what is quoting and paraphrasing

Paraphrasing vs. Quoting: What’s the Difference?

When you write your next research paper, you may ask, “when should I use paraphrasing vs. quoting?” This guide will help you know. 

The question of paraphrasing vs. quoting is important for writers. You must get this right in your writing to avoid plagiarism, create ethical written works, and make clear points.

Both paraphrasing and quoting are tools you can use to do this, but many writers do not know the difference between these two words. If you do not use them correctly and cite them appropriately, you could be guilty of plagiarism, which puts your academic or professional career at risk.  

Quoting and paraphrasing are fairly similar, and they even require similar citations. Yet there are subtle differences you must understand, so you give the proper credit to the source. This guide will help you understand the difference between paraphrasing and quoting, so you can use both of these tools correctly in your next written piece.

When editing for grammar, we also recommend taking the time to improve the readability score of a piece of writing before publishing or submitting.

Paraphrasing vs. Quoting: When to Use Which

When to use paraphrases, how to indicate a paraphrase, tips for paraphrasing, when to use quoting, how to format quotes, apa style citation, mla style citations, chicago/turabian style citations, summarizing and paraphrasing, how to decide if something is common knowledge, a final word on paraphrasing vs. quoting, what is the difference between paraphrasing and quoting, are summarizing and paraphrasing the same.

Paraphrasing and quoting are both processes to use another author’s work in your writing. They are confusing because they have different best-case uses. After you understand their differences, you will be able to decide how to use them in your writing.

What Is a Paraphrase?

A paraphrase is a restatement of an original author’s idea in your own words. It would help if you completely changed the wording from the source material to count it as a paraphrase. You may do so by changing the:

• Sentence structure

However, you must keep the main points the same and properly attribute the source material’s author in your writing based on the style guide assigned to your projects, such as MLA or APA. Check out our allegory vs. symbolism explainer.

Paraphrases are used when you want to restate a source and do not need to use the exact words to do so. It works well when you merge multiple sources into one written piece to

Paraphrases should make up the majority of your academic writing because you need to be able to convey the author’s ideas in your own words. Simply quoting many sources word-for-word does not show that you have truly understood the material and reached your conclusions.

Even though paraphrases are written in your own words, you will need to cite them when writing research papers and other types of academic writing. Failing to cite an idea from someone else and claiming it as your own violate copyright laws and is a form of plagiarism.

To cite a paraphrase, check the style guide or publication manual assigned to your project and add the citation appropriately. You might also be interested in our analogy vs. metaphor guide.

Paraphrasing can be a challenging skill to learn. To do it, you must be able to take someone else’s work and make it your own without changing the main ideas.

One tip that can make paraphrasing easier is reading the original text fully and closing it. Without opening it again, write your paraphrase. Then, look at the original text again to make sure the paraphrase seems unique but still conveys the right original thought.

What Is a Quote?

Quoting happens when you use the other author’s exact words. You change nothing of what they said, and you put the words in quotation marks or set them off with special indentation, depending on the length of the quote.

Quoting works best when using your ideas or restating an original idea would weaken the key points. It also works well when you need to create a sense of authority in your statement and lack that authority as the author. Some times when a quote is the best choice over a paraphrase include:

• When using statistics and data from an authoritative source
• When quoting a piece of literature in a literary analysis paper
• When defining a word from a trusted dictionary
• When including a court decision in a piece of writing

Over-quoting is a common mistake in academic writing, especially with inexperienced writers. It shows little academic prowess to string together a bunch of quotes with attribution and call it your work. Use quotation sparingly and in those instances when it is necessary to make the point you need to make.

Keep in mind that not all written works require a quote. For most papers, one to two quotes are all that is necessary, if any are necessary at all. The rest of the work should be your ideas or paraphrases.

Citing quotes is similar to citing paraphrases. You will use the APA, Chicago/Turabian, or MLA style citations. The main difference is that you must show that the piece is a quote.

Often, you will include in-text citations to introduce the quote. For example, you may say:

An example of simile can be seen in Alcott’s Little Women when the author writes, “. . . she tried to get rid of the kitten which had scrambled up her back and stuck like a burr just out of reach.” (Alcott, 183)

In this quote, the author’s name and the resource both show up in the dialogue, but the writer still uses proper parenthetical citations at the end of the quote. The quote itself has quotation marks, indicating it is a quote, and ellipses that show it starts in the middle of the author’s sentence.

If your quote is 40 words or longer, you will use a block quotation. Each style guide has its formatting for block quotations, but this style sets off the quote by indenting it and changing the spacing, which is visually different from the rest of the paper. Block quotations do not use quotation marks.

Citations for Quotes, Paraphrases, and Summaries

Whether you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a work, you will cite it in the same way. The citation style is based on the style guide for your work. The works you cite in the text also get included in the works cited or bibliography page at the end of the paper.

If you are writing a paper that requires APA style, then you will use in-text citations in the following format:

(Author’s last name, year of publication, page number)

If you put the author’s name in the actual text in APA style, you can omit it in the parenthesis. If the publication has no date, you put n.d. instead of the date. If there is not a page number, you can put some other identifier, such as paragraph number, chapter, section, or timestamp. However, this is only necessary for direct quotes. The page number or its substitutes are not necessary for paraphrases.

MLA style in-text citations follow this format:

(Author’s last name, page number)

Omit the page number for this format if it is unavailable in the source.

Chicago style requires a more complex citation format. It uses footnotes for both paraphrases and quotes. The first time you use a resource, you use this format for the footnote:

The author’s first and last name, title (publication city: Publisher, date), and the page number.

For additional citations using a previously listed resource, use this format:

Author last name, abbreviated title, page number.

Another consideration in this discussion is the idea of summarizing. Summarizing a work means condensing it to its main points. Typically, a summary is much shorter than the original work, while a paraphrase is fairly similar in length.

Like quotes and paraphrases, summaries require in-text citations in the expected format. You will choose to summarize if you are taking a large work, like a full book, report, or speech, and using most of its key points in your report.

The Issue of Common Knowledge

With quotes, paraphrases and summaries, you must cite the source any time you use someone’s ideas in your writing or quote someone directly. However, you do not have to cite something if it is considered common knowledge, even if you found the information in another work. As long as you are not taking a direct quote, if the fact is common knowledge does not require citation. 

According to MIT , something is common knowledge if it is “information that the average, educated reader would accept as reliable without looking it up.” For example, if you said that the sky is blue, you would not have to cite this because most people know and accept this as fact.

The idea of common knowledge becomes tricky when you are doing academic writing. Sometimes, a fact is a common knowledge to the chosen audience for your work. For example, laws of physics may not be something the average person knows, but a physicist or scientist would, and you may not have to cite the place you found the law if you are writing for an academic group.

Some questions that can help you decide if something is common knowledge include:

• Who is my intended audience?
• What does my intended audience know?
• Is this an accepted fact in my field or niche?
• Is there a specific fact or statistic being cited, or just general knowledge they already know?

After answering these questions, you might have a better idea of whether or not your information is common knowledge. If it is, then you don’t have to cite it. If you are not sure, go ahead and cite it. Better to cite too often than to end up being guilty of plagiarism.

Paraphrasing and quoting both have a place in academic writing. However, quoting, which refers to using another writer’s exact words, needs to be sparse in your work. Writing a work primarily of quotes is not really writing; it’s just taking other people’s work and putting it together in a new format.

Paraphrasing is far more common. Paraphrasing keeps the original meaning of the work but changes the wording into your own words. This strategy shows that you have understood the meaning of the works you cite but have pulled that out and used it to support your ideas and thesis statement. Most of your academic writing should be paraphrased, supporting your thoughts, ideas, and conclusions.

Regardless of whether you are quoting or paraphrasing, you will need to cite your sources for any idea you use that is not common knowledge or your idea. If in doubt, cite your source to avoid falling victim to plagiarism, leading to academic dismissal or a failing grade on your project.

FAQs about Paraphrasing vs. Quoting

When paraphrasing something, you reword it but keep the main idea in place. The structure of the sentences and the words themselves must be different. When you quote something, you use the writer’s actual words word-for-word, placing the quote within quotation marks or blocking text.

No, but summarizing and paraphrasing are similar. You are condensing the original work into its main points when you summarize. When paraphrasing, you restate the work in your own words without condensing. Both require citations, and both are good strategies to use in an academic or research paper.

Grammarly is one of our top grammar checkers. Find out why in this Grammarly review .

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Citation Basics / Quoting vs. Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing

Quoting vs. Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing

If you’ve ever written a research essay, you know the struggle is real. Should you use a direct quote? Should you put it in your own words? And how is summarizing different from paraphrasing—aren’t they kind of the same thing?

Knowing how you should include your source takes some finesse, and knowing when to quote directly, paraphrase, or summarize can make or break your argument. Let’s take a look at the nuances among these three ways  of using an outside source in an essay.

What is quoting?

The concept of quoting is pretty straightforward. If you use quotation marks, you must use precisely the same words as the original , even if the language is vulgar or the grammar is incorrect. In fact, when scholars quote writers with bad grammar, they may correct it by using typographical notes [like this] to show readers they have made a change.

“I never like[d] peas as a child.”

Conversely, if a passage with odd or incorrect language is quoted as is, the note [sic] may be used to show that no changes were made to the original language despite any errors.

“I never like [sic] peas as a child.”

The professional world looks very seriously on quotations. You cannot change a single comma or letter without documentation when you quote a source. Not only that, but the quote must be accompanied by an attribution, commonly called a citation. A misquote or failure to cite can be considered plagiarism.

When writing an academic paper, scholars must use in-text citations in parentheses followed by a complete entry on a references page. When you quote someone using MLA format , for example, it might look like this:

“The orphan is above all a character out of place, forced to make his or her own home in the world. The novel itself grew up as a genre representing the efforts of an ordinary individual to navigate his or her way through the trials of life. The orphan is therefore an essentially novelistic character, set loose from established conventions to face a world of endless possibilities (and dangers)” (Mullan).

This quote is from www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/orphans-in-fiction , which discusses the portrayal of orphans in Victorian English literature. The citation as it would look on the references page (called Works Cited in MLA) is available at the end of this guide.

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing means taking a quote and putting it in your own words.

You translate what another writer has said into terms both you and your reader can more easily understand. Unlike summarizing, which focuses on the big picture, paraphrasing is involved with single lines or passages. Paraphrasing means you should focus only on segments of a text.

Paraphrasing is a way for you to start processing the information from your source . When you take a quote and put it into your own words, you are already working to better understand, and better explain, the information.

The more you can change the quote without changing the original meaning , the better. How can you make significant changes to a text without changing the meaning?

Here are a few paraphrasing techniques:

• Use synonyms of words
• Change the order of words
• Change the order of clauses in the sentences
• Move sentences around in a section
• Active – passive
• Positive – negative
• Statement-question

Let’s look at an example. Here is a direct quote from the article on orphans in Victorian literature:

“It is no accident that the most famous character in recent fiction – Harry Potter – is an orphan. The child wizard’s adventures are premised on the death of his parents and the responsibilities that he must therefore assume. If we look to classic children’s fiction we find a host of orphans” (Mullan).

Here is a possible paraphrase:

It’s not a mistake that a well-known protagonist in current fiction is an orphan: Harry Potter. His quests are due to his parents dying and tasks that he is now obligated to complete. You will see that orphans are common protagonists if you look at other classic fiction (Mullan).

What differences do you spot? There are synonyms. A few words were moved around. A few clauses were moved around. But do you see that the basic structure is very similar?

This kind of paraphrase might be flagged by a plagiarism checker. Don’t paraphrase like that.

Here is a better example:

What is the most well-known fact about beloved character, Harry Potter? That he’s an orphan – “the boy who lived”. In fact, it is only because his parents died that he was thrust into his hero’s journey. Throughout classic children’s literature, you’ll find many orphans as protagonists (Mullan).

Do you see that this paraphrase has more differences? The basic information is there, but the structure is quite different.

When you paraphrase, you are making choices: of how to restructure information, of how to organize and prioritize it.  These choices reflect your voice in a way a direct quote cannot, since a direct quote is, by definition, someone else’s voice.

Which is better: Quoting or paraphrasing?

Although the purpose of both quoting and paraphrasing is to introduce the ideas of an external source, they are used for different reasons. It’s not that one is better than the other, but rather that quoting suits some purposes better, while paraphrasing is more suitable for others.

A direct quote is better when you feel the writer made the point perfectly and there is no reason to change a thing. If the writer has a strong voice and you want to preserve that, use a direct quote.

For example, no one should ever try to paraphrase John. F. Kenney’s famous line: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

However, think of direct quotes like a hot pepper: go ahead and sprinkle them around to add some spice to your paper, but… you might not want to overdo it.

Conversely, paraphrasing is useful when you want to bring in a longer section of a source into your piece, but you don’t have room for the full passage . A paraphrase doesn’t simplify the passage to an extreme level, like a summary would. Rather, it condenses the section of text into something more useful for your essay. It’s also appropriate to paraphrase when there are sentences within a passage that you want to leave out.

If you were to paraphrase the section of the article about Victorian orphans mentioned earlier, you might write something like this:

Considering the development of the novel, which portrayed everyday people making their way through life, using an orphan as a protagonist was effective. Orphans are characters that, by definition, need to find their way alone. The author can let the protagonist venture out into the world where the anything, good or bad, might happen (Mullan).

You’ll notice a couple of things here. One, there are no quotation marks, but there is still an in-text citation (the name in parentheses). A paraphrase lacks quotation marks because you aren’t directly quoting, but it still needs a citation because you are using a specific segment of the text. It is still someone else’s original idea and must be cited.

Secondly, if you look at the original quote, you’ll see that five lines of text are condensed into four and a half lines. Everything the author used has been changed.

A single paragraph of text has been explained in different words—which is the heart of paraphrasing.

What is summarizing?

Next, we come to summarizing. Summarizing is on a much larger scale than quoting or paraphrasing. While similar to paraphrasing in that you use your own words, a summary’s primary focus is on translating the main idea of an entire document or long section.

Summaries are useful because they allow you to mention entire chapters or articles—or longer works—in only a few sentences. However, summaries can be longer and more in-depth. They can actually include quotes and paraphrases. Keep in mind, though, that since a summary condenses information, look for the main points. Don’t include a lot of details in a summary.

