Paraphrasing and Direct Quotations

Forums: Week Five Paraphrases and Direct Quotations

Following the guidelines in this week’s reading, post a direct quotation from one of your sources as it would appear within the body of your research paper. Be sure that you introduce your quote with a signal phrase, provide some commentary for the quote, and include the appropriate in-text citations for your documentation style. Follow the source material with closing commentary or analysis to link it to your thesis/purpose. Next, paraphrase the same quotation and use a signal phrase and closing commentary to demonstrate how the paraphrase would appear in your research paper; include an in-text citation in the documentation style you are using for your paper. Be sure to label which documentation style you are using and include the appropriate bibliography entry as the source will appear on your works cited, reference, or bibliography page. Your initial posting is due no later than midnight Thursday and should be 250-300 words; your peer responses are due by Sunday midnight and must be at least 100 words in length and move the conversation forward.

Note: The focus on the forum posts is on quality content, not simple meeting a minimum word requirement.

In an article discussing the potential use of technologies for disaster communication, Jamie D. Aten and his peers underline the growth and importance of social media:

Social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and LinkedIn, have become an increasingly popular way for people to stay in constant communication with each other. More than four out of five adults sign access social media Web sites every month. (Aten et al., 2010)

Taking note of the importance, the authors continue to suggest that:

Social networking sites could be used in a number of ways during disaster circumstances, from posting, sharing, and downloading disaster information, to updating news and pictures of developing disasters. For example, the social networking site Flickr, could be used to post disaster pictures to inform people within their Web site community. Moreover, the disaster pictures could actually be tagged by location, so other followers can pinpoint exactly where a photo was taken. The emergence of Internet connections on cell phones will allow users to reach these Web sites without the need of a computer, enabling news to be posted and received even more quickly. Information can be posted to family, friends, pre-established groups or networks, or the general public, who can, in turn respond directly to those at the site of the disaster. (Aten et al., 2010)

If we consider the points and examples given in this article, we can easily see how integrating these tools into approaches and efforts in emergency and disaster management would be of great benefit. The emergency manager would have the ability to be a part of this information process, through dissemination of information directly from the emergency operations center to any of these media outlets, as well as monitoring the same outlets for “community reports”.

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There have been a great number of people across the nation recognizing the importance and growth of social media in the day to day lives of the average citizen. An article in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Trauma, Jamie Aten and a team of his peers inform us that a recent study shows that on average four out of five adults make use of social media sites every month (Aten et al., 2010). With these numbers, it becomes inherently clear how important the role of social media has become to the public for keeping in touch with news and family.

From an emergency/disaster management viewpoint, the potential of use of these online services is intriguing. In the same article, Aten offers example of how one service, Flickr—a photograph sharing service—could be used for the posting and sharing of disaster photography in near real-time (Aten et al., 2010). Additionally, such a photograph could come directly from the scene via cell-phone, and be geo-tagged by the device’s GPS, giving a specific location of the hazard being photographed.

By being an active participant in these social media outlets, the emergency manager can get up to the minute reports from the public; the emergency manager can also publish reports and information—as well as selected materials from individuals in the public—back into these social media news feeds.

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Works Cited:

Aten, J., Leavell, K., Gonzalez, R., Luke, T., Defee, J. & Harrison, K. (2010) Everyday Technologies for Extraordinary Circumstances: Possibilities for Enhancing Disaster Communication. Psycological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(1), 16-20.

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