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Integrating Sources using Signal Phrases

Resource aims

After reading this resource, you should be able to:

  • Understand the nature and value of signal phrases
  • Integrate them into your own academic writing

Introduction

As academic writers, we regularly engage with the words, ideas, and findings of others. This requires that we integrate their work into our own. You are probably familiar with the need to reference quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.

Coventry University uses APA 7th edition referencing system, or OSCOLA for Law students.  For information and guidance on referencing visit:  https://libguides.coventry.ac.uk/referencing or your speak to your Academic Liaison Librarian. You can find who your subject librarian is by visiting: https://libguides.coventry.ac.uk/all.

This resource introduces signal phrases as a powerful and elegant way of doing so.

What are signal phrases?

Signal phrases combine a noun, a source’s year of publication in brackets, a verb, and sometimes an adverb. They are used to introduce quotations, paraphrases, or summaries. For example:

  • Freud (1955) argues that “the ego is not master in its own house”.
  • Freud (1955) maintains that the ego is not the determining force in our thoughts and feelings.
  • Freud (1955, 1961a, 1961b) often claims that the ego is merely one agency at work in the psyche.

Why use signal phrases?

Like any other form of citation, signal phrases make it clear which words or ideas in an assignment are yours, and which come from another source. Unlike other forms, however, they also allow you to:

  • Explicitly indicate to the reader that you are introducing a quote, a paraphrase, or a summary of a text;
  • Integrate sources into your writing in a way that adds fluency;
  • Avoid over-citation without losing sight of where work comes from;
  • Specify the function or value of a source that you are using.

Let’s consider these last two advantages in more detail.

Avoiding over-citation without losing sight of where content comes from

Over-citation occurs when the same citation is given in successive sentences. The APA style guide (2022) tells us that this is distracting, unnecessary, and to be avoided. Here is an example of over-citation:

L   The ego is not the determining force in our thoughts and feelings (Freud 1955). Rather, it is one among three conflicting psychical agencies that struggle to assert and express themselves in consciousness (Freud 1955). As such, psychoanalysis rejects any simple reduction of human behaviour to rational intentions.

Rather than repeating the same reference, the guide tells us that we should ‘cite the source in the first sentence in which it is relevant and… not repeat it in subsequent sentences as long as the source remains clear and unchanged’. Let’s modify our example following the guideline:

K   The ego is not the determining force in our thoughts and feelings (Freud 1955). Rather, it is one among three conflicting psychical agencies that struggle to assert and express themselves in consciousness. As such, psychoanalysis rejects any simple reduction of human behaviour to rational intentions.

This second version of the text adheres to the guideline; however, it does so at the price of making the reader unsure if the second or third sentences are to be attributed to Freud or to the writer. Let’s try again, but this time introduce some signal phrases into the text:

J   Freud (1955) maintains that the ego is not the determining force in our thoughts and feelings. Rather, he suggests that it is one among three conflicting psychical agencies that struggle to express themselves in consciousness. As such, psychoanalysis rejects any simple reduction of human behaviour to rational intentions.

The third version of the text solves the problems raised by the previous two while combining their strengths. The need to avoid over-citation has been met, but the use of a signal phrase in the first sentence, and a corresponding pronoun in the second neatly distinguishes Freud’s contribution from the author’s.

Using signal phrases to specify the function or value of a source

Signal phrases do not simply introduce the use of sources in our writing. They also have the potential to tell the reader something about the source we have chosen. Consider the difference that a change in signal phrase makes in the following examples:

  • Freud (1955) proves that “the ego is not master in its own house”.
  • Freud (1955) suggests that “the ego is not master in its own house”.
  • Freud (1955) baselessly asserts that “the ego is not master in its own house”.

In our three examples, the quoted text remains the same, but the successive phrases take us from certainty about its content, to caution, to outright rejection. Let’s consider some examples of ways in which signal phrases can specify our use or evaluation of texts that we cite.