In literary analysis essays, it is useful to include one body paragraph that summarizes the work you’re writing about. It might be helpful to quote or paraphrase specific lines that contribute to the main themes of such a work. Here is an example summarizing the article on orphans in Victorian literature:

In John Mullan’s article “Orphans in Fiction” on bl.uk.com, he reviews the use of orphans as protagonists in 19 th century Victorian literature. Mullan argues that orphans, without family attachments, are effective characters that can be “unleashed to discover the world.” This discovery process often leads orphans to expose dangerous aspects of society, while maintaining their innocence. As an example, Mullan examines how many female orphans wind up as governesses, demonstrating the usefulness of a main character that is obligated to find their own way.

This summary includes the main ideas of the article, one paraphrase, and one direct quote. A ten-paragraph article is summarized into one single paragraph.

As for giving source credit, since the author’s name and title of the source are stated at the beginning of the summary paragraph, you don’t need an in-text citation.

How do I know which one to use?

The fact is that writers use these three reference types (quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing) interchangeably. The key is to pay attention to your argument development. At some points, you will want concrete, firm evidence. Quotes are perfect for this.

At other times, you will want general support for an argument, but the text that includes such support is long-winded. A paraphrase is appropriate in this case.

Finally, sometimes you may need to mention an entire book or article because it is so full of evidence to support your points. In these cases, it is wise to take a few sentences or even a full paragraph to summarize the source.

No matter which type you use, you always need to cite your source on a References or Works Cited page at the end of the document. The MLA works cited entry for the text we’ve been using today looks like this:

Mullan, John. Orphans in Fiction” www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/orphans-in-fiction.  Accessed 20. Oct. 2020

————–

See our related lesson with video:  How to Quote and Paraphrase Evidence

Citation Guides

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• Citation Examples
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Page Numbers
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide
• Bibliography
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• View MLA Guide

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Citation Basics

Harvard Referencing

Plagiarism Basics

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

Quoting and Paraphrasing

Download this Handout PDF

College writing often involves integrating information from published sources into your own writing in order to add credibility and authority–this process is essential to research and the production of new knowledge.

However, when building on the work of others, you need to be careful not to plagiarize : “to steal and pass off (the ideas and words of another) as one’s own” or to “present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”1 The University of Wisconsin–Madison takes this act of “intellectual burglary” very seriously and considers it to be a breach of academic integrity . Penalties are severe.

These materials will help you avoid plagiarism by teaching you how to properly integrate information from published sources into your own writing.

1. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1993), 888.

How to avoid plagiarism

When using sources in your papers, you can avoid plagiarism by knowing what must be documented.

Specific words and phrases

If you use an author’s specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source.

Information and Ideas

Even if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source.

Information : If a piece of information isn’t common knowledge (see below), you need to provide a source.

Ideas : An author’s ideas may include not only points made and conclusions drawn, but, for instance, a specific method or theory, the arrangement of material, or a list of steps in a process or characteristics of a medical condition. If a source provided any of these, you need to acknowledge the source.

Common Knowledge?

You do not need to cite a source for material considered common knowledge:

General common knowledge is factual information considered to be in the public domain, such as birth and death dates of well-known figures, and generally accepted dates of military, political, literary, and other historical events. In general, factual information contained in multiple standard reference works can usually be considered to be in the public domain.

Field-specific common knowledge is “common” only within a particular field or specialty. It may include facts, theories, or methods that are familiar to readers within that discipline. For instance, you may not need to cite a reference to Piaget’s developmental stages in a paper for an education class or give a source for your description of a commonly used method in a biology report—but you must be sure that this information is so widely known within that field that it will be shared by your readers.

If in doubt, be cautious and cite the source. And in the case of both general and field-specific common knowledge, if you use the exact words of the reference source, you must use quotation marks and credit the source.

Paraphrasing vs. Quoting — Explanation

Should i paraphrase or quote.

In general, use direct quotations only if you have a good reason. Most of your paper should be in your own words. Also, it’s often conventional to quote more extensively from sources when you’re writing a humanities paper, and to summarize from sources when you’re writing in the social or natural sciences–but there are always exceptions.

In a literary analysis paper , for example, you”ll want to quote from the literary text rather than summarize, because part of your task in this kind of paper is to analyze the specific words and phrases an author uses.

In research papers , you should quote from a source

• to show that an authority supports your point
• to present a position or argument to critique or comment on
• to include especially moving or historically significant language
• to present a particularly well-stated passage whose meaning would be lost or changed if paraphrased or summarized

You should summarize or paraphrase when

• what you want from the source is the idea expressed, and not the specific language used to express it
• you can express in fewer words what the key point of a source is

How to paraphrase a source

General advice.

• When reading a passage, try first to understand it as a whole, rather than pausing to write down specific ideas or phrases.
• Be selective. Unless your assignment is to do a formal or “literal” paraphrase, you usually don?t need to paraphrase an entire passage; instead, choose and summarize the material that helps you make a point in your paper.
• Think of what “your own words” would be if you were telling someone who’s unfamiliar with your subject (your mother, your brother, a friend) what the original source said.
• Remember that you can use direct quotations of phrases from the original within your paraphrase, and that you don’t need to change or put quotation marks around shared language.

Methods of Paraphrasing

• Look away from the source then write. Read the text you want to paraphrase several times until you feel that you understand it and can use your own words to restate it to someone else. Then, look away from the original and rewrite the text in your own words.
• Take notes. Take abbreviated notes; set the notes aside; then paraphrase from the notes a day or so later, or when you draft.

If you find that you can’t do A or B, this may mean that you don’t understand the passage completely or that you need to use a more structured process until you have more experience in paraphrasing.

The method below is not only a way to create a paraphrase but also a way to understand a difficult text.

Paraphrasing difficult texts

Consider the following passage from Love and Toil (a book on motherhood in London from 1870 to 1918), in which the author, Ellen Ross, puts forth one of her major arguments:

• Love and Toil maintains that family survival was the mother’s main charge among the large majority of London?s population who were poor or working class; the emotional and intellectual nurture of her child or children and even their actual comfort were forced into the background. To mother was to work for and organize household subsistence. (p. 9)

Children of the poor at the turn of the century received little if any emotional or intellectual nurturing from their mothers, whose main charge was family survival. Working for and organizing household subsistence were what defined mothering. Next to this, even the children’s basic comfort was forced into the background (Ross, 1995).

According to Ross (1993), poor children at the turn of the century received little mothering in our sense of the term. Mothering was defined by economic status, and among the poor, a mother’s foremost responsibility was not to stimulate her children’s minds or foster their emotional growth but to provide food and shelter to meet the basic requirements for physical survival. Given the magnitude of this task, children were deprived of even the “actual comfort” (p. 9) we expect mothers to provide today.

You may need to go through this process several times to create a satisfactory paraphrase.

Successful vs. unsuccessful paraphrases

Paraphrasing is often defined as putting a passage from an author into “your own words.” But what are your own words? How different must your paraphrase be from the original?

The paragraphs below provide an example by showing a passage as it appears in the source, two paraphrases that follow the source too closely, and a legitimate paraphrase.

The student’s intention was to incorporate the material in the original passage into a section of a paper on the concept of “experts” that compared the functions of experts and nonexperts in several professions.

The Passage as It Appears in the Source

Critical care nurses function in a hierarchy of roles. In this open heart surgery unit, the nurse manager hires and fires the nursing personnel. The nurse manager does not directly care for patients but follows the progress of unusual or long-term patients. On each shift a nurse assumes the role of resource nurse. This person oversees the hour-by-hour functioning of the unit as a whole, such as considering expected admissions and discharges of patients, ascertaining that beds are available for patients in the operating room, and covering sick calls. Resource nurses also take a patient assignment. They are the most experienced of all the staff nurses. The nurse clinician has a separate job description and provides for quality of care by orienting new staff, developing unit policies, and providing direct support where needed, such as assisting in emergency situations. The clinical nurse specialist in this unit is mostly involved with formal teaching in orienting new staff. The nurse manager, nurse clinician, and clinical nurse specialist are the designated experts. They do not take patient assignments. The resource nurse is seen as both a caregiver and a resource to other caregivers. . . . Staff nurses have a hierarchy of seniority. . . . Staff nurses are assigned to patients to provide all their nursing care. (Chase, 1995, p. 156)

Word-for-Word Plagiarism

Critical care nurses have a hierarchy of roles. The nurse manager hires and fires nurses. S/he does not directly care for patients but does follow unusual or long-term cases. On each shift a resource nurse attends to the functioning of the unit as a whole, such as making sure beds are available in the operating room , and also has a patient assignment . The nurse clinician orients new staff, develops policies, and provides support where needed . The clinical nurse specialist also orients new staff, mostly by formal teaching. The nurse manager, nurse clinician, and clinical nurse specialist , as the designated experts, do not take patient assignments . The resource nurse is not only a caregiver but a resource to the other caregivers . Within the staff nurses there is also a hierarchy of seniority . Their job is to give assigned patients all their nursing care .

Why this is plagiarism

Notice that the writer has not only “borrowed” Chase’s material (the results of her research) with no acknowledgment, but has also largely maintained the author’s method of expression and sentence structure. The phrases in red are directly copied from the source or changed only slightly in form.

Even if the student-writer had acknowledged Chase as the source of the content, the language of the passage would be considered plagiarized because no quotation marks indicate the phrases that come directly from Chase. And if quotation marks did appear around all these phrases, this paragraph would be so cluttered that it would be unreadable.

A Patchwork Paraphrase

Chase (1995) describes how nurses in a critical care unit function in a hierarchy that places designated experts at the top and the least senior staff nurses at the bottom. The experts — the nurse manager, nurse clinician, and clinical nurse specialist — are not involved directly in patient care. The staff nurses, in contrast, are assigned to patients and provide all their nursing care . Within the staff nurses is a hierarchy of seniority in which the most senior can become resource nurses: they are assigned a patient but also serve as a resource to other caregivers. The experts have administrative and teaching tasks such as selecting and orienting new staff, developing unit policies , and giving hands-on support where needed.

This paraphrase is a patchwork composed of pieces in the original author’s language (in red) and pieces in the student-writer’s words, all rearranged into a new pattern, but with none of the borrowed pieces in quotation marks. Thus, even though the writer acknowledges the source of the material, the underlined phrases are falsely presented as the student’s own.

A Legitimate Paraphrase

In her study of the roles of nurses in a critical care unit, Chase (1995) also found a hierarchy that distinguished the roles of experts and others. Just as the educational experts described above do not directly teach students, the experts in this unit do not directly attend to patients. That is the role of the staff nurses, who, like teachers, have their own “hierarchy of seniority” (p. 156). The roles of the experts include employing unit nurses and overseeing the care of special patients (nurse manager), teaching and otherwise integrating new personnel into the unit (clinical nurse specialist and nurse clinician), and policy-making (nurse clinician). In an intermediate position in the hierarchy is the resource nurse, a staff nurse with more experience than the others, who assumes direct care of patients as the other staff nurses do, but also takes on tasks to ensure the smooth operation of the entire facility.

Why this is a good paraphrase

The writer has documented Chase’s material and specific language (by direct reference to the author and by quotation marks around language taken directly from the source). Notice too that the writer has modified Chase’s language and structure and has added material to fit the new context and purpose — to present the distinctive functions of experts and nonexperts in several professions.

Shared Language

Perhaps you’ve noticed that a number of phrases from the original passage appear in the legitimate paraphrase: critical care, staff nurses, nurse manager, clinical nurse specialist, nurse clinician, resource nurse.

If all these phrases were in red, the paraphrase would look much like the “patchwork” example. The difference is that the phrases in the legitimate paraphrase are all precise, economical, and conventional designations that are part of the shared language within the nursing discipline (in the too-close paraphrases, they’re red only when used within a longer borrowed phrase).

In every discipline and in certain genres (such as the empirical research report), some phrases are so specialized or conventional that you can’t paraphrase them except by wordy and awkward circumlocutions that would be less familiar (and thus less readable) to the audience.

When you repeat such phrases, you’re not stealing the unique phrasing of an individual writer but using a common vocabulary shared by a community of scholars.

Some Examples of Shared Language You Don’t Need to Put in Quotation Marks

• Conventional designations: e.g., physician’s assistant, chronic low-back pain
• Preferred bias-free language: e.g., persons with disabilities
• Technical terms and phrases of a discipline or genre : e.g., reduplication, cognitive domain, material culture, sexual harassment

Chase, S. K. (1995). The social context of critical care clinical judgment. Heart and Lung, 24, 154-162.

How to Quote a Source

Introducing a quotation.

One of your jobs as a writer is to guide your reader through your text. Don’t simply drop quotations into your paper and leave it to the reader to make connections.

Integrating a quotation into your text usually involves two elements:

• A signal that a quotation is coming–generally the author’s name and/or a reference to the work
• An assertion that indicates the relationship of the quotation to your text

Often both the signal and the assertion appear in a single introductory statement, as in the example below. Notice how a transitional phrase also serves to connect the quotation smoothly to the introductory statement.

Ross (1993), in her study of poor and working-class mothers in London from 1870-1918 [signal], makes it clear that economic status to a large extent determined the meaning of motherhood [assertion]. Among this population [connection], “To mother was to work for and organize household subsistence” (p. 9).

The signal can also come after the assertion, again with a connecting word or phrase:

Illness was rarely a routine matter in the nineteenth century [assertion]. As [connection] Ross observes [signal], “Maternal thinking about children’s health revolved around the possibility of a child’s maiming or death” (p. 166).

Formatting Quotations

Short direct prose.

Incorporate short direct prose quotations into the text of your paper and enclose them in double quotation marks:

According to Jonathan Clarke, “Professional diplomats often say that trying to think diplomatically about foreign policy is a waste of time.”

Longer prose quotations

Begin longer quotations (for instance, in the APA system, 40 words or more) on a new line and indent the entire quotation (i.e., put in block form), with no quotation marks at beginning or end, as in the quoted passage from our Successful vs. Unsucessful Paraphrases page.

Rules about the minimum length of block quotations, how many spaces to indent, and whether to single- or double-space extended quotations vary with different documentation systems; check the guidelines for the system you’re using.

Quotation of Up to 3 Lines of Poetry

Quotations of up to 3 lines of poetry should be integrated into your sentence. For example:

In Julius Caesar, Antony begins his famous speech with “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears; / I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.75-76).

Notice that a slash (/) with a space on either side is used to separate lines.

Quotation of More than 3 Lines of Poetry

More than 3 lines of poetry should be indented. As with any extended (indented) quotation, do not use quotation marks unless you need to indicate a quotation within your quotation.

Punctuating with Quotation Marks

Parenthetical citations.

With short quotations, place citations outside of closing quotation marks, followed by sentence punctuation (period, question mark, comma, semi-colon, colon):

Menand (2002) characterizes language as “a social weapon” (p. 115).

With block quotations, check the guidelines for the documentation system you are using.

Commas and periods

Place inside closing quotation marks when no parenthetical citation follows:

Hertzberg (2002) notes that “treating the Constitution as imperfect is not new,” but because of Dahl’s credentials, his “apostasy merits attention” (p. 85).

Semicolons and colons

Place outside of closing quotation marks (or after a parenthetical citation).

Question marks and exclamation points

Place inside closing quotation marks if the quotation is a question/exclamation:

Menand (2001) acknowledges that H. W. Fowler’s Modern English Usage is “a classic of the language,” but he asks, “Is it a dead classic?” (p. 114).

[Note that a period still follows the closing parenthesis.]

Place outside of closing quotation marks if the entire sentence containing the quotation is a question or exclamation:

How many students actually read the guide to find out what is meant by “academic misconduct”?

Quotation within a quotation

Use single quotation marks for the embedded quotation:

According to Hertzberg (2002), Dahl gives the U. S. Constitution “bad marks in ‘democratic fairness’ and ‘encouraging consensus'” (p. 90).

[The phrases “democratic fairness” and “encouraging consensus” are already in quotation marks in Dahl’s sentence.]

Indicating Changes in Quotations

Quoting only a portion of the whole.

Use ellipsis points (. . .) to indicate an omission within a quotation–but not at the beginning or end unless it’s not obvious that you’re quoting only a portion of the whole.

Adding Clarification, Comment, or Correction

Within quotations, use square brackets [ ] (not parentheses) to add your own clarification, comment, or correction.

Use [sic] (meaning “so” or “thus”) to indicate that a mistake is in the source you’re quoting and is not your own.

Additional information

Information on summarizing and paraphrasing sources.

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). (2000). Retrieved January 7, 2002, from http://www.bartleby.com/61/ Bazerman, C. (1995). The informed writer: Using sources in the disciplines (5th ed). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Leki, I. (1995). Academic writing: Exploring processes and strategies (2nd ed.) New York: St. Martin?s Press, pp. 185-211.

Leki describes the basic method presented in C, pp. 4-5.

Spatt, B. (1999). Writing from sources (5th ed.) New York: St. Martin?s Press, pp. 98-119; 364-371.

Information about specific documentation systems

The Writing Center has handouts explaining how to use many of the standard documentation systems. You may look at our general Web page on Documentation Systems, or you may check out any of the following specific Web pages.

If you’re not sure which documentation system to use, ask the course instructor who assigned your paper.

• American Psychological Assoicaion (APA)
• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• Chicago/Turabian (A Footnote or Endnote System)
• American Political Science Association (APSA)
• Council of Science Editors (CBE)
• Numbered References

You may also consult the following guides:

• American Medical Association, Manual for Authors and Editors
• Council of Science Editors, CBE style Manual
• The Chicago Manual of Style
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

Academic and Professional Writing

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Analysis Papers

Reading Poetry

A Short Guide to Close Reading for Literary Analysis

Using Literary Quotations

Play Reviews

Writing a Rhetorical Précis to Analyze Nonfiction Texts

Incorporating Interview Data

Grant Proposals

Planning and Writing a Grant Proposal: The Basics

Additional Resources for Grants and Proposal Writing

Job Materials and Application Essays

Writing Personal Statements for Ph.D. Programs

• Before you begin: useful tips for writing your essay
• Guided brainstorming exercises
• Get more help with your essay
• Frequently Asked Questions

Resume Writing Tips

CV Writing Tips

Cover Letters

Business Letters

Proposals and Dissertations

Resources for Proposal Writers

Resources for Dissertators

Research Papers

Planning and Writing Research Papers

Writing Annotated Bibliographies

Creating Poster Presentations

Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper

Thank-You Notes

Advice for Students Writing Thank-You Notes to Donors

Reading for a Review

Critical Reviews

Writing a Review of Literature

Scientific Reports

Scientific Report Format

Sample Lab Assignment

Writing for the Web

Writing an Effective Blog Post

Writing for Social Media: A Guide for Academics

APA Citation Guide (7th edition): Quotes vs Paraphrases

• Book Examples
• Article Examples
• Media Examples
• Internet Resources Examples
• Other Examples
• Quotes vs Paraphrases
• Reference Entry Components
• Paper Formatting

What's the Difference?

Quoting vs paraphrasing: what's the difference.

There are two ways to integrate sources into your assignment: quoting directly or paraphrasing.

Quoting  is copying a selection from someone else's work, phrasing it exactly as it was originally written. When quoting place quotation marks (" ") around the selected passage to show where the quote begins and where it ends. Make sure to include an in-text citation. 

Paraphrasing  is used to show that you understand what the author wrote. You must reword the passage, expressing the ideas in your own words, and not just change a few words here and there. Make sure to also include an in-text citation. 

Quoting Example

There are two basic formats that can be used:

Parenthetical Style:

Narrative Style:

Quoting Tips

• Long Quotes
• Changing Quotes

What Is a Long Quotation?

A quotation of more than 40 words. 

Rules for Long Quotations

There are 4 rules that apply to long quotations that are different from regular quotations:

• The line before your long quotation, when you're introducing the quote, usually ends with a colon.
• The long quotation is indented half an inch from the rest of the text, so it looks like a block of text.
• There are no quotation marks around the quotation.
• The period at the end of the quotation comes before your in-text citation as opposed to after, as it does with regular quotations.

Example of a Long Quotation

At the end of Lord of the Flies the boys are struck with the realization of their behaviour:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding, 1960, p.186)

Changing Quotations

Sometimes you may want to make some modifications to the quote to fit your writing. Here are some APA rules when changing quotes:

Incorrect spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Add the word [sic] after the error in the quotation to let your reader know the error was in the original source and is not your error.

Omitting parts of a quotation

If you would like to exclude some words from a quotation, replace the words you are not including with an ellipsis - ...

Adding words to a quote

If you are adding words that are not part of the original quote, enclose the additional words in square brackets - [XYZ]

Secondary Source Quotes

What is a secondary source.

In scholarly work, a primary source reports original content; a secondary source refers to content first reported in another source.

• Cite secondary sources sparingly—for instance, when the original work is out of print, unavailable, or available only in a language that you do not understand.
• If possible, as a matter of good scholarly practice, find the primary source, read it, and cite it directly rather than citing a secondary source.

Rules for Secondary Source Citations

• In the reference list, provide an entry only for the secondary source that you used.
• In the text, identify the primary source and write “as cited in” the secondary source that you used. 
• If the year of publication of the primary source is known, also include it in the in-text citation.

Example of a Secondary Source Use

Quote & In-Text Citation

Reference List Entry

Paraphrases

Paraphrasing example.

When you write information from a source in your own words, cite the source by adding an in-text citation at the end of the paraphrased portion as follows:

If you refer to the author's name in a sentence you do not have to include the name again as part of your in-text citation, instead include the year of publication following his/her name:

NOTE : Although not required, APA encourages including the page number when paraphrasing if it will help the reader locate the information in a long text and distinguish between the information that is coming from you and the source.

Paraphrasing Tips

• Long Paraphrases

Original Source

Homeless individuals commonly come from families who are riddled with problems and marital disharmony, and are alienated from their parents. They have often been physically and even sexually abused, have relocated frequently, and many of them may be asked to leave home or are actually thrown out, or alternatively are placed in group homes or in foster care. They often have no one to care for them and no one knows them intimately.

Source from: 

Rokach, A. (2005). The causes of loneliness in homeless youth. The Journal of Psychology, 139, 469-480. 

Example: Incorrect Paraphrasing

Example: correct paraphrasing.

If your paraphrase is longer than one sentence, provide an in-text citation for the source at the beginning of the paraphrase. As long as it's clear that the paraphrase continues to the following sentences, you don't have to include in-text citations for the following sentences.

If your paraphrase continues to another paragraph and/or you include paraphrases from other sources within the paragraph, repeat the in-text citations for each.

Additional Resource

• Paraphrasing (The Learning Portal)

Tip sheet on paraphrasing information

• << Previous: In-Text Citations
• Next: Reference Entry Components >>
• Last Updated: Jul 30, 2024 4:42 PM
• URL: https://simmons.libguides.com/apa

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Working with sources
• How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Published on April 8, 2022 by Courtney Gahan and Jack Caulfield. Revised on June 1, 2023.

Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing a source involves changing the wording while preserving the original meaning.

Paraphrasing is an alternative to  quoting (copying someone’s exact words and putting them in quotation marks ). In academic writing, it’s usually better to integrate sources by paraphrasing instead of quoting. It shows that you have understood the source, reads more smoothly, and keeps your own voice front and center.

Every time you paraphrase, it’s important to cite the source . Also take care not to use wording that is too similar to the original. Otherwise, you could be at risk of committing plagiarism .

What is your plagiarism score?

Compare your paper with 99.3 billion webpages and 8 million publications.

• Best plagiarism checker of 2021
• Plagiarism report & percentage
• Largest plagiarism database

Scribbr Plagiarism Checker

Table of contents

How to paraphrase in five easy steps, how to paraphrase correctly, examples of paraphrasing, how to cite a paraphrase, paraphrasing vs. quoting, paraphrasing vs. summarizing, avoiding plagiarism when you paraphrase, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about paraphrasing.

If you’re struggling to get to grips with the process of paraphrasing, check out our easy step-by-step guide in the video below.

Don't submit your assignments before you do this

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students. Free citation check included.

Try for free

Putting an idea into your own words can be easier said than done. Let’s say you want to paraphrase the text below, about population decline in a particular species of sea snails.

Incorrect paraphrasing

You might make a first attempt to paraphrase it by swapping out a few words for  synonyms .

Like other sea creatures inhabiting the vicinity of highly populated coasts, horse conchs have lost substantial territory to advancement and contamination , including preferred breeding grounds along mud flats and seagrass beds. Their Gulf home is also heating up due to global warming , which scientists think further puts pressure on the creatures , predicated upon the harmful effects extra warmth has on other large mollusks (Barnett, 2022).

This attempt at paraphrasing doesn’t change the sentence structure or order of information, only some of the word choices. And the synonyms chosen are poor:

• “Advancement and contamination” doesn’t really convey the same meaning as “development and pollution.”
• Sometimes the changes make the tone less academic: “home” for “habitat” and “sea creatures” for “marine animals.”
• Adding phrases like “inhabiting the vicinity of” and “puts pressure on” makes the text needlessly long-winded.
• Global warming is related to climate change, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.

Because of this, the text reads awkwardly, is longer than it needs to be, and remains too close to the original phrasing. This means you risk being accused of plagiarism .

Correct paraphrasing

Let’s look at a more effective way of paraphrasing the same text.

Here, we’ve:

• Only included the information that’s relevant to our argument (note that the paraphrase is shorter than the original)
• Introduced the information with the signal phrase “Scientists believe that …”
• Retained key terms like “development and pollution,” since changing them could alter the meaning
• Structured sentences in our own way instead of copying the structure of the original
• Started from a different point, presenting information in a different order

Because of this, we’re able to clearly convey the relevant information from the source without sticking too close to the original phrasing.

Explore the tabs below to see examples of paraphrasing in action.

• Journal article
• Newspaper article
• Magazine article

Once you have your perfectly paraphrased text, you need to ensure you credit the original author. You’ll always paraphrase sources in the same way, but you’ll have to use a different type of in-text citation depending on what citation style you follow.

Generate accurate citations with Scribbr

Scribbr citation checker new.

The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

It’s a good idea to paraphrase instead of quoting in most cases because:

• Paraphrasing shows that you fully understand the meaning of a text
• Your own voice remains dominant throughout your paper
• Quotes reduce the readability of your text

But that doesn’t mean you should never quote. Quotes are appropriate when:

• Giving a precise definition
• Saying something about the author’s language or style (e.g., in a literary analysis paper)
• Providing evidence in support of an argument
• Critiquing or analyzing a specific claim

A paraphrase puts a specific passage into your own words. It’s typically a similar length to the original text, or slightly shorter.

When you boil a longer piece of writing down to the key points, so that the result is a lot shorter than the original, this is called summarizing .

Paraphrasing and quoting are important tools for presenting specific information from sources. But if the information you want to include is more general (e.g., the overarching argument of a whole article), summarizing is more appropriate.

When paraphrasing, you have to be careful to avoid accidental plagiarism .

This can happen if the paraphrase is too similar to the original quote, with phrases or whole sentences that are identical (and should therefore be in quotation marks). It can also happen if you fail to properly cite the source.

Paraphrasing tools are widely used by students, and can be especially useful for non-native speakers who may find academic writing particularly challenging. While these can be helpful for a bit of extra inspiration, use these tools sparingly, keeping academic integrity in mind.

To make sure you’ve properly paraphrased and cited all your sources, you could elect to run a plagiarism check before submitting your paper. And of course, always be sure to read your source material yourself and take the first stab at paraphrasing on your own.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Critical thinking

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

To paraphrase effectively, don’t just take the original sentence and swap out some of the words for synonyms. Instead, try:

• Reformulating the sentence (e.g., change active to passive , or start from a different point)
• Combining information from multiple sentences into one
• Leaving out information from the original that isn’t relevant to your point
• Using synonyms where they don’t distort the meaning

The main point is to ensure you don’t just copy the structure of the original text, but instead reformulate the idea in your own words.

Paraphrasing without crediting the original author is a form of plagiarism , because you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

However, paraphrasing is not plagiarism if you correctly cite the source . This means including an in-text citation and a full reference, formatted according to your required citation style .

As well as citing, make sure that any paraphrased text is completely rewritten in your own words.

Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas in your own words.

So when does paraphrasing count as plagiarism?

• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if you don’t properly credit the original author.
• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if your text is too close to the original wording (even if you cite the source). If you directly copy a sentence or phrase, you should quote it instead.
• Paraphrasing  is not plagiarism if you put the author’s ideas completely in your own words and properly cite the source .

