Although it is tempting to insert many quotations in your paper and to use your own words only for connecting passages, do not quote excessively. It is almost impossible to integrate numerous long quotations smoothly into your own text.
Except for the following legitimate uses of quotations, use your own words to summarize and paraphrase your sources and to explain your own ideas.
WHEN TO USE QUOTATIONS
When language is especially vivid or expressive
When exact wording is needed for technical accuracy
When it is important to let the debaters of an issue explain their positions in their own words
When the words of an important authority lend weight to an argument
When language of a source is the topic of your discussion (as in an analysis or interpretation)
It is not always necessary to quote full sentences from a source. To reduce your reliance on the words of others, you can often use signal phrases to integrate language from a source into your own sentence structure. At times you may wish to borrow only a phrase or to weave part of a source’s sentence into your own sentence structure.
Carmona (2004) advised the subcommittee that the situation constitutes an “epidemic” and that the skyrocketing statistics are “astounding.”
As researchers continue to face a number of unknowns about obesity, it may be helpful to envision treating the disorder, as Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) suggested, “in the same manner as any other chronic disease.”
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 1
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 2
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 3
Exercise: Integrating sources in APA papers 4
signal phrase A phrase that cues and introduces the use of source material, usually by naming the author of the material.