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 (in color) 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 enjoy adjusting and readjusting features of their computers, from the desktop wallpaper to software they can quickly download. Many workers spend considerable company time 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 paraphrase does not require a signal phrase. Readers will understand, for example, that the citation at the end of the following passage applies to the entire paragraph, not just part of it.
In 2005, the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute cosponsored a survey on electronic surveillance in the workplace, including the monitoring of employees’ use of e-mail, instant messaging, the Web, and voice mail. The organizations received responses to a detailed questionnaire from 526 companies, with nearly half of the respondents representing companies employing up to five hundred workers (12).
Exercise: Integrating sources in MLA papers 1
Exercise: Integrating sources in MLA papers 2
Exercise: Integrating sources in MLA papers 3
Exercise: Integrating sources in MLA papers 4