48 Elements of Rhetoric: Introducing Sources

Introducing Sources: Acknowledgement Phrases and Parenthetical Citations Assignment

Source material has to be introduced and cited clearly in the paper. Two ways to cite sources are acknowledgement/signal phrases and parenthetical citations.

An acknowledgment/signal phrase introduces the source in the text of the sentence. An example of an acknowledgement/signal phrase is:

    In the article, “Gender Selection,” John Doe explains how many people want to choose the gender of their baby.

A second way to cite sources in a paper is to use a parenthetical citation. In a parenthetical citation the source is cited in parentheses at the end of the passage. However, there are different ways to cite the material depending on what information is available.

For example: The source I am citing is:

       “Gender Selection” by John Doe from the websiteTechnologytoday.com.

-If the article has an author, you cite by the author’s last name:

“Many people want to choose the gender of their baby” (Doe).  (Notice that the quotation marks go before the parentheses and the period goes after the parentheses.)

–If there is no author, cite by the title or a shortened version of the title if the title is long:

 “Many people want to choose the gender of their baby” (“Gender”). (Notice that the title of the article is put in quotation marks.)

 -Frequently with Internet website sources, there is no author or title. In that situation, you cite by the website name. However, never cite by the URL.

“Many people want to choose the gender of their baby”(Technology Today). (Notice that the website name is in italics.)

 -Sources can be cited by an acknowledgement phrase or a parenthetical citation in your essay. Some like to cite the source using an acknowledgement phrase the first time it is used, and then use a parenthetical citation to cite the source when it is used again or at the end of a longer passage. As long as you cite the source either way, it is OK.

 For this assignment, introduce a quote that you will use in your Position Argument.

          1. Introduce it with an acknowledgement/signal phrase. 

          2. Cite the quote with a parenthetical citation

Introduce your quote using both methods, but make sure to write the quote twice; do not use both an acknowledgement or signal phrase and a parenthetical citation at the same time.

 Here are examples:

1. The website Balanced Politics.org quoted Albert Einstein as saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
2.  “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” (Einstein).  (Notice that the period goes after the parentheses.)