"Annoying Ways People Use Sources"

In this chapter of Kyle Stedman's textbook he lists and describes some ways people use sources that annoy him, among these is the technique referred to as "Dating Spider-Man". This annoyance is described as when somebody uses a quote at the very beginning or end of a paragraph. Stedman's aggravation comes from his belief that this causes the quote inclusion to feel "rushed, unexplained, disjointed" (Stedman 6).

An example of this would be:

"We were on a break!" On the popular 90s sitcom show, Friends, this is a running joke often said by a character named Ross Geller.

Instead, it could be done like this:

On the popular 90s sitcom, Friends, the phrase "we were on a break" is said by Ross Geller.

Stedman's fix for this annoyance is to always introduce the quote, quote it, and then analyze afterwards.

I think the annoyance I am most guilty of in my writing is "Am I in the Right Movie", which is when the quote is not accurate grammatically in accordance with the previous sentence. Sometimes quote integration is tricky, and I find myself not wanting to misquote something, but also wanting it to flow well into my paper. Stedman's solution is to read the paper aloud because it will be easier to pick up on grammatical issues and weird phrasing.

If I was a college professor the list of annoyances, starting with the most annoying, would go as follows: I Swear I Did Some Research!, Uncle Barry and His Encyclopedia of Use-less Information, Dating Spider-Man, Armadillo Roadkill, Am I in the Right Movie?, I Can’t Find the Stupid Link.

From the point of view of a newspaper editor, a popular blogger, or another college student I would rank them, from most to least annoying: I Swear I Did Some Research!, Uncle Barry and His Encyclopedia of Use-less Information, I Can’t Find the Stupid Link, Dating Spider-Man, Armadillo Roadkill, Am I in the Right Movie?

The few changes I made were based on my opinion that news editorials and blog posts offer more room for flexibility (for example, you might start of with a quote to capture the reader's attention), but overall everything mentioned should be clearly stated and sourced correctly so the reader can do their own research and fact check what is being said.