Describes the difference between paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.

1. PARAPHRASING,
SUMMARIZING, AND
QUOTING
What is the difference?

2. Paraphrasing
 Paraphrasing means putting an author’s
thoughts in your own words. You must still use
citations to give credit to the author when you
paraphrase.
 When paraphrasing, say what the source says,
but not more.
 Expect your paraphrase to be as long, or
possibly longer, that the material.

3. Summarizing
 Summarizing means putting just the main
ideas from one or more authors into your own
words.
 Summaries identify only the main points and
are generally about 1/3 the length of the
original material. Like paraphrasing, it is still
necessary to use a citation to attribute the
ideas to the original source.

4. Quotations
 Quotations are the exact words of the author
copied word for word and set off with quotation
marks. They must be cited!
 Use quotations to support what you say, not to
present your thesis and main points.
 Choose quotations if the language is
particularly apt, if the thought is difficult to
rephrase accurately, the authority is important
to support your ideas.
 Keep long quotations to a minimum and work
them smoothly into your writing.

5. When to use paraphrasing
 When you want to reproduce your source’s
order of ideas for emphasis
 Use notes that you have taken on the material
 Want to avoid too many quotations

6. When to summarize
 When you want to condense the main points
without losing the essence of the material
 When you want to give an overview of the
topic
 When you want to combine material from a
number of sources

7. So do you have to have citations
for everything? No.
You don’t have to cite:
 Facts that are common knowledge (like John
F. Kennedy, the 35th president, was
assassinated on November 22, 2963.
 Your own beliefs, observations, or experiment
results.