1. Introduce the source’s rhetorical situation, naming the author and title of text at the very least. It may also help to mention the author’s credibility (job title, field of work/study, pertinent biographical information) and/or to talk about the context in which the person was writing. These additional items should be included when you have a specific purpose in discussing them (i.e., you think your audience may need this extra information in order to understand the importance of their contribution to your work, or why their voices are significant and have authority on the matter you’re discussing).

2. Summarize the overall purpose and/or argument of the source you’re drawing from.

3. Introduce the specific point or claim from your source that you want to focus on.

4. Bring in a quote and/or paraphrase that connects to, extends, or illustrates the specific point. Be sure to embed this within your own sentence (aka: Make a source sandwich!) and cite the source and page number! (See Templates for Introducing Quotations below)

These first four steps can be done in 2-5 sentences. You’re not done yet, though, since you need to show how your source use connects to your claim or reason.

5. Explain how the material you brought in from your source supports, extends, complicates or challenges your claim. You may also want to connect it to past sources’ ideas (e.g., “This challenges Author Y’s assertion and complicates my claim that…”). No matter what, be explicit about what you’re intending to do with this information and how you want your reader to consider it in terms of your claim.

• In making this comment, X extends/supports/challenges/complicates Y’s claim that __________.
• The essence of X’s argument is that __________.
• X’s concept about can be applied to my claim that __________.
• X’s point is relevant to my reasoning that given that __________.

Templates for Introducing Quotations: