Quote Integration

E: Explaining the Source

The final thing every integrated source needs is a follow-up explanation. This explanation portion of quote integration gives you as the writer an opportunity to explain the significance of the quote or paraphrase, provide an analysis of it, and even establish connections back to the topic sentence of the paragraph. In short, you never want your reader to have to wonder why you shared that particular source or what the significance of it is. These brief follow-up explanations do not take long and add so much value.

To get a clearer picture of the role this part of the quote integration process plays, let’s return to our example:

In an April 2016 General Conference talk entitled “Family Councils,” Elder M. Russell Ballard teaches that the family council, facilitated by the guiding hand of the Holy Ghost, can “protect us from the evils of the world.”

One possible thing you could do is choose to illustrate the significance of this quote with a transition to a related personal experience (an additional supporting detail). Something like:

I have seen this promise prove true in my own life as my family has held regular family councils. One time, my little brother was on the computer and...

Or, let’s imagine this quote is coming toward the end of a paragraph and you want to emphasize its connection to the overall controlling idea of the paragraph (its topic sentence). In this instance, one possible explanation you could provide would be:

Clearly there is a strong protectional benefit that comes with holding regular family councils.