Try our services

To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

• Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
• You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
• You’re presenting a precise definition
• You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Gahan, C. & Caulfield, J. (2023, June 01). How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 12, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-paraphrase/

Is this article helpful?

Courtney Gahan

Other students also liked, how to write a summary | guide & examples, how to quote | citing quotes in apa, mla & chicago, how to avoid plagiarism | tips on citing sources, get unlimited documents corrected.

✔ Free APA citation check included ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts

MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Quoting vs. Paraphrasing

• Source Types
• Evaluating Sources
• Quoting vs. Paraphrasing
• Advertisements
• Audio Materials
• Books, eBooks & Course Packs
• Creative Commons Licensed Works
• Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
• Games & Objects
• Government Documents
• Images, Infographics, Maps, Charts, & Tables
• Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers (Oral Communication)
• Journal Articles
• Magazine Articles
• Newspaper Articles
• Personal Communications (including emails and interviews)
• Religious Works
• Social Media
• Websites (including documents/PDFs posted on websites)
• When Information Is Missing
• Works Quoted in Another Source
• Works Cited & Paper Format
• Plagiarism & Academic Integrity
• End of Paper Checklist

Quoting vs Paraphrasing

Quoting vs paraphrasing: what's the difference.

There are two ways to integrate sources into your assignment: quoting directly or paraphrasing.

Quoting  is copying a selection from someone else's work, phrasing it exactly as it was originally written. When quoting place quotation marks (" ") around the selected passage to show where the quote begins and where it ends. Make sure to include an in-text citation. 

Paraphrasing  is used to show that you understand what the author wrote. You must reword the passage, expressing the ideas in your own words, and not just change a few words here and there. Make sure to also include an in-text citation. 

"The Basics of MLA In-text Citations."  Video, 4:13. Posted by Scribbr, 2021. Accessed April 24, 2021.  YouTube.  YouTube, 2021.https://youtu.be/ypWxhhpGeyM

• Long quotations
• Modifying quotations

Quoting - Example:

There are two basic formats that can be used when quoting a source:

Parenthetical Style:

Narrative Style:

Note: If there are no page numbers, as in a website, cite the author name only.

What is a Long or Block Quotation?

A long or block quotation is a quotation which is 4 lines or more. 

Rules for Long Quotations

There are 4 rules that apply to long quotations that are different from regular quotations:

• The line before your long quotation, when you're introducing the quote, usually ends with a colon.
• The long quotation is indented half an inch from the rest of the text, so it looks like a block of text.
• There are no quotation marks around the quotation.
• The period at the end of the quotation comes before your in-text citation as opposed to after , as it does with regular quotations.

Example of a Long Quotation

At the end of Lord of the Flies the boys are struck with the realization of their behaviour:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding 186)

Modifying Quotations

• Sometimes you may want to make some modifications to the quote to fit your writing. Here are some MLA rules when changing quotes:

Changing Quotations

Omitting parts of a quotation

• If you would like to exclude some words from a quotation, replace the words you are not including with an ellipsis - ...

Adding words to a quote

• If you are adding words that are not part of the original quote, enclose the additional words in square brackets - [XYZ]

Paraphrasing

• Correct vs. incorrect paraphrasing
• Long paraphrases

Paraphrasing - Examples:

When you write information from a source in your own words, cite the source by adding an in-text citation at the end of the paraphrased portion as follows:

If you refer to the author's name in a sentence you do not have to include the name again as part of your in-text citation, instead include the page number if there is one:

Correct vs. Incorrect Paraphrasing

Original Source

Homeless individuals commonly come from families who are riddled with problems and marital disharmony, and are alienated from their parents. They have often been physically and even sexually abused, have relocated frequently, and many of them may be asked to leave home or are actually thrown out, or alternatively are placed in group homes or in foster care. They often have no one to care for them and no one knows them intimately.

Source from: 

Rokach, Ami.  "The Causes of Loneliness in Homeless Youth." The Journal of Psychology, 139, 2005, pp. 469-480. Academic Search Premier.

Example: Incorrect Paraphrasing

Example: Correct Paraphrasing

Long Paraphrases

If you paraphrase a source more than once in a single paragraph and no other sources are mentioned in between, provide an in-text citation for the source at the end of each paraphrase. In the examples, the second in-text citation only includes the page number since it is clear that the same source is still being paraphrased.

If your paraphrase continues to another paragraph and/or you include paraphrases from other sources within the same paragraph, repeat the in-text citations for each.

In-text Citation Tips

• Repeated use of sources
• Sources with same author and publication year
• Citing more than one source

If you are using information from a single source more than once in succession (i.e., no other sources referred to in between), you can use a simplified in-text citation.

 Note: If using this simplified in-text citation creates ambiguity regarding the source being referred to, use the full in-text citation format.

When you are citing two different sources that share the same author, for the Works Cited List list the first title only, and for any subsequent titles by the same author list three dashes (---) in place of the author name. 

For in-text citations, include a shortened version of the source title following the author name.

If you would like to cite more than one source within the same in-text citation, simply record the in-text citations as normal and separate them with a semi-colon (;).

• << Previous: Evaluating Sources
• Next: How Do I Cite? >>
• Last Updated: Mar 13, 2024 8:51 AM
• URL: https://columbiabasin.libguides.com/MLA

509-542-4887 [email protected] 2600 N 20th Ave, Pasco, WA. 99301

Using Information Ethically

• Academic Integrity
• What is Plagiarism?
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Recognizing Academic Misconduct
• Citing Sources
• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Strategies
• AI & Academic Integrity
• Using AI Ethically
• Test Your Knowledge

Overview of Quoting, Paraphrasing & Summarizing

Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are all common techniques used in academic writing. This section will discuss each of these techniques and how to incorporate them effectively into your writing to help avoid academic misconduct, such as plagiarism. 

What are the differences between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing and when should you use each technique in your writing?

• Accessible version of overview of quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing table.

When to Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize

Deciding when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize is ultimately up to you as a writer. However, good academic writing generally uses a combination of the three. Review the following examples to see which situations might be best for each writing technique. 

Paraphrasing Tutorial

Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to describe the words and ideas of others. Learning to paraphrase successfully is an important component in academic writing. This paraphrasing tutorial will take you through scenarios that will demonstrate good paraphrasing techniques. 

• << Previous: Citing Sources
• Next: AI & Academic Integrity >>
• Last Updated: Sep 6, 2024 9:10 AM
• URL: https://libguides.unco.edu/plagiarism

BibGuru Blog

Be more productive in school

• Citation Styles

Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing: what’s the difference?

When you write a research paper, you’re required to include evidence from scholarly sources in order to prove your thesis. In this post, we discuss the three most common ways to include source material in your research paper: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

What is quoting?

When you quote, you use exact words from a source in between quotation marks. You may want to quote directly from a source when the information is particularly complex or when the quote expresses an idea or point in a way that perfectly captures the situation, concept, or thought.

If you’re using a quote that is more than four lines, you should include the material as a block quote. To learn more about how to quote, take a look at our tips for integrating quotes into a research paper. Always include an in-text citation after the quoted material.

What is paraphrasing?

When you paraphrase, you re-write borrowed material in your own words. Paraphrasing requires you to change the words of the quote without changing their meaning.

Paraphrases are typically shorter than the quotes that they restate and always require an in-text citation that credits the original source material.

What is summarizing?

A summary provides an overview of an idea or topic. You might wish to summarize parts of a source if you’re writing a literature review as part of a longer research paper.

Summarizing requires you to sum up the key points of a text, argument, or idea. A summary will be shorter than the original material. Even if you’re not using any of the source’s exact words in your summary, you still need to include an in-text citation.

How do you know when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize material?

Quotes, paraphrases, and summaries are simply different ways of presenting borrowed information. However, there are definitely situations in which one mode may be better than another.

When to use quotes

While it’s a myth that you should avoid using quotes as much as possible in a research paper, you do need to ensure that you are using them effectively. Turning in a paper full quotes is certainly not a good idea, but quotes can be useful if:

• you are trying to make a particularly complex point
• you intend to analyze or interpret a quote’s language
• you need to provide a definition of something
• a quote perfectly encapsulates an idea that is important to your argument

When to paraphrase

Paraphrasing allows you to confirm that you fully understand a quote’s meaning and to explain that content in your own words. There may be several reasons why you would choose to paraphrase a passage, rather than quote it. You might use paraphrase if:

• the material is relatively easy to describe
• you don’t wish to break up the flow of your writing with quotes
• you don’t intend to provide analysis of the information
• you want to combine material from several sources

When to summarize

Summary allows you to synthesize a larger amount of information from a single source or multiple sources. An effective summary will highlight the key points of a text in a concise manner. In a research paper, you’ll primarily use summary in the literature review or state-of-the-field section.

Examples of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing

Quoting example.

When you quote, you should always try to “sandwich” the quote in your own words. You can also break up longer quotes with ellipses, or with snippets like “Smith explains.” For instance, in the example below, the writer uses her own words to lead into, and out of, the quotes.

Jenna Lay claims that “Catholic women resisted any easy demarcation between a Catholic medieval past and a Protestant, reformed present in both their religious practices and their print and manuscript books,” an argument that can be extended to include entire Catholic families (16). However, despite the fact that scholars such as Patton, Lay, and Jennifer Summit have argued that “we stand to learn much when we determine […] whether the early modern collector of a medieval devotional book was a Catholic or Protestant,” few studies have explored in any depth how Catholics used their books in the post-Reformation period.

Paraphrasing example

In the example below, the writer succinctly paraphrases one of the main points of a book chapter. Even though there are no direct quotes, she still includes an in-text, parenthetical citation at the end of the paraphrase.

Elizabeth Patton, in her research on Catholic women’s bookscapes, contends that the staunchest Catholic families maintained textual networks in which they circulated books that were banned in Protestant England, including copies of medieval devotional manuscripts (117).

Summarizing example

In the following summary, the writer uses her own words to provide a concise, yet thorough, summary of an article’s purpose and use of evidence. Again, although no direct quotes are included, the writer adds an in-text citation at the end of the example.

To establish the importance of this main point, Raghavan and Pargman firstly explore two related paradigms in sustainable HCI research: sustainable computing and computing for sustainability. The latter, they argue, has been simultaneously under- and overdeveloped and offers little in the way of practical solutions for how computing can lessen humans’ ecological impact. As a result, they focus on computing for sustainability and explore how disintermediation can catalyze solutions across several key categories, including value, class, labor, and social control. Importantly, they note that policy solutions have failed to fully address the relationship between computing and sustainability (1-2).

In-text citations for quotes, paraphrases, and summaries

Whether you’re quoting exact words from a text, paraphrasing a quote in your own words, or summarizing someone else’s work, you’ll need to include in-text citations for any borrowed material.

You can use BibGuru to create in-text citations in MLA , APA , or any major citation style . Most in-text citations are in the form of parenthetical citations . It’s always a good idea to consult your assignment guidelines, or your instructor, to find out which citation style is required for your paper.

Frequently Asked Questions about quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing

When you quote, you use exact words from a source in between quotation marks. When you paraphrase, you re-write borrowed material in your own words.

Paraphrasing requires you to change the words of the quote without changing their meaning.

Summarizing requires you to sum up the key points of a text, argument, or idea. A summary will be shorter than the original material. Even if you’re not using any of the author’s exact words in your summary, you still need to include an in-text citation.

When you quote, you should always try to “sandwich” the quote in your own words. You can also break up longer quotes with ellipses or with snippets like “Smith explains.” For instance, in the example below, the writer uses her owd words to lead into, and out of, the quote.

Paraphrasing allows you to confirm that you fully understand a quote’s meaning and to explain that content in your own words.

Make your life easier with our productivity and writing resources.

For students and teachers.

• Utility Menu

fa3d988da6f218669ec27d6b6019a0cd

A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

Depending on the conventions of your discipline, you may have to decide whether to summarize a source, paraphrase a source, or quote from a source.

Scholars in the humanities tend to summarize, paraphrase, and quote texts; social scientists and natural scientists rely primarily on summary and paraphrase.

When and how to summarize

When you summarize, you provide your readers with a condensed version of an author's key points. A summary can be as short as a few sentences or much longer, depending on the complexity of the text and the level of detail you wish to provide to your readers. You will need to summarize a source in your paper when you are going to refer to that source and you want your readers to understand the source's argument, main ideas, or plot (if the source is a novel, film, or play) before you lay out your own argument about it, analysis of it, or response to it.

Before you summarize a source in your paper, you should decide what your reader needs to know about that source in order to understand your argument. For example, if you are making an argument about a novel, you should avoid filling pages of your paper with details from the book that will distract or confuse your reader. Instead, you should add details sparingly, going only into the depth that is necessary for your reader to understand and appreciate your argument. Similarly, if you are writing a paper about a journal article, you will need to highlight the most relevant parts of the argument for your reader, but you should not include all of the background information and examples. When you have to decide how much summary to put in a paper, it's a good idea to consult your instructor about whether you are supposed to assume your reader's knowledge of the sources.

Guidelines for summarizing a source in your paper

• Identify the author and the source.
• Represent the original source accurately.
• Present the source’s central claim clearly.
• Don’t summarize each point in the same order as the original source; focus on giving your reader the most important parts of the source
• Use your own words. Don’t provide a long quotation in the summary unless the actual language from the source is going to be important for your reader to see.

Stanley Milgram (1974) reports that ordinarily compassionate people will be cruel to each other if they are commanded to be by an authority figure. In his experiment, a group of participants were asked to administer electric shocks to people who made errors on a simple test. In spite of signs that those receiving shock were experiencing great physical pain, 25 of 40 subjects continued to administer electric shocks. These results held up for each group of people tested, no matter the demographic. The transcripts of conversations from the experiment reveal that although many of the participants felt increasingly uncomfortable, they continued to obey the experimenter, often showing great deference for the experimenter. Milgram suggests that when people feel responsible for carrying out the wishes of an authority figure, they do not feel responsible for the actual actions they are performing. He concludes that the increasing division of labor in society encourages people to focus on a small task and eschew responsibility for anything they do not directly control.