Using signal phrases to introduce a claim or statement of fact

You will probably most often use signal phrases to introduce arguments or findings made by a source. Useful verbs for this task include:

  • Argues
  • Claims
  • Posits
  • Proposes
  • Reasons
  • Reports
  • Discusses
  • Finds
  • Notes
  • Suggests

For example:

  • Freud (1961b) finds that the ego struggles to contain the id, which ceaselessly demands gratification at any cost.

Note that the other verbs suggested above all have slightly different connotations. Try swapping them for the word ‘finds’. How does the sentence change as a result?

Use signal phrases to suggest that a source emphasises or excludes something

Sometimes we find that sources gives particular prominence to a point or finding. Other times, they fail to discuss something that we would have expected them to. This is something that we can draw the reader’s attention to with the use of verbs of the following kind:

  • Emphasises
  • Overlooks
  • Stresses
  • Excludes
  • Highlights
  • Omits
  • Focuses on
  • Ignores
  • Calls attention to
  • Pays no attention to

For example:

  • Freud (1961b) stresses the difference between the pleasure principle at work in the id and the reality principle that conditions the ego.

Again, how would the sentence change if we were to swap in a different verb from the list above?

Use signal phrases to show how one source relates to another

Another thing that we regularly do in our academic writing is to bring different sources into relation with one another. Sometimes this is in order to have one source support another; other times, it is to stage an encounter between different positions. Again, this is something that we can set-up using signal phrasing, using verbs such as:

  • Agrees
  • Disagrees with
  • Confirms
  • Contradicts
  • Affirms
  • Denies
  • Corroborates
  • Disputes
  • Supports
  • Rejects

For example:

Freud (1961a) rejects Jung’s (1966) claim that there is a collective unconscious beyond the individual unconscious.

Note the use of two signal phrases in the same sentence here. Consider the difference in tone between ‘rejects’, ‘disagrees with’, and ‘disputes’.

Use signal phrases to show your own evaluation of a source

Finally, signal phrases can be used to express your own stance on the value of a source’s claims. This can be done by using adverbs such as:

  • Convincingly
  • Unconvincingly
  • Decisively
  • Dubiously
  • Importantly
  • Mistakenly
  • Correctly
  • Incorrectly
  • Carefully
  • Hastily

For example:

  • Sartre (1956) hastily argues that the notion of unconscious mental processes is incoherent.

References

References

APA (2022, July). Appropriate Level of Citation. APA Style Blog. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/appropriate-citation

Eysenck, H. (2018). Decline and fall of the Freudian empire. Routledge.

Freud, S. (1955). A difficulty in the path of psycho-analysis. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works (pp. 135-144). Hogarth Press.

Freud, S. (1961a). The Ego and the Id. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIX (1923-1925): The Ego and the Id and Other Works (pp. 107-122). Hogarth Press.

Freud, S. (1961b). Remarks on the theory and practice of dream-interpretation. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIX (1923-1925): The Ego and the Id and Other Works (pp. 107-122). Hogarth Press.

Jung, C. G. (1966). The Structure of the Unconscious. In Collected Works 7: (pp. 263-92). Princeton University Press.

Lacan, J., & Fink, B. (2006). Ecrits: The first complete edition in English. W.W. Norton & Co.

Sartre, J. P., & Richmond, S. (1956). Being and nothingness: An essay in phenomenological ontology. Routledge.

Follow-up reading

APA (2022, July). Appropriate Level of Citation. APA Style Blog. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/appropriate-citation

Raimes, A. (1999) 2nd edn. Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook. New York: Houghton Mifflin 

Further Support

If you feel that you are struggling with understanding how to avoid plagiarism, or would like additional guidance, look into further support as soon as you can.  Carry out the exercises in Appendix One: Signal Phrases Exercises. 

Additionally, CAW offers writing development workshops across all genres of academic writing, including Using Sources Effectively: Avoiding Plagiarism in Your Writing and Academic Integrity: A Fundamental Introduction that can provide additional guidance with using and integrating sources effectively and academic integrity in general.  Visit the following webpages for further support and guidance: