Academic Research Booklet

36

Sentence Starters When using direct or indirect quotes you should always refer to author names and articles titles where possible. For example:

According to Smith (2024) … Smith (2024) states …. As noted in the History of the Byzantine State by Ostrogorsky (1982)... Olusoga (2020) made the point that … In contrast to the timeline outlined in The Silk Roads (Frankopan, 2015) ... Research conducted by Oxford University (2020) points to…

You should try to avoid using the word ‘says’ unless the words were originally spoken aloud for example in an interview. On the right are some examples you could use instead.

• X writes, “… • X notes, “… • X states, “… • X comments that… • X observes, “… • X concludes, “… • X maintains, “… • X adds, “…

• X remarks, “… • X reports, “…

• X points out, “… • X emphasizes, “…

Top Tip: remember, if you need to add words to a direct quote to make it fit the flow of your essay you can insert those words inside square brackets [like this].

• X claims that… • X agrees that… • X strongly argues… • X takes the view that…