This summary of Stanley Milgram's 1974 essay, "The Perils of Obedience," provides a brief overview of Milgram's 12-page essay, along with an APA style parenthetical citation. You would write this type of summary if you were discussing Milgram's experiment in a paper in which you were not supposed to assume your reader's knowledge of the sources. Depending on your assignment, your summary might be even shorter.

When you include a summary of a paper in your essay, you must cite the source. If you were using APA style in your paper, you would include a parenthetical citation in the summary, and you would also include a full citation in your reference list at the end of your paper. For the essay by Stanley Milgram, your citation in your references list would include the following information:

Milgram, S. (1974). The perils of obedience. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.), The Blair reader (pp.725-737).

When and how to paraphrase

When you paraphrase from a source, you restate the source's ideas in your own words. Whereas a summary provides your readers with a condensed overview of a source (or part of a source), a paraphrase of a source offers your readers the same level of detail provided in the original source. Therefore, while a summary will be shorter than the original source material, a paraphrase will generally be about the same length as the original source material.

When you use any part of a source in your paper—as background information, as evidence, as a counterargument to which you plan to respond, or in any other form—you will always need to decide whether to quote directly from the source or to paraphrase it. Unless you have a good reason to quote directly from the source , you should paraphrase the source. Any time you paraphrase an author's words and ideas in your paper, you should make it clear to your reader why you are presenting this particular material from a source at this point in your paper. You should also make sure you have represented the author accurately, that you have used your own words consistently, and that you have cited the source.

This paraphrase below restates one of Milgram's points in the author's own words. When you paraphrase, you should always cite the source. This paraphrase uses the APA in-text citation style. Every source you paraphrase should also be included in your list of references at the end of your paper. For citation format information go to the Citing Sources section of this guide.

Source material

The problem of obedience is not wholly psychological. The form and shape of society and the way it is developing have much to do with it. There was a time, perhaps, when people were able to give a fully human response to any situation because they were fully absorbed in it as human beings. But as soon as there was a division of labor things changed.

--Stanley Milgram, "The Perils of Obedience," p.737.

Milgram, S. (1974). The perils of obedience. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.), The Blair reader (pp.725-737). Prentice Hall.

Milgram (1974) claims that people's willingness to obey authority figures cannot be explained by psychological factors alone. In an earlier era, people may have had the ability to invest in social situations to a greater extent. However, as society has become increasingly structured by a division of labor, people have become more alienated from situations over which they do not have control (p.737).

When and how much to quote

The basic rule in all disciplines is that you should only quote directly from a text when it's important for your reader to see the actual language used by the author of the source. While paraphrase and summary are effective ways to introduce your reader to someone's ideas, quoting directly from a text allows you to introduce your reader to the way those ideas are expressed by showing such details as language, syntax, and cadence.

So, for example, it may be important for a reader to see a passage of text quoted directly from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried if you plan to analyze the language of that passage in order to support your thesis about the book. On the other hand, if you're writing a paper in which you're making a claim about the reading habits of American elementary school students or reviewing the current research on Wilson's disease, the information you’re providing from sources will often be more important than the exact words. In those cases, you should paraphrase rather than quoting directly. Whether you quote from your source or paraphrase it, be sure to provide a citation for your source, using the correct format. (see Citing Sources section)

You should use quotations in the following situations:

• When you plan to discuss the actual language of a text.
• When you are discussing an author's position or theory, and you plan to discuss the wording of a core assertion or kernel of the argument in your paper.
• When you risk losing the essence of the author's ideas in the translation from their words to your own.
• When you want to appeal to the authority of the author and using their words will emphasize that authority.

Once you have decided to quote part of a text, you'll need to decide whether you are going to quote a long passage (a block quotation) or a short passage (a sentence or two within the text of your essay). Unless you are planning to do something substantive with a long quotation—to analyze the language in detail or otherwise break it down—you should not use block quotations in your essay. While long quotations will stretch your page limit, they don't add anything to your argument unless you also spend time discussing them in a way that illuminates a point you're making. Unless you are giving your readers something they need to appreciate your argument, you should use quotations sparingly.

When you quote from a source, you should make sure to cite the source either with an in-text citation or a note, depending on which citation style you are using.  The passage below, drawn from O’Brien’s  The Things They Carried , uses an MLA-style citation.

On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters. Then he burned the two photographs. There was a steady rain falling, which made it difficult, but he used heat tabs and Sterno to build a small fire, screening it with his body holding the photographs over the tight blue flame with the tip of his fingers.

He realized it was only a gesture. Stupid, he thought. Sentimental, too, but mostly just stupid. (23)

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried . New York: Broadway Books, 1990.

Even as Jimmy Cross burns Martha's letters, he realizes that "it was only a gesture. Stupid, he thought. Sentimental too, but mostly just stupid" (23).

If you were writing a paper about O'Brien's The Things They Carried in which you analyzed Cross's decision to burn Martha's letters and stop thinking about her, you might want your reader to see the language O'Brien uses to illustrate Cross's inner conflict. If you were planning to analyze the passage in which O'Brien calls Cross's realization stupid, sentimental, and then stupid again, you would want your reader to see the original language.

APA Citation Guide (APA 7th Edition): Quoting vs. Paraphrasing

• Advertisements
• Audio Materials
• Books, eBooks, Course Packs, Lab Manuals & Pamphlets
• Business Reports from Library Databases
• Class Notes, Class Recordings, Class Lectures and Presentations
• Creative Commons Licensed Works
• Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
• Games & Objects
• Government Documents
• Images, Infographics, Maps, Charts & Tables
• Journal Articles
• Magazine Articles
• Newspaper Articles
• Personal Communications (including interviews, emails, intranet resources)
• Religious & Classical (e.g., Ancient Greek, Roman) Works
• Social Media
• Websites (including documents/PDFs posted on websites)
• When Creating Digital Assignments
• When Information Is Missing
• Works Quoted in Another Source (Indirect Sources)
• Quoting vs. Paraphrasing
• Avoiding Plagiarism This link opens in a new window

Quoting vs Paraphrasing

Quoting vs paraphrasing: what's the difference.

There are two ways to integrate sources into your assignment: quoting directly or paraphrasing.

Quoting  is copying a selection from someone else's work, phrasing it exactly as it was originally written. When quoting place quotation marks (" ") around the selected passage to show where the quote begins and where it ends. Make sure to include an in-text citation. 

Paraphrasing  is used to show that you understand what the author wrote. You must reword the passage, expressing the ideas in your own words, and not just change a few words here and there. Make sure to also include an in-text citation. 

• Long quotations
• Modifying quotations

Quoting - Examples

There are two basic formats that can be used when quoting a source:  

Parenthetical Style

Narrative style, what is a long quotation.

A quotation of more than 40 words. Long quotations are formatted as blocks of texts called block quotations.

Rules for Block Quotations

There are 4 rules that apply to block quotations that are different from regular quotations:

• The line before your block quotation, when you're introducing the quote, usually ends with a colon.
• The block quotation is indented half an inch from the rest of the text, so it looks like a block of text.
• There are no quotation marks around the quotation.
• The period at the end of the quotation comes before your in-text citation as opposed to after , as it does with regular quotations.

Example of a Block Quotation

At the end of Lord of the Flies the boys are struck with the realization of their behaviour:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding, 1960, p.186)

Modifying Quotations

Sometimes you may want to make some modifications to the quote to fit your writing. Here are some APA rules when changing quotes:

Incorrect spelling, grammar, and punctuation

• Add the word [sic] after the error in the quotation to let your reader know the error was in the original source and is not your error.

Omitting parts of a quotation

• If you would like to exclude some words from a quotation, replace the words you are not including with an ellipsis - ...

Adding words to a quote

• If you are adding words that are not part of the original quote, enclose the additional words in square brackets - [XYZ]

Additional Resource

Additional resource:.

• Using Quotations (The Learning Portal) Tip sheet on how and when to use quotations

Paraphrasing

• Correct vs. incorrect paraphrasing
• Long paraphrases

Paraphrasing - Examples

When you write information from a source in your own words, cite the source by adding an in-text citation at the end of the paraphrased portion as follows:

If you refer to the author's name in a sentence you do not have to include the name again as part of your in-text citation, instead include the year of publication following their name:

  Note: Although not required, APA encourages including the page number(s) when paraphrasing long or complex sources, such as books, so that the reader can easily refer to the paraphrased information in your source. Always clarify with your instructor about their preference regarding page numbers in paraphrase in-text citations.

Correct vs. Incorrect Paraphrasing

Original Source

Homeless individuals commonly come from families who are riddled with problems and marital disharmony, and are alienated from their parents. They have often been physically and even sexually abused, have relocated frequently, and many of them may be asked to leave home or are actually thrown out, or alternatively are placed in group homes or in foster care. They often have no one to care for them and no one knows them intimately.

Source from: 

Rokach, A. (2005). The causes of loneliness in homeless youth. The Journal of Psychology , 139, 469-480.  

Example of Incorrect Paraphrasing:

Example of Correct Paraphrasing:

Long Paraphrases

If your paraphrase is longer than one sentence, provide an in-text citation for the source at the beginning of the paraphrase. As long as it's clear that the paraphrase continues to the following sentences, you don't have to include in-text citations for the following sentences.

If your paraphrase continues to another paragraph and/or you include paraphrases from other sources within the paragraph, repeat the in-text citations for each.

• Paraphrasing (The Learning Portal) Tip sheet on paraphrasing information

In-text Citation Tips

• Citing after each sentence
• Sources with same author and publication year
• Citing more than one source

Citing only once at the end of the paragraph isn't enough, as it doesn't clearly show where you started using information from another person's work or ideas. When you use a source more than once in a paragraph, you need to cite the source the first time it is mentioned, and then continue to make it clear that the same work is being paraphrased in subsequent sentences. 

This can be tricky though - you want your paper or assignment to flow nicely while properly citing your sources. There is a way you can avoid having to write full in-text citations each and every time by adding a lead-in sentence to your paragraph, "narrative" style.

  Bad (Do not do this).  In this paragraph, the citation occurs only at the end and reader does not know exactly when/where information comes from the source: 

  Correct but ugly.  This paragraph is technically correct for APA, but it is difficult to read in large part because the in-text citations are intrusive and awkward:

  Good.  These paragraphs are "APA correct" and easy to read. Note the reader knows exactly when/where information from the source is used:

Note: The above examples are adapted  from Rasmussen College .

When you are citing two different sources that share the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters after the year of publication (a, b, c, etc.). Assign these letters according to which title comes first alphabetically. Use these letters in both in-text citations and the Reference list.

Example In-Text:

Example Reference List entries:

If you would like to cite more than one source within the same in-text citation, simply record the in-text citations as normal and separate them with a semi-colon. List the sources alphabetically by author's last name or first word used from the title if no author is given, in the same order they would appear on the References List.

• << Previous: Works Quoted in Another Source (Indirect Sources)
• Next: Avoiding Plagiarism >>
• Last Updated: Aug 6, 2024 3:25 PM
• URL: https://libraryguides.lehigh.edu/APA_citation_7th

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Quoting means using exact words taken from another author/source. 

Paraphrasing means restating ideas from an outside source in precise detail , using your own words .

Summarizing means restating major ideas or conclusions from an outside source as concisely as possible in your own words .

Guidelines for Quoting Sources

Quoting a source means taking exact words from that source and using them in your own writing . 

Any time you quote another author, you need to format the quote in a way that makes it absolutely clear where the words taken from your source begin and end. This is usually accomplished by putting quotation marks around the other author’s words, as in this example:

The opening words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, “Four score and seven years ago,” are so famous that Google Docs is programmed to autofill them as soon as one types the phrase “four score.”

It’s essential to use quotation marks any time you include words from an author in your own writing, even if the quotation is just a word or two long. There’s only one significant exception to this rule: with longer quotations, it’s sometimes appropriate to set the author’s words off in a block quote. For example:

In the opening of the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln places the end of the Civil War into the broader context of American History,

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

Some documentation systems still require writers to use quotation marks for block quotes, but others, such as MLA Style, do not require this.

Most formal documentation systems require writers to include some kind of indicator at the end of each quotation, usually a parenthetical note or a footnote, that tells readers exactly where those words came from. We haven’t included such an indicator in the examples above because the source is clearly identified before the quote, and we consulted an online version of the Gettysburg Address, so there are no page numbers to cite. In such situations, MLA Style does not require a parenthetical note, but this might change in a formal class setting, depending on your instructor’s preferences and the documentation system they wish you to use.

Guidelines for Paraphrasing Sources

Paraphrasing a source means restating ideas from that source fully, in precise detail, using your own words . Paraphrasing is useful when you want to explore or engage the content of your source at length, but for some reason the original language would be difficult for your readers to understand. This might happen, for example, if your source includes a great deal of discipline-specific terminology and you’re writing to a general audience, or if the grammar of the original makes it difficult to integrate the author’s words coherently into your writing.

As with quotations, it’s important to let your readers know exactly when you begin and end a paraphrase. This can usually be accomplished by including a clear transition at the beginning of the paraphrase and a parenthetical note at the end. (See Example 2a below)

A good paraphrase will usually take roughly the same number of words as the original author did to express the same points. However, since a paraphrase is technically your writing, you cannot use words or phrases that come directly from your source. Thus, to write a paraphrase, you need to find a way to capture the complete meaning of your original source, using exclusively your own words.  

There are only two significant exceptions to this rule, and both relate to the use of terminology: 

Exception 1: When, in the passage you’re paraphrasing, an author uses specific terminology that is common and easily recognizable to your readers , and rephrasing it would alter the meaning of a passage (e.g. referring to a correlation as “statistically significant”), then it’s generally acceptable to use the author’s terminology in your paraphrase without placing it in quotation marks.

Exception 2: When, in the passage you’re paraphrasing, an author uses specific terminology of their own invention that it’s important for your readers to know or that it would be difficult to paraphrase without using, you can use the original author’s term in your paraphrase. Depending on the citation system you’re using and the preferences of your instructor, you may or may not need to put quotation marks around these terms the first time you use them. Either way, though, it should be absolutely clear from the context of your writing when you introduce a term from another author’s writing. (See Example 2b below)

Guidelines for Summarizing Sources

Summarizing means concisely restating the major ideas from a source in your own words . A good summary will convey the ideas from the source in as few words as possible without distorting those ideas or leaving out crucial information from the original context. Summaries are useful when you want to introduce substantial ideas or conclusions from another author into your own writing, but you don’t intend to engage those ideas or conclusions in depth.

