Below is a revised paragraph about Amy Fleming’s “The Importance of Urban Forests” that uses academic writing techniques like effective summary, MLA citation techniques, and quotation integrations.
Amy Fleming’s “The Importance of Urban Forests” highlights the immense benefits trees have on our communities and the significant efforts initiated to incorporate them into our urban environments. Contrary to the preconceived notion of being “expensive ornaments,” Fleming notes the many economic advantages of trees near our buildings, including their ability to “absorb . . . carbon dioxide,” “muffle the roar of a main road,” and “cool cities by between 2C and 8C”(Jones qtd in Fleming 2, 2). In addition, Fleming consults public health expert William Bird, who claims that greenery lights up the parts of our brain “where empathy and altruism happen” (qtd in Fleming 4). Given our brains’ tendency to be more alert to dangers in cities, Bird explains that trees can create a more relaxed and calm mental state, ultimately improving the quality of our everyday lives (4). Despite these advantages, Jones writes, “disease, development and shrinking municipal budgets” have rid many trees of their urban habitats (Jones qtd in Fleming 1). As a result, advocacy groups like the Big Trees Project have been formed all around the world in an attempt to restore and provide everyone with “greener, happier, [and] healthier cities” (qtd in Fleming 5).