Smooth Moves: Introducing and Integrating Sources into Academic Prose

“Smooth moves” are not only for dating show contestants, confidence wo(men), or poker players—smooth moves are necessary for effectively using and incorporating evidence to support an academic argument. In fact, unlike dating show contestants, confidence wo(men), or poker players, you want to be 100% transparent with your argument, “show your hand,” and avoid putting on a “poker face.” 

Using evidence in the form of quoting and paraphrasing authors is an important part of entering the academic conversation of the particular discourse community of your discipline. Equally important to using evidence is smoothly introducing and integrating evidence into your arguments.

There are three basic moves you want to make to both effectively use sources and contribute to better “flow” in your arguments: Introduce, Integrate, and Explain. Let’s take a look at each of them and think about how they work together to elevate your use of sources to scholarly levels.

Smooth Move #1: Introduce the source to your reader.

There two ways to introduce a source: start with the author OR start with your point.

A. Start with the author identification to introduce your source:

Example (direct quote): According to the APA (2013), writers need to “Reproduce word for word material directly quoted from another author’s work” (p. 170).

Example (paraphrase): The APA (2013) stated that, when writers want to quote, they need to include the exact wording as written by the author(s) (p. 170).

Notice how these examples provide two ways (“According to” and “stated”) to phrase author introductions? Some additional introductory words you might use are as follows (note that all of these introductory verbs are written in past-tense):

Argued	Noted	Maintained	Added
Opined	Wrote	Concluded	Emphasized
Viewed	Observed	Described	Reported

  

B. Start with your point to introduce your source:

Example (direct quote): One way writers can avoid plagiarism is by “Reproduc[ing] word for word material directly quoted from another author’s work” (APA, 2013, p. 170).

Example (paraphrase): One way writers can avoid plagiarism is by including the exact wording as written by the author(s) (APA, 2013). 

Smooth Move #2: Integrate the source into your own writing.

Sources are used to support your points and to guide readers with connections among your points, and therefore, sources need to be integrated into your points. Notice how the above examples integrate the source by provide introductory phrasing that either introduces the author or starts with your point?

Integrating sources smoothly means that you do not start or end a paragraph with a quote or paraphrase. It also means that the quotes or paraphrase are directly relevant to the point that you want to make, which leads me to the last move you want to make to effectively use sources in your arguments: Explain.

Smooth Move #3: Explain how the source connects to your overall point.

Introducing and integrating quotes and paraphrases is not enough; you also need to explain the quote or paraphrase to connect the source to your point for readers.

Let's say I'm writing a paper and my main claim is that plagiarism is an issue that is easily avoided if writers correctly attribute a source using the same wording as the original and citing properly. Using our other two skills, let’s see how our evidence use culminates in a clear explanation of the source for our reader.

Introduce and Integrate (Moves 1 & 2): As stated by the APA (2013), one way writers can avoid plagiarism is by “Reproduc[ing] word for word material directly quoted from another author’s work” (p. 170).

Explain: In addition to using the same wording as the author, writers need to place quote marks around the entire quoted material and include a page number at the end of the quote.

“Smooth moves” such as introducing, integrating, and explaining sources are important in academic writing to put your best academic representative self forward (like a dating show contestant) and avoiding confusing your audience or hiding information (like a confidence wo(man) or poker player). If you’d like to practice these skills in more detail, I recommend that you check out our brand new webinar “Using and Integrating Quotes.”

Let us know, what are some of your academic writing “smooth moves”?

Veronica Oliver is a Writing Instructor in the Walden Writing Center. In her spare time she writes fiction, binge watches Netflix, and occasionally makes it to a 6am Bikram Yoga class.

Never miss a new post; Opt-out at any time