Summaries generally present less of a challenge for writers than paraphrases, because they do not require you to restate the details and nuances of the original author’s ideas. However, writing summaries does create a certain amount of responsibility, as you’ll need to decide which ideas from your source should be included in your summary and which ideas can be left out. To be effective, a summary needs to present the source’s ideas in a way that serves the piece you are writing. To be ethical , though, a summary also needs to present these ideas without distorting or altering the original’s author’s meaning or leaving out essential pieces of context. 

Once again, it’s essential for a writer to indicate when a summary begins and ends, as well as to clearly identify the source being summarized. The methods for this are the same as with a paraphrase: include a clear transition at the beginning of the summary and either a notation or another clear transition at the end. (See Example 3a below.)

The rules for using terminology in a summary are the same as with a paraphrase: Whenever possible, a summary should be written entirely with your own words. However, if an author uses common terminology that is integral to the ideas you’re summarizing and that you anticipate your readers will be familiar with, it’s okay to use those terms in your summary without quotation marks . Conversely, when an author uses terms of their own invention that are integral to the ideas you’re summarizing, then you may use those terms as well, as long as you clearly indicate with your language (and, if your instructor requires it, with quotation marks) which terms come directly from your author.  

Examples and Common Mistakes

Quotation examples.

Note: We’ve alternated between MLA and APA styles in the examples below because these are two of the most common documentation systems used in academic writing and also the easiest to reproduce on a webpage.  They are far from the only systems, though, so make sure to follow the rules for the citation system assigned by your instructor for a given assignment.

Original Text:

“As efforts are focused on curbing the spread of COVID-19, essential services such as access to sexual and reproductive health services have been disrupted. According to preliminary data, in Zimbabwe, the number of caesarean sections performed decreased by 42% between January and April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. The number of live births in health facilities fell by 21%, while new clients on combined birth control pills dropped by 90%. In Burundi, initial statistics show that births with skilled attendants fell to 4749 in April 2020 from 30, 826 in April 2019.” From the article “ WHO Concerned Over COVID-19 Impact on Women, Girls in Africa ,” published by the World Health Organization on June 18, 2020.

Example 1a: Appropriate Quotation (MLA Style)

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected reproductive health care in parts of Africa. For example, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), “in Zimbabwe, the number of caesarean sections performed decreased by 42% between January and April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. The number of live births in health facilities fell by 21%, while new clients on combined birth control pills dropped by 90%.”

In the paragraph above, the author clearly indicates when their ideas end and the quote begins. Note that, since they identify the source of the quote beforehand and this is an online source with no page numbers, MLA style does not require any kind of parenthetical note at the end of the quotation.

Example 1b: Appropriate Quotation (APA Style)

In Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic made it more difficult for many women to access basic medical care. The World Health Organization noted on their website in June of 2020, “As efforts are focused on curbing the spread of COVID, essential services such as access to sexual and reproductive health services have been disrupted” (WHO, 2020).

Once again, the author clearly indicates where their words and and the words from their source begin. Since they’re using APA style, they also include a parenthetical note at the end, indicating the author of their source and the year it was published.

Example 1c: Inappropriate Quotation (Distorts Original Meaning)

In June of 2020, the World Health Organization called the world’s attention to a crisis in Africa, arguing that, “essential services… have been disrupted.”

In the quotation above, the author uses a handful of words taken out of context to imply conclusions that are not in the original article. The WHO article never calls the health care situation in Africa a “crisis” or anything similar, but the author’s introduction to the quote suggests that it does. Furthermore, the article focuses exclusively on services related to reproductive health care, but the author has deliberately cut out any words indicating this, which makes it appear that all essential services have been disrupted. This may or may not be true, but either way it’s not a conclusion this article supports.

Example 1d: Inappropriate Quotation (Text Not Fully in Quotation Marks)

In June of 2020, the World Health Organization reported that access to sexual and reproductive health services had been disrupted in parts of Africa. “According to preliminary data, in Zimbabwe, the number of caesarean sections performed decreased by 42% between January and April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019” (WHO, 2020).

In the quotation above the author uses language directly from the original article (“access to sexual and reproductive health services have been disrupted”) without putting these words in quotation marks. This means that the author has not fully documented the WHO article’s contribution to their essay.

Example 1e: Inappropriate Quotation (Source Not Clearly Identified)

In June of 2020, it was reported that “access to sexual and reproductive health services have been disrupted” in parts of Africa.

In this case, the author puts all words from the original in quotation marks, but does not clearly identify the source. Readers therefore know that these words come from another author, but do not know who the author is (no pun intended).

Paraphrase Examples

Original Text: 

From “ A Modest Proposal… ” by Jonathan Swift (1729), reprinted by Project Gutenberg

“It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.” From “ A Modest Proposal… ” by Jonathan Swift (1729), reprinted by Project Gutenberg

Example 2a: Appropriate Paraphrase (MLA Format)

In the first paragraph of his satirical essay, “A Modest Proposal…,” Jonathan Swift seems to affirm the sensibilities of his upper-class London readers: Swift’s narrator notes how sad it is for people to walk through London or journey through rural areas to see women who are surrounded by multiple children and begging every passerby for money. The narrator goes on to lament that these women are forced to spend their time begging, rather than getting more respectable employment, in order to feed their children. The narrator speculates that this same lack of jobs will affect the children as they get older, forcing them to become thieves or to leave England all together, possibly joining the rebel forces of King James or emigrating to the Americas. By engaging his readers on their own terms in this way, Swift accomplishes several things…

In this example, the author clearly identifies the source they’ll be paraphrasing in the opening clause, and they use a colon to indicate exactly where the paraphrase begins. The paraphrase itself rephrases Swift’s opening paragraph in close detail, using almost as many words as the original passage. However, by expressing Swift’s ideas in more modern language, the reader makes the passage more accessible to readers who might have trouble understanding Swift’s dense eighteenth-century writing style.

Once again, note that since the author identifies their source fully before the paraphrase, and the text they’re using is an online version with no page numbers, MLA Style does not require any kind of parenthetical note at the end of the paraphrase. However, the author’s transitional phrase (“By engaging his readers on their own terms…”) serves as a clear signal that the paraphrase is over and the author has moved on to their own analysis of Swift’s writing.

Example 2b: Appropriate Paraphrase (APA Style)

Swift opens his satirical essay, “A Modest Proposal…” by seeming to affirm the sensibilities of his upper-class London readers: Swift’s narrator notes how sad it is for people to walk through London or journey through rural areas to see “beggars of the female sex” who are surrounded by multiple children and begging every passesby for money. The narrator goes on to lament that these women are forced to spend their time begging, rather than pursuing an “honest livelihood,” to feed their children. The narrator speculates that this same lack of jobs will affect the children as they get older, forcing them to become thieves or to leave England all together, possibly joining the rebel forces of King James or or emigrating to the Americas (Swift, 1729).

This paraphrase is almost identical to Example 2a, but in this case the author has used a few of Swift’s own phrases in their paraphrase, using quotation marks to indicate which words come straight from the original source. This gives modern readers some sense of Swift’s distinct writing style and the way he engages the sensibilities of the readers in his time, while still making the passage accessible to modern readers. Also, note that in this case, the author has used an APA Style parenthetical note to indicate where the paraphrase ends.

Example 2c: Inappropriate Paraphrase (Mosaic Plagiarism)

At the beginning of “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift’s narrator describes the melancholy sight of seeing women begging throughout London and the surrounding countryside, sometimes surrounded by three, four, or six children, all in rags. The narrator goes on to say that these women are begging because widespread poverty has deprived them of an honest livelihood, and that their children will most likely grow up to be thieves or be forced to leave England forever (Swift, 1729).

This paraphrase suffers from “mosaic plagiarism,” which is when an author mixes their own words with occasional words or phrases from an outside source and offers no clear indication of this. In this case, the author uses some individual words (“melancholy”) and some longer phrases (“three, four, or six children, all in rags”) from Swift’s passage, but doesn’t place this borrowed language in quotation marks. The opening phrase and the citation at the end at least make it clear that the author is paraphrasing, but the lack of quotation marks still mean that the author has used Swift’s language in place of their own without giving Swift proper credit.

Example 2d: Inappropriate Paraphrase (Unclear Transitions)

At first, Swift panders to his readers in “A Modest Proposal…”. He suggests that it’s a sad experience to walk through London or the English countryside and see women begging, surrounded by children. All this begging must be the result of systemic property, because these women can’t get a reputable job and have no choice but to beg. Perhaps their children will grow up to be thieves, rebels, or emigrants. Surely a solution must be found, one that can remove all these poor people from upper-class eyes and make them useful members of society.

In this paraphrase, it’s difficult to tell when the author is paraphrasing ideas directly from Swift and when they’re commenting on Swift’s ideas or mixing them with their own. So, for instance, if you didn’t have access to Swift’s text you might wonder if Swift speculated that children of poor people might become “thieves, rebels, or emigrants,” or if that’s the essay author’s speculation. Conversely, you might assume that Swift suggests that something needs to be done to “remove all these poor people from upper-class eyes” in his opening paragraph, when in fact that’s not part of the original passage.

Summary Examples

The article “Your coping and resilience strategies might need to shift as the COVID-19 crisis continues” by Craig Polizzi and Steven Jay Lynn. Published on the website The Conversation in 2020.

Note: Since summaries, by definition, condense large amounts of text via concise phrasing, it’s not practical to copy the original text here. You can follow the link article, though, if it helps you to understand the examples below.

Example 3a: Appropriate Summary (APA Style)

Psychologists Craig Polizzi and Steven Jay Lynn note that individuals might need to change their coping strategies as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Three particular strategies they recommend are “cognitive reappraisal,” “problem-focused coping,” and “cultivating compassion and lovingkindness” (Polizzi and Lynn, 2020).

In this example, the author concisely summarizes the overall argument of Polizzi and Lynn’s article. They put the names for Polizzi and Lynn’s three coping strategies in quotation marks–it’s entirely possible that Polizzi and Lynn did not invent these terms, but even so, they’re not commonly recognized terms, so it’s appropriate to note that they came straight from the article. On the other hand, the term “coping strategies” is also used by Polizzi and Lynn throughout their article (including the title), but this is an extremely common psychological term, and thus it’s not necessary for the author to place it in quotation marks.

Example 3b: Inappropriate Summary (Distorts Original Meaning)

Psychologists Craig Polizzi and Steven Jay Lynn argue that if everyone simply practiced “cognitive reappraisal,” “problem-focused coping,” and “cultivating compassion and lovingkindness,” the psychological effects of the pandemic would be minimal (Polizzi and Lynn, 2020).

The wording of this summary significantly distorts Polizzi and Lynn’s argument. Though they do suggest that these three strategies can help people cope, they never suggest that the strategies will work for everyone, nor do they suggest that these strategies alone can minimize the effects of a global pandemic. Presumably, this author is trying to emphasize Polizzi and Lynn’s claims in order to support a point of their own, but summarizing a source in a way that changes its original meaning is unethical and, if readers discover the distortion, makes the author’s argument appear weaker rather than stronger.

Example 3c: Inappropriate Summary (Unclear Transitions)

Psychologists have argued that, as the global pandemic stretches on, individuals will face new types of stress. In light of these new stresses, it’s prudent for everyone to employ a variety of coping strategies to maintain self-care and build resilience. Three potentially useful strategies are “cognitive reappraisal,” “problem-focused coping,” and “cultivating compassion and lovingkindness.” (Polizzi and Lynn, 2020).

This summary does not clearly signal where their ideas end and the summary of Polizzi and Lynn begins. Did Polizzi and Lynn suggest that the ongoing pandemic will require people to adopt new coping strategies, or did they just describe the practices of “cognitive reappraisal,” “problem-focused coping,” and “cultivating compassion and lovingkindness,” and the author connected these ideas to the pandemic themselves? The citation at the end indicates where the summary stops, but without a clear beginning point, it’s impossible to tell for certain how Polizzi and Lynn contributed to this paragraph.

What’s the Difference? Summarizing, Paraphrasing, & Quoting

• Posted on November 29, 2023 November 29, 2023

What’s the Difference? Summarizing , Paraphrasing , & Quoting

Quoting, paraphrasing , and summarizing are three methods for including the ideas or research of other writers in your own work. In academic writing , such as essay writing or research papers , it is often necessary to utilize other people’s writing.

Outside sources are helpful in providing evidence or support written claims when arguing a point or persuading an audience. Being able to link the content of a piece to similar points made by other authors illustrates that one’s writing is not based entirely off personal thoughts or opinions and has support found from other credible individuals. In scientific work such as reports or experiment related writing, being able to point to another published or peer-reviewed writer can strengthen your personal research and even aid in explaining surprising or unusual findings. In all situations, referencing outside sources also elevates the integrity and quality of your work.

When pulling information from an outside source it is critical to properly use quotations, paraphrasing , or summarizing to avoid plagiarizing from the original passage . Plagiarism is portraying another’s work, ideas, and research as one’s own, and is an extremely serious disciplinary offense. Without using proper quotations, paraphrasing and summarizing , it can be easy to unintentionally plagiarize from the original source . Including citations that reference the author also helps ensure proper credit is given, and no accidental plagiarism occurs. Regardless of if APA , MLA or Chicago style are used, a citation must accompany the work of another author.

This article will compare these three concepts, to help users become more comfortable with each of them and the differing scenarios to utilize each. The article will also provide examples and give pointers to further increase familiarity with these essential techniques and prevent the happening of plagiarism .

What is Quoting?

Quoting is the restatement of a phrase, sentence, thought, or fact that was previously written by another author. A proper direct quotation includes the identical text without any words or punctuation adjusted.

One might use a quotation when they want to use the exact words from the original author , or when the author has introduced a new concept or idea that was of their conception. Oftentimes, the author already used concise, well-thought-out wording for an idea and it may be difficult to restate without using a direct quote .

However when repeating content from someone else’s work, one must use quotation marks with a corresponding citation or it will be considered plagiarism . The proper citation may also vary based on the citation style being used.

Examples of Quoting

In order to further the understanding of how to utilize quotes, some examples of incorrect and correct quotation are provided below.

