Because a source cannot reveal its meaning or function by itself, you must make the connection between a source and your own ideas. A signal phrase can show readers how a quotation supports or challenges a point you are making.

Readers should not have to guess why a quotation appears in your paper. If you use another writer’s words, you must explain how they contribute to your point. It’s a good idea to embed a quotation—especially a long one—between sentences of your own. Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase, and then follow it with interpretive comments that link the quotation to your paper’s argument.

QUOTATION WITH INSUFFICIENT CONTEXT

In a respected biography of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Hurst suggests that the temperamental Forrest “may have ragingly ordered a massacre and even intended to carry it out—until he rode inside the fort and viewed the horrifying result” and ordered it stopped.¹¹

QUOTATION WITH EFFECTIVE CONTEXT

In a respected biography of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Hurst suggests that the temperamental Forrest “may have ragingly ordered a massacre and even intended to carry it out—until he rode inside the fort and viewed the horrifying result” and ordered it stopped.¹¹ While this is an intriguing interpretation of events, even Hurst would probably admit that it is merely speculation.

When you bring other sources into a conversation about your research topic, you are synthesizing.