Whenever you include a paraphrase, summary, or direct quotation of another writer in your paper, prepare your readers for it with a signal phrase. A signal phrase usually names the author of the source and often provides some context. It commonly appears before the source material. To vary your sentence structure, you may decide to interrupt source material with a signal phrase or place the signal phrase after your paraphrase, summary, or direct quotation.
When you write a signal phrase, choose a verb that is appropriate for the way you are using the source (see MLA-1c). Are you providing background, explaining a concept, supporting a claim, lending authority, or refuting a belief? See the chart for a list of verbs commonly used in signal phrases. Note that MLA style calls for verbs in the present or present perfect tense (argues or has argued) to introduce source material unless you include a date that specifies the time of the original author’s writing.
Marking boundaries
Readers need to move from your words to the words of a source without feeling a jolt. Avoid dropping quotations into the text without warning. Instead, provide clear signal phrases, including at least the author’s name, to indicate the boundary between your words and the source’s words. (The signal phrase is highlighted in the second example.)
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dropped quotation
Some experts have argued that a range of legitimate concerns justifies employer monitoring of employee Internet usage. “Employees could accidentally (or deliberately) spill confidential corporate information ...or allow worms to spread throughout a corporate network” (Tynan).
quotation with signal phrase
Some experts have argued that a range of legitimate concerns justifies employer monitoring of employee Internet usage. As PC World columnist Daniel Tynan points out, “Employees could accidentally (or deliberately) spill confidential corporate information ...or allow worms to spread throughout a corporate network.”
Establishing authority
Good research writing uses evidence from reliable sources. The first time you mention a source, include in the signal phrase the author’s title, credentials, or experience—anything that would help your readers recognize the source’s authority. (Signal phrases are highlighted in the next two examples.)
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source with no credentials
Jay Kesan points out that the law holds employers liable for employees’ actions such as violations of copyright laws, the distribution of offensive or graphic sexual material, and illegal disclosure of confidential information (312).
source with credentials
Legal scholar Jay Kesan points out that the law holds employers liable for employees’ actions such as violations of copyright laws, the distribution of offensive or graphic sexual material, and illegal disclosure of confidential information (312).
When you establish your source’s authority, as with the phrase Legal scholar in the previous example, you also signal to readers your own credibility as a responsible researcher who has located trustworthy sources.
Introducing summaries and paraphrases
Introduce most summaries and paraphrases with a signal phrase that names the author and places the material in the context of your argument. Readers will then understand that everything between the signal phrase and the parenthetical citation summarizes or paraphrases the cited source.
Without the signal phrase (highlighted) in the following example, readers might think that only the quotation at the end is being cited, when in fact the whole paragraph is based on the source.
Frederick Lane believes that the personal computer has posed new challenges for employers worried about workplace productivity. Whereas early desktop computers were primitive enough to prevent employees from using them to waste time, the machines have become so sophisticated that they now make non-work-related computer activities easy and inviting. Many employees spend considerable company time customizing features and playing games on their computers. But perhaps most problematic from the employer’s point of view, Lane asserts, is giving employees access to the Internet, “roughly the equivalent of installing a gazillion-channel television set for each employee” (15-16).
There are times when a summary or a paraphrase does not require a signal phrase naming the author. When the context makes clear where the cited material begins, you may omit the signal phrase and include the author’s last name in parentheses.
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Integrating statistics and other facts
When you are citing a statistic or another specific fact, a signal phrase is often not necessary. In most cases, readers will understand that the citation refers to the statistic or fact (not the whole paragraph).
Roughly 60% of responding companies reported disciplining employees who had used the Internet in ways the companies deemed inappropriate; 30% had fired their employees for those transgressions (Greenfield and Davis 347).
There is nothing wrong, however, with using a signal phrase to introduce a statistic or another fact.
Putting source material in context
Readers should not have to guess why source material appears in your paper. A signal phrase can help you connect your own ideas and those of another writer by clarifying how the source will contribute to your paper (see R2-a).
If you use another writer’s words, you must explain how they relate to your point. In other words, you must put the source in context. It’s a good idea to embed a quotation between sentences of your own. In addition to introducing it with a signal phrase, follow it with interpretive comments that link the quotation to your paper’s argument (see also MLA-3c).
quotation with effective context
The difference, Lane argues, between old methods of data gathering and electronic surveillance involves quantity:
Technology makes it possible for employers to gather enormous amounts of data about employees, often far beyond what is necessary to satisfy safety or productivity concerns. And the trends that drive technology—faster, smaller, cheaper—make it possible for larger and larger numbers of employers to gather ever-greater amounts of personal data. (3-4)
In an age when employers can collect data whenever employees use their computers—when they send e-mail, surf the Web, or even arrive at or depart from their workstations—the challenge for both employers and employees is to determine how much is too much.
To avoid monotony, try to vary both the language and the placement of your signal phrases.
Model signal phrases
In the words of researchers Greenfield and Davis, “...”
As legal scholar Jay Kesan has noted, “...”
The ePolicy Institute, an organization that advises companies about reducing risks from technology, reports that “...”
“...,” writes Daniel Tynan, “...”
“...,” attorney Schmitt claims.
Kizza and Ssanyu offer a persuasive counterargument: “...”
Verbs in signal phrases
|
acknowledges |
comments |
endorses |
reasons |
|
adds |
compares |
grants |
refutes |
|
admits |
confirms |
illustrates |
rejects |
|
agrees |
contends |
implies |
reports |
|
argues |
declares |
insists |
responds |
|
asserts |
denies |
notes |
suggests |
|
believes |
disputes |
observes |
thinks |
|
claims |
emphasizes |
points out |
writes |
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