When writing, we have many opportunities to support our claims with the words of outside sources. In academic writing, scholarly sources are best. The verbs below can be used to insert information you read during your research. Since even discussion posts often call for evidence, it’s important to know how to put the work of others into your essays, journals, and discussions appropriately. The list below provides verbs you can use as signal phrases, and the video explains how to use these phrases and direct quotes effectively.
In your paper, begin with the source “Researchers, Dr. Peabody, the authors, historians” and insert one of these signal verbs before your quote or paraphrase. Source + signal verb = signal phrase:
It is common to want to use “said” when quoting someone. But, most of the time, you didn’t hear the words; you read them. However, an essay full of “Researchers wrote” can get redundant, too. Here’s a list of verbs you can use in signal phrases, to introduce quotes and paraphrases from your sources.
- Acknowledge
- Analyze
- Add
- Admit
- Affirm
- Agree
- Answer
- Argue
- Attack
- Assert
- Ask
- Believe
- Call
- Claim
- Comment
- Compare
- Concede
- Confirm
- Contend
- Counter/counter-argue
- Declare
- Define
- Deny
- Dispute
- Echo
- Emphasize
- Endorse
- Estimate
- Find
- Grant
- Illustrate
- Imply
- Insinuate
- Insist
- Label
- Mention
- Note
- Observe
- Point out
- Predict
- Propose
- Reason
- Recognize
- Recommend
- Refute
- Reject
- Respond
- Report
- Retort
- Speculate
- Suggest
- State
- Surmise
- Tell
- Think
- Warn
- Write
In APA format, use the past tense, such as wrote, asserted, or found.
In MLA and Chicago/Turabian, use the present tense for verbs such as read, write, assert, and find.
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