When writing my paper, I came to realize that a lot of my argument lies on the evidence I choose. I’m not saying that a paper can’t be written to convince someone using only opinions or already known facts, but I am sure that evidence from sources can strengthen it. Within my paper, I tried to use my evidence in spots that I have already mentioned the topic, so that the sources’ own words that I’m incorporating fits seamlessly. Beginning a new paragraph with a quote can be confusing, because the reader has no introduction for what you are going to be discussing. In my paper, I think I did this best when presenting some biological skepticism I had about Soylent. At the start of the third paragraph, I started by introducing the topic by saying Soylent does have some significant biological differences compared to normal food. Then, I inserted my quote: “it’s a little different than a meal replacement, it’s kind of an over-all food substitute. In theory, you could live on this entirely. In fact, you’d be pretty healthy.” This quote fit, because it expanded upon the idea I presented within the topic sentence of the paragraph, but also required some further explaining. In the following sentences, I was able to further explain my thoughts on how Soylent doesn’t provide any variety in food over a long span. This idea was able to be easily incorporated, as it fit my topic of how meals should not be replaced by Soylent. I think that one of the most important parts of writing a convincing discussion style paper is being able to properly incorporate quotes. It helps to ensure that the fluency stays consistent, and helps the reader to better understand the point you’re trying to make.
