Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
Robyn Hartman
When writing for your university classes, you often want to add expert information to your papers and presentations. This adds credibility and authority to your own ideas. There are three ways to cite expert sources in your work:
- Quoting
- Paraphrasing
- Summarizing
Quoting
When you quote, write the author’s exact words as they wrote them. Quotes come from a very small part of the source material and are usually less than forty words. Direct quotes are rare in most scholarly writing, except for literary topics. Use quotes sparingly when you are writing.
Quotes MUST be in quotation marks and MUST have a source citation.
For example, this quote from a scholarly paper uses the author’s exact words. It has quotation marks around the author’s words. And it has a source citation.
Quoting Example:
Original Paper:
Learning outcomes
There are several learning outcomes associated with the execution of the structured writing community. The student learning objectives include: (1) developing achievable short-term goals related to completion; (2) prioritizing tasks (research and writing) associated with project completion; and subsequently (3) executing and submitting a completed project.
Quoting Example:
Brown established three goals for the undergraduate writing communities. “The student learning objectives include: 1) developing achievable short-term goals related to completion; (2) prioritizing tasks (research and writing) associated with project completion; and subsequently (3) executing and submitting a completed project” (Brown, 2021, p. 321).
Paraphrasing
When you paraphrase, write the author’s ideas in your own words. Paraphrases are shorter than the source material. They come from larger parts of the source material, such as several sentences or paragraphs, and condense the author’s ideas into a short explanation. Paraphrases are NOT placed in quotation marks, but they MUST have a source citation.
For example, this paraphrase condenses the ideas of several sentences. Notice that there are no quotation marks, but there is a source citation.
Paraphrasing Example
Original Paper:
For students who find it difficult to focus during the time dedicated for the structured writing community, I introduce them to productivity methods such as the Pomodoro Technique (Cirillo, 2018) during individual coaching sessions. Moreover, I encourage students to have (or make) a comfortable working space. For example, students who prefer a quiet environment are encouraged to use noise-canceling headphones. If students are working virtually, I encourage them to make their workspaces comfortable and to have all work supplies (computers, journal articles, writing utensils, etc.) handy at the start of the session.
Paraphrasing Example:
When some of Brown’s students found it difficult to focus when writing, she recommended that they have a quiet, comfortable place to work, with all the tools they needed ready, such as noise-canceling headphones, journal articles, pens, and paper, and that they try out productivity methods like the Pomodoro Technique (Brown, 2021).
Summarizing
When you summarize, write the author’s main ideas in your own unique words. Summaries are much shorter than the source material and come from large parts of the source material, such as entire articles, chapters, books, or many works by the same author. They are not placed in quotation marks, but they MUST have a source citation.
For example, this summary condenses the main ideas from this 8-page paper. There are no quotation marks, but there is a source citation.
Summarizing Example
Original Paper:
Brown, N. R. (2021). Using structured writing communities to facilitate undergraduate research writing. Communication Teacher, 35(4), 320–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2021.1889010
Summarizing Example:
Natasha Brown, a communications faculty member at Indiana University Northwest, created a structured writing community for her Capstone students, based on strategies used in Writing Accountability Groups (WAG). She met one-on-one with students to set writing goals, discuss their capstone projects, and find solutions to the writing issues they encountered. Students had in-class writing sessions and reported out to the group if they met their goals during the session. Students were assessed three times in the semester, and for the most part reported that they liked the writing and coaching sessions (Brown, 2021).
Techniques for Paraphrasing and Summarizing
When you first try paraphrasing or summarizing, you may be tempted to use a thesaurus to replace some of the author’s original words with words with similar meanings. This is called “patchwork plagiarism”. There are better ways to paraphrase or summarize than copying the author’s sentence structure and inserting pieces of your own words.
For example, this patchwork paraphrasing is plagiarism.
Patchwork Plagiarism Example
Original Paper:
I recommend structured writing community sessions be spread over at least 10 weeks, but this may vary, depending upon the institution’s academic calendar and the assign-
ment deadline..
Patchwork Paraphrasing:
Brown advocates for structured writing community meetings to be scattered over at least 10 weeks; however, this may change contingent on the institution’s scholastic schedule and the homework due date.
