Language, Gender and Culture Practice Integrating Quotations (Thesis is already written!)

Step 1: Write a TS that answers a part of your thesis on issues with and/or solutions to communication barriers. TS: One of the ways in which norms are enforced in society, especially among males and along racial lines, is through the judgment and behavior of others toward the “offender” who breaks the “rules.”

Step 2: Find a quotation that supports your TS/position. “And not only do I feel as if my racial performance is judged, but I know my gender performance is too” (Young par. 8).

Step 3: In order to integrate this quote (or part of this quote) I will need to look at the context in which the quote is written. Who said it? Why? What does it mean? In order to answer these questions I need to think in terms of the article as a whole plus the paragraph or two that proceed the quote. In order to integrate this quote (or part of this quote) I will need to look at the context in which the quote is written. Who said it? Why? What does it mean? In order to answer these questions I need to think in terms of the article as a whole plus the paragraph or two that proceed the quote. Paragraph 7 references Eversley and feeling race-fake vs. authentically black. It deals with identity ambivalence. Paragraph 8 shifts back to Young and also discusses racial ambivalence. He talks about feeling self-conscious about his linguistic performance in relation to the other men in the barber shop.

Step 4: Now I can integrate the quotation (or part of it) by paraphrasing what came before it. EX: In his text, Vershawn Ashanti Young discusses identity ambivalence as related to race and masculinity. When he is in the barber shop among other black men, he feels as if “[his] racial performance is judged…[his] gender performance is too” (par. 8).

Step 5: Make sure it proves your TS (change your TS if needed) + add insightful commentary TS: One of the ways in which norms are enforced in society, especially among males and along racial lines, is through the judgment and behavior of others toward the “offender” who breaks the “rules.” EX: In his text, Vershawn Ashanti Young discusses identity ambivalence as related to race and masculinity. When he is in the barber shop among other black men, he feels as if “[his] racial performance is judged…[his] gender performance is too” (par. 8). CM: The men are imposing norms on Young, and others like him, in order to force them to conform to what they see is as an appropriate level of masculinity and “blackness.” If a person falls outside of those norms, they are ignored, mocked, or even worse.

Step 6: Repeat. Find a 2 nd quotation that supports your TS and integrate it in the same way. EX: A worst-case scenario is explained by Judith Butler when she describes a scene where two or three boys killed a young man merely for walking with a “swish” in what they felt was “a ‘feminine’ way” (par. 1).

Step 7 Pull it all together in a well-developed Body Paragraph: TS: One of the ways in which norms are enforced in society is through the judgment and behavior of others toward the “offender” who breaks the “rules.” EX: In his text, Vershawn Ashanti Young discusses identity ambivalence as related to race and masculinity. When he is in the barber shop among other black men, he feels as if “[his] racial performance is judged…[his] gender performance is too” (par. 8). CM: The men are imposing norms on Young, and others like him, in order to force them to conform to what they see is as an appropriate level of masculinity and “blackness.” If a person falls outside of those norms, they are ignored, mocked, or even worse. EX: A worst-case scenario is described by Judith Butler when she describes a scene where two or three boys killed a young man merely for walking with a “swish” in what they felt was “a ‘feminine’ way” (par. 1). CM: The lengths to which some people will go to enforce what they see as “normal” is shocking. To take a person’s life merely for the way he walks is truly incomprehensible. CS: It seems that the over-arching theme behind these men imposing behavior requirements is that they are insecure of fearful of anything different than themselves.

One of the ways in which norms are enforced in society is through the judgment and behavior of others toward the “offender” who breaks the “rules.” In his text, Vershawn Ashanti Young discusses identity ambivalence as related to race and masculinity. When he is in the barber shop among other black men, he feels as if “[his] racial performance is judged…[his] gender performance is too” (par. 8). The men are imposing norms on Young, and others like him, in order to force them to conform to what they see is as an appropriate level of masculinity and “blackness.” If a person falls outside of those norms, they are ignored, mocked, or even worse. A worst-case scenario is explained by Judith Butler when she describes a scene where two or three boys killed a young man merely for walking with a “swish” in what they felt was “a ‘feminine’ way” (par. 1). The lengths to which some people will go to enforce what they see as “normal” is shocking. To take a person’s life merely for the way he walks is truly incomprehensible. It seems that the over-arching theme behind these men imposing behavior requirements is that they are insecure or fearful of anything different than themselves. People need to stop judging one another in a misplaced attempt to force conformity to a set of norms that most people will never fit.