In general, you should refer to sources with your audience in mind. You should not expect your reader to infer the connection between your quotes, paraphrases, or summaries, and your claims. Nor should you simply drop quotes into your paragraphs without analyzing or discussing them in some way.

When revising a draft, you may find that you have dropped a quote into a paragraph with no introduction and then moved on without discussing the ideas of the quote at all. This is usually not helpful to academic readers. Or, you may find in your draft that you have repeated the phrase, “This quote says that…” or “This quote shows…” quite often. While this shows an effort to refer to quoted sources, it is not likely to help your reader to understand your sources or the specific ways in which they connect to your argument.

When you refer to a source in academic writing, you are taking it out of one context–where it was initially published–and transplanting it into another–your own writing, where it serves a specific purpose. Therefore, academic writers often include the most important information for their readers about:

1. the original context of the source itself, and
2. how the source information fits into their own argument

They often choose transitions that will best present this information in order to integrate source information into their writing.

1. The Context of the Source Itself

When considering what your reader needs to know about the original context of source information, think about the five “w” questions (who, what, where, when, and why). Would explaining any of this information about the original source help your reader to understand the information and the role that it plays in your argument?

For example, in the body paragraph above, the writer writes,

Unfortunately, this “degree momentum” is often difficult for low-income students to achieve due to what Nathan Favero, a professor of public policy at American University, calls “personal barriers to success.”

This source serves the role of presenting an expert view agreeing with the writer’s claim, so the most relevant information about the source is who wrote it. Therefore, the paragraph introduces this evidence using a phrase that elaborates on the credentials of the author to show his expertise: “a professor of public policy at American University.” See table 8.7 for different ways to consider a source’s context.

You have probably heard of instances of dishonesty that occur when writers present information “out of context.” Sometimes, presenting source information without explaining its original purpose, audience, or context presents a false impression to your reader. In these cases, your writing may imply that a source agrees with, disagrees with, or relates to your claim when this is not the case.

2. The Context of Your Argument

So how do you effectively integrate the words (quotes) and ideas (paraphrases) of your sources into your own argument?

First, keep in mind why you are quoting/paraphrasing a certain part of a certain source. Then, decide how you may need to refer to that source material in neighboring sentences in your own writing to help your reader to understand your intent and the role that this reference serves in your argument. Does the quote or paraphrase prove a claim that you have just made? Does it define or explain something that you are trying to make clear to readers? Does it provide an example or illustration of one of your claims? Does it elaborate on or introduce a different perspective about a previous point that you have made?

Second, keeping your purpose for the quote or paraphrase in mind, choose the best transition words and phrases to show how the quote or paraphrase relates to the neighboring sentences and ideas.

• Transitions like Similarly or Furthermore will show that you are about to present more on a line of reasoning.
• Transitions like However or On the other hand will show that you are about to present a conflicting idea.
• Transitions like Consequently, Therefore, or Because will show cause and effect.

Third, choose the best signal verb to show how the source material relates to your neighboring sentences or ideas. These verbs, paired with the author of your source text, work much like transitional words and phrases:

If a reference is near the beginning of a paragraph or is the first reference to a source, you may choose a neutral verb:

• Favero writes that…
• Favero explores several factors that…
• Favero states/Favero argues

Later, you can connect source material to the ideas in your paragraph by using verbs that indicate how the source relates to neighboring ideas:

• show agreement (Favero concurs)
• disagreement (Favero disputes…)

You can also give readers an indication of what kind of information you will be presenting. Consider how these different verbs would fit with different types of quotations or paraphrases:

• Favero lists…
• Favero claims…
• Favero emphasizes…

Below, the sample body paragraph is shown, this time with key words highlighted to show how the writer integrates the source materials into the context of their own argument using transitions and signal verbs. Which highlighted words are most helpful to you as the reader, and what do they tell you about the writer’s purpose for each quote or paraphrase?