Introductory Phrases for Quotations and Citations

What Are Introductory Phrases for Quotations and Citations?

When using quotations in a paper, you must integrate the quotation as smoothly as possible into the text of your paper. Avoid dropping quotations into the text without warning. Instead, provide clear signal phrases that alert the reader to the quotation.

Common Introductory Phrases:

Below are common introductory phrases that can be used to introduce quotations. If you don't use the word "that" to introduce your quotation, you must follow the introductory phrase with a comma.

1. In Amy Cruise's words,
2. Johnson's Field Guide to Exotic Animals reports that
3. Henry VIII suggested,
4. James Harner shows that
5. Clinton ventured to say,
6. As Elizabeth Montgomery puts it,
7. Lisa Stroud insisted that
8. Gauguin and Van Gogh agreed,
9. Michael Crichton believes that
10. Walt Whitman reminds us that
11. Nixon went on the record saying,
12. Linda Thornton remarked that
13. To quote Lyndon B. Johnson,
14. Kim's point is that
15. Isaac Asimov in Time argues,
16. Cicero goes on to explain that
17. William Hartford testified,
18. Poe observes that
19. Gillman leads the reader to the point that
20. According to Valerie Furmount,
21. Aristotle wrote,

Remember:

It is important to use introductory phrases to introduce quotations and to place the quotations in their appropriate places within the paper.