Readers should be able to move from your words to the words of a source without feeling a jolt. Avoid dropping direct quotations into your text without warning. Instead, provide clear signal phrases, including the author’s name, to prepare readers for the quotation.

A signal phrase indicates the boundary between your words and the source’s words and can also tell readers why a source is trustworthy.

DROPPED QUOTATION

Not surprisingly, those testifying on the Union and Confederate sides recalled events at Fort Pillow quite differently. Unionists claimed that their troops had abandoned their arms and were in full retreat. “The Confederates, however, all agreed that the Union troops retreated to the river with arms in their hands.”⁹

QUOTATION WITH SIGNAL PHRASE (IN COLOR)

Not surprisingly, those testifying on the Union and Confederate sides recalled events at Fort Pillow quite differently. Unionists claimed that their troops had abandoned their arms and were in full retreat. “The Confederates, however,” writes historian Albert Castel, “all agreed that the Union troops retreated to the river with arms in their hands.”⁹