To avoid patchwork plagiarism, try these tips:
- Imagine you are explaining the content to a friend
- Move some parts of sentences to other places
- Rearrange the order of ideas
- Divide long sentences into short sentences
- Combine ideas into longer sentences
- Change parts of speech- change the verb tense from past to present, or change nouns to adjectives
- Use signal phrases
- Refer to your notes instead of the original text when writing (We recommend the Cornell Note Taking System, explained below)
Provide Context with Signal Phrases
John Lanning and Amanda Lloyd explain signal phrases in their chapter on Signal Phrases in the textbook A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing:
A signal phrase, also known as an attributive tag, is a device used to smoothly integrate quotations and paraphrases into your essay. It is important to use signal phrases to clearly attribute supporting evidence to its author or authors and to avoid interrupting the flow of an essay. Signal phrases can also be used as meaningful transitions, moving your readers between your ideas and those of your sources.
A signal phrase consists of an author’s name and a verb indicating how the author is presenting the material. A signal phrase may also include information explaining an author’s credentials and/or affiliations as well as the title and/or publisher of the source text.
Types of Signal Phrases
Type: Author’s credentials are indicated.
Example: Grace Chapmen, Curator of Human Health & Evolutionary Medicine at the Springfield Natural History Museum, explains…
Purpose: Presenting an author’s credentials should help build credibility for the passage you are about to present. Including the author’s credentials gives your readers a reason to consider your sources.
Type: Author’s lack of credentials is indicated.
Example: Matthew Spencer, whose background is in marriage counseling, not foreign policy, claims…
Purpose: Identifying an author’s lack of credentials in a given area can help illustrate a lack of authority on the subject matter and persuade the audience not to adopt the author’s ideas. Pointing to an author’s lack of credentials can be beneficial when developing your response to counter-arguments.
Type: Author’s social or political stance, if necessary to the content, is explained.
Example: Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Roland Hayes, prominent civil rights activist, preaches…
Ralph Spencer, who has ties to the White Nationalist movement, denies…
Purpose: Explaining the author’s social or political stance can help a reader to understand why that author expresses a particular view. This understanding can positively or negatively influence an audience. Be careful to avoid engaging in logical fallacies such as loaded language.
Type: Publisher of the source is identified.
Example: According to a recent CNN poll…
Purpose: Identifying the publisher of the passage can help reinforce the credibility of the information presented and you can capitalize on the reputation/ credibility of the publisher of the source material.
Type: Title of the Source is included.
Example: In “Understanding Human Behavior,” Riley argues …
Purpose: Informs the reader where the cited passage is being pulled from.
Type: Information that establishes context is presented.
Example: In a speech presented during a Free Speech rally, Elaine Wallace encourages …
Purpose: Presenting the context that the original information was presented can help the audience understand the author’s purpose more clearly.
Some Signal Phrase Verbs:
| Acknowledges | Claims | Declares | Maintains | Reasons |
| Admits | Compares | Denies | Mentions | Refutes |
| Agrees | Confirms | Emphasizes | Notes | Rejects |
| Argues | Comments | Finds | Observes | Responds |
| Asserts | Contends | Illustrates | Points Out | Suggests |
| Believes | Counters | Implies | Thinks | |
| Insists | Writes |
The Cornell Note-Taking System
The Cornell Note-Taking System was originally developed in the 1950s by Cornell education professor Walter Pauk. It is a two-column system of taking notes during lectures or when reading texts.
To set up a piece of paper for Cornell Notes, divide your page into three sections. The column on the left (labeled Cues) should be about half the size of the column on the right (labeled Notes). Leave about two inches of writing room at the bottom of the paper (labeled Summary).
When taking notes, use the Notes column to write down the main ideas and important details. Avoid long sentences, and use meaningful abbreviations and symbols. You can also include definitions, outlines, bullet points, or drawings.
After the lecture or reading, review your notes and write key concepts, questions, or prompts in the Cue Column. At the bottom of the page, write a brief summary of the main points.
Later, you can use the cue column to quiz yourself on the material, covering up the Notes column. When writing, you can read your notes instead of the original material, and base your summaries and paraphrases on that.
These two videos from Cornell University’s Learning Strategies Center explain more:
What are Cornell Notes?
How to Use Cornell Notes
Chapter Attribution:
Brown, N. R. (2021). Using structured writing communities to facilitate undergraduate research writing. Communication Teacher, 35(4), 320–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2021.1889010
Lanning, J. & Lloyd, A. (n.f.) 11.4 Signal phrases in A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing 1st. edition. https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/chapter/apa-signal-phrases/ Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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