Original Text: As natural selection acts solely by accumulating slight, successive, favorable variations, it can produce no great or sudden modification; it can act only by very short and slow steps

Incorrect Quotation Example: “Because natural selection acts only by accumulating slight, successive favorable variations. It can produce no greater or sudden modification and can only act by very short and slow steps

Correct Quotation Example: “As natural selection acts solely by accumulating slight, successive, favorable variations, it can produce no great or sudden modification; it can act only by very short and slow steps,” (Darwin 510).

The bad example provided does not include the identical text or identical grammar and punctuation to that of the original source . The quote is also lacking one quotation mark and a citation to attribute the initial author. Meanwhile, the good example i s completely identical to the original text and features a correct citation, making it a great example of a quote in use.

What is Paraphrasing ?

Paraphrasing is taking the written work, thoughts, or research of another author and putting it in one’s own words . Correct paraphrasing is done through the restatement of key ideas from another person’s work, but utilizing different words to avoid copying them. Oftentimes, finding synonyms to the words used by the original author helps to paraphrase .

One would use paraphrasing when they hope to capture the key points of a written work in their own writing . Paraphrasing should also be employed when the content of the original source is more important than the wording used. This writing technique is a good strategy to maintain one’s personal writing style throughout a written work.

Similar to quoting, even paraphrased material should be accompanied by the proper citation to avoid plagiarizing the initial author.

Examples of Paraphrasing

Original Content: The Statue of Liberty, one of the most recognizable symbols of freedom and democracy across the world, was a gift of friendship to America from France. Inaugurated in 1886, the statue is 305 feet tall and represents Libertas, the Roman liberty goddess, bearing a torch in her right hand and a tablet in her left hand with the date of the US Declaration of Independence. Broken shackles lay underneath the statue’s drapery, to symbolize the end of all types of servitude and oppression.

Incorrect Paraphrasing Example: The Statue of Liberty is an evident display of freedom and democracy for the whole world, and was created by France for America to represent their friendship. The 305 foot statue of the Roman liberty goddess Libertas was installed in 1886. The Statue of Liberty has a tablet with the US Declaration of Independence date in one hand and a torch in her other. She also has broken shackles on the ground to represent an end to enslavement and oppression.

Correct Paraphrasing Example: France presented the United States with the Statue of Liberty in 1886 to commemorate the two countries friendship. The Roman goddess of liberty, Libertas, stands 305 feet tall as a well-known tribute to freedom and democracy. The statue commemorates the US Declaration of Independence though the tablet in her left hand that accompanies a torch in her right. The Statue of Liberty also celebrates an end to oppression and servitude, indicated by broken chains by her feet ( Diaz, 2019 ).

The incorrect example provided featured a sentence structure that followed too closely to that of the original text. Additionally, the writer only swapped out a few words for very common synonyms  so the paraphrased content is ultimately too similar to the original text. An academic work that used this  paraphrase  would be cited for  plagiarism .

On the other hand, the correct example featured paraphrased content that is properly cited, with variety to the sentence structure and text that includes words beyond just synonyms to words in the original content. This example also contains the main ideas, but is ultimately slightly condensed from the original text.

What Is Summarizing ?

Summarizing is providing a brief description of the key ideas from a written work. This description should be in one’s own writing , and is typically significantly shorter than the source material because it only touches on the main points .

Summaries are commonly used when a writer hopes to capture the central idea of a work, without relying on the specific wording that the original author used to explain the idea. They also can provide a background or overview of content needed to understand a topic being discussed. This strategy still captures the meaning of the original text without straying from one’s personal tone and writing style.

Unlike paraphrasing and quoting, a summary does not require an in- text citation and only occasionally needs accreditation to the original writer’s work .

Examples of Summarizing

In order to further the understanding of how to summarize content in your writing, some examples of incorrect and correct summaries for the short children’s story Goldilocks and The Three Bears are provided below.

Incorrect Summary Example: Once upon a time, Goldilocks went for a walk on the beach when she saw a house and went in it. In the house she found three bowls of soup and decided to try them all, but one was too hot, one was too cold and one was just right. Next, Goldilocks tried to sit in three different chairs but only found one that fit her perfectly. Lastly, she went to the back of the house and found three beds. Just like the soup and chairs she tested all of them before picking one that she liked the best and taking a nice long nap. The End.

Correct Summary Example: In Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Robert Southy, a young girl wanders into the house of three bears where she tastes three different porridges; sits in three different chairs; and naps in three different beds before finding one of each that fits her. Goldilocks is eventually found by the bears who are upset about her intrusion and usage of their personal belongings.

The incorrect example provided would not be considered a good summary for a few reasons. Primarily, this summary does not summarize well, as provides too much unnecessary detail and an individual would still be able to comprehend the main point of the story without it. The summary also ends without touching on the most important point , which is the lesson of the story. This summary also provides inaccurate information, and lacks a citation.

Meanwhile, the correct example is a good summary because it does not spend too much time on any certain aspect of the story. The reader is still able to understand exactly what happens to Goldilocks without consuming any non-essential details. This summary also provides completely accurate information and touches on the main point or lesson from the story.

Differences and Similarities

There are a few major differences and similarities between the three writing techniques discussed.

Quoting, paraphrasing , and summarizing are similar in that they are all writing techniques that can be used to include the work of other authors in one’s own writing . It is common for writers to use these strategies collectively in one piece to provide variety in their references and across their work. These three strategies also share the similarity of helping to prevent plagiarizing the content from the original source . All three of these methods require some form of citation and attribution to the original author to completely avoid plagiarizing.

Oppositely, the main difference between quoting, paraphrasing , and summarizing is that quoting is done word for word from the original work . Both paraphrasing and summarizing only touch on the key points and are written with some variation from the initial author’s work , usually in the style and tone of the new author. When comparing just the latter two, paraphrased material tends to be closer in length to the actual material, because it only slightly condenses the original passage . On the other hand, a summary is most likely significantly shorter than the original author’s work since this method only pulls from the most important points .

Final Thoughts

It is extremely common to utilize the previous writing of others, especially in academic writing . These original works enhance the quality and honesty of one’s work while also providing backing and emphasis to the points made.

Quoting, paraphrasing , and summarizing are all strategies for incorporating the thoughts, ideas, research, and writing from another author in one’s own work. The three methods explained are also safe strategies to employ to avoid accidental plagiarism of the original passage .

Another strategy to ensure one’s writing is properly quoted, paraphrased, and summarized is by using a plagiarism checker. Quetext provides an easy-to-use plagiarism checker that verifies the originality of work and can create citations for any sources cited throughout the paper.

Sign Up for Quetext Today!

Click below to find a pricing plan that fits your needs.

You May Also Like

How Accurate Are AI Content Detectors? (+ How They Work)

• Posted on September 6, 2024 September 12, 2024

The 9 Best AI Detector Tools to Uncover AI Content

• Posted on August 22, 2024

• Tips & Guides

The Importance of Proofreading: Techniques for Catching Errors and Polishing Your Writing

• Posted on August 16, 2024 August 19, 2024

The Benefits of Peer Review: How to Give and Receive Constructive Feedback on Your Writing

• Posted on August 9, 2024

Teaching Students About Plagiarism: Strategies for Promoting Academic Integrity

• Posted on August 2, 2024

Encouraging Proper Citation Practices: Tips for Teaching Students How to Cite Sources Correctly and Ethically

• Posted on July 22, 2024

A Guide to Paraphrasing Poetry, With Examples

• Posted on July 12, 2024

Preparing Students for the Future: AI Literacy and Digital Citizenship

• Posted on July 5, 2024

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

• Generating Ideas
• Drafting and Revision
• Sources and Evidence
• Style and Grammar
• Specific to Creative Arts
• Specific to Humanities
• Specific to Sciences
• Specific to Social Sciences
• CVs, Résumés and Cover Letters
• Graduate School Applications
• Other Resources
• Hiatt Career Center
• University Writing Center
• Classroom Materials
• Course and Assignment Design
• UWP Instructor Resources
• Writing Intensive Requirement
• Criteria and Learning Goals
• Course Application for Instructors
• What to Know about UWS
• Teaching Resources for WI
• FAQ for Instructors
• FAQ for Students
• Journals on Writing Research and Pedagogy
• University Writing Program
• Degree Programs
• Graduate Programs
• Brandeis Online
• Summer Programs
• Undergraduate Admissions
• Graduate Admissions
• Financial Aid
• Summer School
• Centers and Institutes
• Funding Resources
• Housing/Community Living
• Clubs and Organizations
• Community Service
• Brandeis Arts Engagement
• Rose Art Museum
• Our Jewish Roots
• Mission and Diversity Statements
• Administration
• Faculty & Staff
• Alumni & Friends
• Parents & Families
• Campus Calendar
• Directories
• New Students
• Shuttle Schedules
• Support at Brandeis

Writing Resources

Summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting.

This handout is available for download in DOCX format and PDF format .

This handout is intended to help you become more comfortable with the uses of and distinctions among summaries, paraphrases, and quotations.

What are the differences among summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting?

These three ways of incorporating other writers' work into your own writing differ according to the closeness of your writing to the source writing.

Summarizing

• Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Although you are using your own words, it is still necessary to attribute the summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

Paraphrasing

• Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from the source into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.
• Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must also be attributed to the original author.

Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries?

Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve many purposes. You might use them to:

• Provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing
• Refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing
• Give examples of several points of view on a subject
• Call attention to a position that you wish to agree or disagree with
• Highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage by quoting the original
• Distance yourself from the original by quoting it to show that the words are not your own
• Expand the breadth or depth of your writing

Writers frequently intertwine summaries, paraphrases, and quotations, including paraphrases of key points blended with quotations of striking or suggestive phrases as in the following example:

In his famous and influential work The Interpretation of Dreams , Sigmund Freud argues that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious" (page #), expressing in coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a process known as the "dream-work" (page #). According to Freud, actual but unacceptable desires are censored internally and subjected to coding through layers of condensation and displacement before emerging in a kind of rebus puzzle in the dream itself (page #).

How and when should I summarize, paraphrase, or quote?

Before you summarize a source in your paper, decide what your reader needs to know about that source in order to understand your argument. For example, if you are making an argument about a novel, avoid filling pages of your paper with details from the book that will distract or confuse your reader. Instead, add details sparingly, going only into the depth that is necessary for your reader to understand and appreciate your argument. Similarly, if you are writing a paper about a non-fiction article, highlight the most relevant parts of the argument for your reader, but do not include all of the background information and examples.

When you use any part of a source in your paper, you will always need to decide whether to quote directly from the source or to paraphrase it. Unless you have a good reason to quote directly from the source, you should paraphrase the source. Make it clear to your reader why you are presenting this particular material from a source, and be sure that you have represented the author accurately, that you have used your own words consistently, and that you have cited the source.

As a basic rule of thumb, you should only quote directly from a text when it is important for your reader to see the actual language used by the author of the source. While paraphrase and summary are effective ways to introduce your reader to someone's ideas, quoting directly from a text allows you to introduce your reader to the way those ideas are expressed by showing such details as language, syntax, and cadence. There are several ways to integrate quotations into your text; often a short quotation works well when integrated into a sentence, while longer quotations can stand alone. Whatever their length, be sure you have a good reason to include a direct quotation when you decide to do so.

You can become more comfortable using these three techniques by summarizing an essay of your choice, using paraphrases and quotations as you go. It might be helpful to follow these steps:

• Read the entire text, noting the key points and main ideas.
• Summarize in your own words what the single main idea of the essay is.
• Paraphrase important supporting points that come up in the essay.
• Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly.

Credit: Adapted from the “Harvard Guide to Using Sources,” https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/summarizing-paraphrasing-and-quoting , and the Purdue OWL Guide, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/quoting_paraphrasing_and_summarizing/index.html , 2020.

• Resources for Students
• Writing Intensive Instructor Resources
• Research and Pedagogy

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Time Estimate

Activate students’ schemata regarding the similarities and differences among summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting.

Chalkboard/whiteboard

Computer Lab Option Materials

Digital projector

Write the words Summarizing , Paraphrasing and Quoting along the top of the whiteboard.

Elicit from students the rules they know related to each writing strategy.

Add additional information as needed. The board may appear as follows:

Computer Lab Option

Rather than using the whiteboard, one may choose to open up and project the above table in a word processing program, like Microsoft Word, completing the table as answers are elicited from students.

• Nashville State Community College
• Research Guides

Writing Help

Quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing.

• Grammar Help
• The Writing Process
• Writing Effective Thesis Statements
• Academic Honesty This link opens in a new window
• Writing Tutors
• Quick Guide
• Workshop PowerPoint

Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.

Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material

Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries?

Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve many purposes. You might use them to:

• Provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing
• Refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing
• Give examples of several points of view on a subject
• Call attention to a position that you wish to agree or disagree with
• Highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage by quoting the original
• Distance yourself from the original by quoting it in order to cue readers that the words are not your own
• Expand the breadth or depth of your writing

When Do I Give Credit to a Source?

Give credit to your source in all of the following situations:

• You directly quote a source. 
• You borrow an idea from a source.
• You paraphrase or summarize a source.
• If you gain information from interviewing a person or from a class lecture.
• When you use diagrams, illustrations, or other images that you did not create yourself.
• Radio broadcasts, movies, podcasts.
• Things that are not common knowledge. Always err on the safe side                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Is there anything I don't need to cite?

You do not need to cite any of the following types of information:

• Your own ideas and experiences.
• Common knowledge. Be careful here. If you're in doubt, cite it.
• Results of lab experiments that you gathered yourself.
• Your own artwork, illustrations, diagrams, etc.
• Generally accepted facts: eating too much will make you gain weight, sugar causes cavities

Adapted from Purdue OWL    https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

from EasyBib (http://content.easybib.com/students/research-guide/what-is-plagiarism/)

© Copyright 2014. Scholar Space is a division of  Imagine Easy Solutions.

Take a look at how each form might be used to include information from an original passage:

Oppression in the lives of mothers who are homeless with mental illness perpetuates barriers to health, and serves as a source of emotional distress and social exclusion.  from Benbow S and C. Forchuk (2011) Mothers with Mental Illness Experiencing Homelessness: a Critical Analysis. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 18, 687– 695

Quotation with proper citation:

Researcher S. Benbow says, “Oppression in the lives of mothers who are homeless with mental illness perpetuates barriers to health, and serves as a source of emotional distress and social exclusion,” (689).

Using a Thesaurus?

