Using Sources

A good way to begin thinking about how to integrate source material into a paper is to consider how we integrate sources into a conversation.  When you’re discussing a topic in person with a few friends, you might make references to outside sources with phrases like these:

• “I heard on the news that…”

• “I read in an article that…”

• “Juan told me that…”

Notice how we automatically shape our sentences to work source references into the flow of conversation. Think about this next time you try to work a source into a piece of writing: if you were speaking this aloud in conversation, how would you introduce the material to your listeners? What information would you give them to help them understand who the author was and why his or her views were worth referencing? After giving the information, how would you then link it back to the point you were trying to make? In writing, you do the same—you introduce the source, explain why it’s relevant, and connect it to your point. Just as you’d provide context when speaking, you need to identify the author and their credibility in writing.

To effectively incorporate sources, follow these steps:

• Transition into and introduce the source – Provide context for the source and explain why it’s relevant.

• Use a signal phrase – Lead smoothly into the quoted, summarized, or paraphrased material.

• Provide a citation – Clearly link the material to the full reference in your bibliography or works cited list.

• Explain how it fits into your argument – Connect the source back to your main point to show its significance.

This process is often called a “source sandwich,” with each step layering your argument like the parts of a sandwich. A visual representation of this appears below.

The important thing is to make sure you don’t leave your audience wondering why a quotation has been used and/or if the source for the quotation is trustworthy.

Providing Context

Quotations should always be introduced and incorporated into your argument rather than dropped into your paper without context.

Consider this first BAD example:

• There are many instances of people being taken in by fake news stories. “One voter from Mississippi said that he read about millions of illegal aliens voting in the 2016 primaries and thought it was true” (Myers).

This is a potentially good piece of information to support a research writer’s claim, but the researcher hasn’t done any of the necessary work to explain where this quote comes from or why it is important for supporting her point. Rather, she has simply “dropped in” the quote, leaving the interpretation of its significance up to the reader. Now consider this revised GOOD example in which an effective signal phrase is used to better introduce the quote into the essay:

• There are many instances of people being taken in by fake news stories. In her Los Angeles Times article on how fake stories impact voters in America, Geena Myers identifies how one particular voter in the South “read about millions of illegal aliens voting in the 2016 primaries and thought it was true” (Myers).

In this revision, the writer uses the signal phrase to introduce the source and the quotation into the argument. As a result, the reader can more easily understand both the point the writer is trying to make and how this source serves as evidence for that point. 

Finally, try to use variety in how you introduce quotations. Every quotation does not need to be introduced with the same exact formula.

Example: Introducing quotations

For example, instead of writing:

• In the opening line of his short story, “The Open Boat,” Stephen Crane writes, “None of them knew the color of the sky” (339). This implies the idea that “all sense of certainty” in the lives of these men is gone (Wolford 18).

There is nothing wrong with the signal phrasing in the first sentence above. But you don’t always have to use the same formula for introducing a quotation. Try writing instead:

• “None of them knew the color of the sky” (Crane 339), the opening line of Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat,” implies that “all sense of certainty” (Wolford 18) in the lives of these men is gone.

Adapted from:

"Bringing Sources into the Conversation" by Lumen Learning. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).