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Decide when to Quote, Paraphrase and Summarize

By integrating source material into your paper, you can add credibility, complexity, and support to your argument. In this handout, we’ll look at how to decide when to quote, paraphrase, and summarize.

Whether quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, you should follow some general rules about integrating your source material.

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

A quote is the exact wording of the source material (either written or spoken). Quotes match the original source word for word.

A paraphrase is a detailed restatement in your own words of a written or sometimes spoken source material. Apart from the changes in organization, wording, and sentence structure, the paraphrase should be nearly identical in meaning to the original passage. It should also be near the same length as the original passage and present the details of the original.

A summary is a condensed version of a passage. Similar to paraphrasing, summarizing involves using your own words and writing style to express another author's ideas. Unlike the paraphrase, which presents important details, the summary presents only the most important ideas of the passage.

When should I use quotes?

Using quotations is the easiest way to include source material, but quotations should be used carefully and sparingly. While paraphrasing and summarizing provide the opportunity to show your understanding of the source material, quoting may only show your ability to type it. Having said that, there are a few very good reasons that you might want to use a quote rather than a paraphrase or summary:

When you decide to quote, be careful of relying too much upon one source or quoting too much of a source and make sure that your use of the quote demonstrates an understanding of the source material. Essentially, you want to avoid having a paper that is a string of quotes with occasional input from you.

Think of the quote as a rare and precious jewel.

When should I paraphrase?

You will want to paraphrase or summarize when the wording of the source is less important than the meaning of the source. The paraphrase and summary allow you to maintain continuity of style in your paper and show your mastery of source material. A paraphrase may be preferred to a summary because paraphrases are more detailed and specific. You may use the paraphrase often for the following reasons:

When you decide to paraphrase, avoid keeping the same structure of ideas, sentence structure, or just changing some of the words. Be careful not to add your ideas into the paraphrase and to be faithful to the meaning of the source material.

When should I summarize?

Again, you will want to paraphrase or summarize when the wording of the source is less important than the meaning of the source. The paraphrase and summary allow you to maintain continuity of style in your paper and show your mastery of source material. A summary may be preferred to a paraphrase because summaries can provide a brief overview of a text. The summary is very flexible. For example, you could summarize a book in a sentence, or in several paragraphs, depending on your writing situation and audience. You may use the summary often for the following reasons:

When you decide to summarize, avoid keeping the same structure of ideas and/or sentence structure. Also avoid just changing some of the words. Be careful not to add your ideas into the summary and to be faithful to the meaning of the source material.

You can practice quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing by making a chart of when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize. Use the questions below as headings in your chart.