Selecting a key word and substituting a word from the thesaurus does not mean you haven’t plagiarized.   Using a thesaurus effectively comes down to how well you know the nuance of language and how well you really understand the original quote.  

Without proper attribution, the example below is still plagiarism and unclear plagiarism at that…

Oppression in the lives of mothers who are homeless with insanity continues barriers to health, and serves as a source of emotional pain and social segregation.

Paraphrase with proper citation:

A cycle of “emotional distress”, isolation and a lack of access to health services is too often the result for mentally ill mothers who are also homeless, according to researchers Benbow and Forchuk (689).

Summary with proper citation:

Mothers who are both homeless and mentally ill often face a multitude of oppressive consequences according to researchers Benbow and Forchuk. (689).

• Workshop PowerPoint PowerPoint slides covering the what's and how's of incorporating secondary source material into your essays
• << Previous: The Writing Process
• Next: Writing Effective Thesis Statements >>
• Last Updated: Sep 1, 2023 2:20 PM
• URL: https://nscc.libguides.com/writinghelp

Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Quoting: What’s the Difference?

Paraphrasing, Summarizing and Quoting Paraphrasing is when you take someone else’s ideas or words and rephrase them as your own . Summarizing is to give the reader an overview of the key points of a text . Quoting is when you write exactly what someone else has said, word for word .

Anyone who has written a paper, especially an academic paper, has struggled to answer the question: what is the difference between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting, and which one should I do? Do I need to use all three? Do I need to provide a citation?

Every writer needs to know how to distinguish these three tasks to write well and avoid committing plagiarism, whether accidental or intentional. Let’s take a look at the differences between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting so that your writing will be polished and professional every time.

Table of Content:

What is quoting, what is paraphrasing, what is summarizing, don’t commit accidental plagiarism.

Quoting is when you write exactly what someone else has said, word for word. Even if the original text contains punctuation , grammatical , or spelling errors , if you are quoting, you must include these errors!

A quote is indicated using double quotation marks, and the author and source should be cite d in either the text directly or in a footnote depending upon the citation format you are following .

There are two ways to handle a quote with incorrect spelling or grammar. The first is by correcting it using square brackets like so.

Guinea pig[s] make wonderful pets for small children.

Upgrade your writing skills

• Write with Trinka

The second is to write the Latin word sic in square brackets after the error to indicate that the error is in the original text. Sic is usually italicized. For example:

Guinea pig [ sic ] make wonderful pets for small children.

Quotes are great to use in academic writing when you want to discuss a particular author’s idea or phrasing. However, quotes should be used sparingly, and should be on the shorter side (less than a paragraph) in order to maximize the space for your own analysis and ideas. Think of quotes like salt- they add essential flavor to a dish, but should not be the main ingredient.

Unlike a quote, paraphrasing is when you take someone else’s ideas or words and rephrase them as your own. Paraphrasing is a vital skill for any writer, as much of academic writing is synthesizing information from different sources in your own words and adding your thoughts.

Many people who try to paraphrase accidentally end up committing plagiarism. Why? There are two reasons. The first reason is that people often just change a couple of words in the original writing and call it a paraphrase.

The second reason is that people fail to add the proper citation after paraphrasing. In fact, paraphrases should include the source just like a quote.

So how can you paraphrase properly? In addition to changing the specific words used, a good paraphrase changes the structure and even order of the original phrasing . Let’s take a brief example.

Original text: The pandemic as well as the war in Ukraine have stifled supply of commodities and goods and upended efficient distribution through global supply chains, forcing up prices of everyday goods such as fuel and food.

But, while higher prices will cause pain for households, growth in many parts of the world, while slow, is still ticking over and job markets have not collapsed (CNBC, May 30, 2022).

Paraphrase 1: The war in Ukraine and the pandemic have blocked the supply of commodities and goods and overturned efficient distribution through global supply chains, increasing prices of everyday goods such as fuel and food.

While higher prices will cause pain for households, growth in many parts of the world is still happening and job markets have not collapsed.

This paraphrase changes a few words around, but it is easy to see the resemblance to the original text. It is also missing a citation. This paraphrase is likely to be flagged by a plagiarism checker.

Paraphrase 2: The supply of goods and commodities has faltered due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic as global supply chains struggle to maintain efficient distribution. This has resulted in higher prices of everyday goods like fuel and food.

Despite these difficulties, the majority of economies continue to see growth, albeit slow growth, and job markets remain solid. Households can expect short term pain from higher prices, but it seems unlikely that collapse is on the horizon (CNBC, May 30, 2022).

This paraphrase breaks up longer sentences into shorter ones, adding some of the author’s own commentary towards the end and artfully rephrasing the original ideas.  A proper in-text citation is included. The second paraphrase is acceptable.

Summarizing is similar to paraphrasing, but there are a few key differences. First, the purpose of summarizing is to give the reader an overview of the key points of a text. A paraphrase re-words information from the original text, but it does not remove any of the original ideas.

Because of this difference, summarizing deletes sections, sometimes large sections, of the original text to leave only the most critical concepts and ideas. Paraphrasing is usually around the same length as the original writing, while summarizing is much shorter than the original.

Second, summarizing can include a quote or a paraphrase from the original text. However, a paraphrase will never contain additional paraphrasing. It may contain a quote, but only in rare circumstances.

If you use a quote in your summary, don’t forget to still cite the source. This can be as simple as mentioning the author’s name and then citing it in the references section. We could summarize the above text as follows:

CNBC notes that while events including the pandemic and war in Ukraine are upending the global supply chain leading to short-term fiscal pain for households, the global economy remains in a steady, if slow, state of growth overall.

Knowing the difference between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing is the key to avoiding accidental plagiarism. Forgetting to properly indicate a quote with quotation marks, paraphrasing incorrectly by just changing a few words, or summarizing without giving proper credit are all ways that authors can commit accidental plagiarism.

Fortunately, in addition to learning about the important differences between these three writing techniques, students, academics, and writers of all kinds can take advantage of AI writing tools as well. Tools like Trinka can help academic writers especially ensure that their writing is clear, accurate, and uses technical terminology properly.

It also reviews your references to make sure they are accurate. Enago’s plagiarism checker is another great tool to ensure that you haven’t failed to clearly paraphrase or forgotten to indicate a quote.

As you progress in your writing career, these tools can make your life easier and prevent you from making any critical errors. Give them a try today.

Go beyond grammar & spelling

Cuándo utilizar Comilla Simple vs. Comillas Dobles en inglés

Capital vs. Capitol: What’s the difference and how to remember it

Breathe vs Breath | Difference & Example Sentences

Principal vs. Principle: Understanding the difference

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Subscribe to stay updated with us!

Join thousands of subscribers to get regular updates on industry trends and our blog posts.

Home » Language » What is the Difference Between Quoting and Paraphrasing

What is the Difference Between Quoting and Paraphrasing

The main difference between quoting and paraphrasing is that quoting refers to the extraction of more than four words directly from the original source without changing the word order, while paraphrasing refers to describing or conveying the information in the original source in your own words.

Generally, when we quote something, we place the quotation inside quotation marks. Furthermore, the original source or the author of that particular quotation is usually mentioned directly as an in-text citation . When it comes to paraphrasing, we do not use quotation marks; however,  they do come with citations.

Key Areas Covered

1.  What is Quoting         – Definition, Features  2.  What is Paraphrasing      – Definition, Features, Examples 3.  Similarities – Quoting and Paraphrasing      – Outline of Common Features 4.  Difference Between Quoting and Paraphrasing      – Comparison of Key Differences

Citation, Quoting, Paraphrasing

What is Quoting

Quoting is a way of extracting phrases, sentences, or even passages directly from the original reading and incorporating them into your own work. However, whenever you are quoting directly from another writer, it is necessary to provide a reference in order to avoid plagiarism . Generally, it is necessary to put the quote in between quotation marks in order to depict where the quote starts and ends.

Generally, a short quote that contains not more than 30 words comes in between inverted commas. For instance,

Patients who prayed had “less congestive heart failure, required less diuretic and antibiotic therapy, had fewer episodes of pneumonia, had fewer cardiac arrests and were less frequently intubated and ventilated” (Byrd, 1988, p. 829).

On the other hand, longer quotes that have more than 30 words have to be indented from your individual writing. Longer quotations can be single or double-spaced. Moreover, we do not write them inside quotation marks, unlike short quotes. However, it is necessary to add the parenthetical citation after the longer quote’s punctuation.

What is Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is another way to include the information from an original source in your answer. Here, you have to present the original source ideas in your own words. Furthermore, you have to acknowledge the original source and the author when you paraphrase. Describing the information from the original source in your own words enables you to demonstrate your comprehension of the work and your capacity to convey that information.

In order to paraphrase a text, first, you need to go through the original text thoroughly until you comprehend it well. As the next step,  you have to note down all the required concepts and ideas that the original author discusses inside his or her work. Then you have to put aside the original text and write down your version of the selected ideas without looking at the original text. Finally, it is necessary to go through the paraphrased text in order to make the required adjustments. The words should be edited to ensure that they communicate the required point in an academic manner without disturbing the flow of the rest of your work. Most importantly, you should not forget to include citations.

Similarities Between Quoting and Paraphrasing

• Quoting and paraphrasing both refer to methods of obtaining and incorporating the original source information into your own work.
• Whatever the mode we use, whether it’s paraphrasing or quoting, we always need to include the citations, which lead the reader to the original source and the author.

Difference Between Quoting and Paraphrasing

Quoting refers to the extraction of more than four words directly from the original source without changing the word order, while paraphrasing refers to describing or conveying the information in the original source in your own words.

In quoting, you use the words of another writer, but in paraphrasing, you use your own words to describe what someone else has written.

Punctuation

Usually, a short quote comes inside quotation marks, whereas a paraphrase does not.

The main difference between quoting and paraphrasing is that a quote is usually identical to its original source and matches the source text word to word, while paraphrasing includes producing a  source idea or a material in your own words. However, whether it is paraphrasing or quoting, you have to attribute to the original source and credit the original author in order to avoid plagiarism. 

1. “ APA Citation Guide: (Previous/6th Edition): In-Text Citations .” LibGuides. 2. Trach, Elizabeth. “ Examples of Paraphrasing without Plagiarizing .” Examples – Your Dictionary.

Image Courtesy:

1. “ Quotation: We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children .” By Ken Whytock (CC BY-NC 2.0) via Flickr 2. “ Notebook, writing, watch, work, hand, finger, close up, brand, design ” (CC0) via Pxhere

About the Author: Anuradha

Anuradha has a BA degree in English, French, and Translation studies. She is currently reading for a Master's degree in Teaching English Literature in a Second Language Context. Her areas of interests include Arts and Literature, Language and Education, Nature and Animals, Cultures and Civilizations, Food, and Fashion.

​You May Also Like These

Leave a reply cancel reply.

• Skip to Guides Search
• Skip to breadcrumb
• Skip to main content
• Skip to footer
• Skip to chat link
• Report accessibility issues and get help
• Go to Penn Libraries Home
• Go to Franklin catalog

Critical Writing Fall 2024: Library guide for Dr. Fayyaz Vellani's Class: Examples of Paraphrase

• Getting started
• News and Opinion Sites
• Academic Sources
• Grey Literature
• Substantive News Sources
• What to Do When You Are Stuck
• Understanding a citation
• Examples of Quotation
• Examples of Paraphrase
• Chicago Manual of Style: Citing Images
• Researching the Op-Ed
• Researching Prospective Employers
• Resume Resources
• Cover Letter Resources

Paraphrases—rewordings of text—need to be cited. Paraphrasing without providing a citation is plagiarism. Even paraphrases with citations can be instances of plagiarism if they are so similar to the original that the paraphraser claims credit for the original author's language.

A paraphrase that avoids plagiarism:

• cites the source of the material being paraphrased.
• differs enough from the original that it doesn't require quotation marks.

Paraphrase Examples

Wines drunk at Greek tables did not always come from Greece itself. The wine snobbery of the time extolled the merits of wines from the slopes of Mount Lebanon, from Palestine, Egypt and Magna Graecia-Greater Greece, i.e., southern Italy. The ten litres a day drunk by the famous wrestler Milo of Croton was a wine famous in Calabria, where Milo lived: this wine, Ciro, is still made.

from Maguelone Toussaint-Samat's A History of Food (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992. 263).

Wines drunk by Greeks were not always made in Greece itself. The wine snobs of that period celebrated wines from Mount Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt. The famous wrestler Milo of Croton, who consumed ten liters of wine a day, drank wine made in Calabria outside of Greece; this wine, Ciro, is still made.

This paraphrase plagiarizes in two ways:

1. By having no citation, the paraphrase misleads readers into believing that the ideas, facts and sense of the passage are a result of the author's own research and knowledge.

2. The language of the paraphrase is too similar to the original. Even if the author had provided a citation, some instructors would consider this plagiarism.

Not Plagiarism:

Although Greeks were picky about their wine, they enjoyed wine from outside Greece. Upstanding Greeks enjoyed wine from many of Greece's local trading partners—including Palestine, Egypt and southern Italy. One story tells of the famous wrestler Milo of Croton, who consumed ten liters of foreign wine daily (Toussaint-Samat 263).

This paraphrase cites the original and rephrases its words to create an original construction.

Paraphrase that Uses Too Much of the Original Language

Up, up, up, groping through clouds for what seemed like an eternity....No amount of practice could have prepared them for what they encountered. B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds all over the sky.

from Thomas Childers. Wings of morning: the story of the last American bomber shot down over Germany in World War II , Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley (1990), 83. 

Up, up, up he went, until he got above the clouds. No amount of practice could have prepared the pilot and crew for what they encountered-B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds over here, over there, everywhere.

This comes from The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany  by Stephen E. Ambrose. Ambrose cites but does not quote Childers' original work despite using its imagery and language.  Ambrose should have either used Childers' passage as a direct quotation or modified his own passage so that it consisted of his own language.

Not Plagiarism

 Despite their training, the pilot and crew's experience was surreal and surprising, seeing for the first time "B-24s, glittering like mica, ... popping up out of the clouds all over the sky" (Ambrose 83).

• << Previous: Examples of Quotation
• Next: Using Images in Your Writing >>
• Last Updated: Sep 11, 2024 12:46 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/Critical_Writing_Dr_Vellani