accomplish over and above what the next person would have done in your place.” What I believe he is saying, is that the Effective Altruists believe you are only as good as what you can do better than someone who came before or after you. It is a rather competitive and sort of negative viewpoint yet again being made by the movement, to get people to volunteer or donate money if you think about it.
I can’t quite catch the changes in your first paragraph (the tag for Soderberg?)
When working with those quotes, watch out for the paraphrasing trap. You don’t want to “in other words” a quote. Instead, work with it. Explain how it advances, develops, or complicates your ongoing argument.
I want to add that writing “in other words” is perfectly fine–so long as you are working toward an explanation of how the quote works inside the larger context of your argument. Does that make sense? You can paraphrase and pivot–continue to work with the quote. Don’t simply paraphrase. Does that make sense?