Adapted from “Chapter 17: Integrating Sources” of ENG 101 & 102 Rhetoric: College Composition at Central Arizona College by Traci Gardner. Copyright © 2024 by Central Arizona College; Shelley Decker; Kolette Draegan; Tatiana Keeling; Heather Moulton; and Lynn Gelfand. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
You can integrate sources by implementing the “Quote Burger” (Figure 1) method. In this metaphor, source material needs to be assembled into a burger before it can be served to the reader. Both buns complement each other and work as a team. Either one of them can help the reader locate the source in a footnote or on the Works Cited or References page.
Introduce the Source (Top Bun of the Quote Burger)
To build the Quote Burger, consider narrative lead-ins or signal phrases the top bun of the burger.
The top bun introduces the source material and puts you, as the writer, in command, allowing you to use the source for a specific purpose.
A narrative lead-in is where you narrate, or tell, the reader some of the source information. Signal phrases “signal” the reader that you are presenting words, ideas, and thoughts that are not your own. The terms signal phrase and narrative lead-in are often interchangeable; however, signal phrases are generally shorter and can appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence.
The following are simple examples for signal phrases that introduce quotations:
- X states, “_____.”
- As the prominent philosopher X puts it, “_____.”
- According to X, “_____.”
- X himself writes, “_____.”
- In her book, Title of the Book, X maintains that “_____.”
- In his article “Title of the Article,” X explains, “_____.”
- Writing in the journal, Title of the Journal, X complains that “_____.”
- In X’s view, “_____.”
- X agrees when she writes, “_____.”
- X disagrees when he writes, “_____.”
- X complicates matters further when she writes, “_____.”
Verbs to Use as Signals in Your Top Bun
The examples above show only a few of the many possibilities for signaling to your reader that you’re about to share information from a source. Table 1 includes dozens of signal verbs by the ways that you can use them in your writing.
| Types of Verbs | Examples |
|---|---|
| Neutral signal verbs | analyzes, comments, compares, concludes, contrasts, describes, discusses, explains, focuses on, illustrates, indicates, introduces, notes, observes, records, remarks, reports, says, shows, states, thinks, writes |
| Verbs of argument | argues, asserts, believes, charges, claims, confirms, contends, demonstrates, finds, holds, maintains, points out, proposes, recommends, suggests |
| Verbs of agreement | agrees, concurs, confirms, supports |
| Verbs of disagreement | complains, contradicts, criticizes, denies, disagrees, questions, refutes, rejects, warns |
| Verbs of concession | acknowledges, admits, concedes, grants |
| Strong signal verbs | accepts, acknowledges, adds, admits, addresses, affirms, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, cautions, challenges, claims, comments, confirms, contends, contradicts, concedes, declares, denies, describes, disagrees, discusses, disputes, emphasizes, endorses, explains, grants, highlights, illustrates, implies, insists, maintains, negates, notes, observes, outlines, points out, proposes, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, responds, suggests, thinks, urges, verifies |
Integrate the Source (The Meat of the Quote Burger)
Now that you have chosen a signal phrase or narrative lead-in, you can start preparing the “meat” in the Quote Burger.
In academic language, we call this integrating the source because the source material becomes part of our written text. The meat of the burger, or the source material, may take the form of a quotation, a paraphrase, or a summary.
Each method of integration has unique characteristics (Table 17.2). Use the links in the table for more information about the ways of integrating your sources.
| Integration Method | Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Quoting | Characteristics of a quotation: exact words of original source, quotation marks, accurate representation of original meaning, signal phrase, and citation. |
| Paraphrasing | Characteristics of a paraphrase: your own words communicate original meaning of source material, about the same length as original, signal phrase, and citation. |
| Summarizing | Characteristics of a summary: is similar to a paraphrase in that it communicates original meaning of source material in your own words using a signal phrase and citation. The difference between a paraphrase and a summary is length: a summary condenses the contents of a larger passage into a smaller summary of the content. |
| Combination | Characteristics of combination: Any blend of 2 or more of the integration methods in the column. If you include unique terms or exact phrases in paraphrase or summary combinations, be sure to indicate those with quotation marks. |
Document the Source (Bottom Bun)
To finish the Quote Burger metaphor, let’s consider the bottom bun of our burger. In order to craft a complete in-text citation that helps the reader locate the source on the list of bibliographic work (for instance, Works Cited for MLA and References for APA), a parenthetical citation is often necessary.
To clearly and completely attribute the words, ideas, or thoughts of someone else, use a combination of (1) narrative lead-ins or signal phrases and (2) footnotes or parenthetical citations (whichever is required by the documentation style you use in your profession).
If you use in-text citations—citations that occur in the text of your writing, you need to include the full source entry in a Bibliography, Works Cited or References page (again, whatever is required for your profession). You can use the bibliography generators on the Documentation and Citation page to create the documentation for the end of your project.