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Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Academic Writing often means integrating ideas from published sources into your own
arguments. To do this, you can use direct quotes, paraphrase, and summarize. Paraphrasing and
summarizing involve condensing the original source to focus the reader’s attention on the
specific ideas that support your argument.

Generally, paraphrasing and summarizing are considered more sophisticated than quoting
because condensing the original source in those ways require a deeper understanding of the
original source than simply quoting.

Summarizing
A summary is an overview of a text. The main idea is given, but details and examples are left
out. The main purpose of summarizing is to reduce or condense a text to its most important
ideas.

To write a good summary, you should follow this procedure:

1. Read the article to find the thesis statement. Read each section a few times to find the
topic sentence for each paragraph and the supporting details within this paragraph.
2. Take notes in your own words: write down any significant fact or detail in your own
words to minimize the risk of plagiarizing the article/essay you summarize.
3. Summarize each paragraph to make sure you know what its main point is.
4. Include the thesis and the writer’s full name (or simply the last name) in the
introduction.

Adapted from Montgomery Community College, Collin College, and Western Organ University
 5. Review your notes to provide main supporting details as they appear in the paragraphs.
Only write information that is crucial to understand the content of the article/essay.
6. In your conclusion, restate the conclusion drawn by the writer of the original.
7. Always use the writer’s tag to indicate that the information does not come from you.
For example, include phrases like “Davis believes;” “Davis finds that;” “Davis
expresses disbelief about.”

Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is a way of presenting a text, keeping the same meaning, but using different
words and phrasing. Paraphrasing is used with short sections of text, such as sentences or
paragraphs.

To write a good paraphrase, you should:

1. Read the original text until you understand fully its meaning.
2. Set the original aside and write down what you remember about the text.
3. Check your version against the original to make sure you express the essential
information accurately.
4. Use quotation marks to indicate any phrase or concept you borrowed from the
original.
5. Record the source, with its page number, so you can easily indicate it if you need to
incorporate it later into an essay.

Example:
Original Passage: “Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a
result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your
final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit
the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.” Lester, James D.
Writing Research Papers. Pearson, 2014, pp. 46-47.

Unacceptable Use of the Source: Students often use too many direct quotations when they take
notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10%

Adapted from Montgomery Community College, Collin College, and Western Organ University
of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. It is important to limit the amount of
source material copied while taking notes.

NOTE: First, this passage has no citation. Furthermore, it uses too many
words/phrases from the original and fails to change the structure of the sentences and
paragraph.

Acceptable Paraphrase: In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep
quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note
taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).

Acceptable Summary: Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to
help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).

Quoting
When you find information that helps support or develop your ideas about a topic, you may want
to introduce your reader to this information by directly quoting a term, phrase, sentence, or
longer excerpt from a source.

It can be tempting to fill your writing with the words of expert researchers and writers, but you
should reserve direct quotations for those passages that are worded so uniquely or precisely that
some meaning would be lost if you simply paraphrased the information. Try to limit the number
of direct quotes in an essay to roughly 10% of the total word count.

Here are some tips to help you decide when to use quotations:
1. Quote if you the author’s words are particularly brilliant, witty, edgy, distinctive, a good
illustration of a point you are making, or otherwise interesting.
2. Quote if you are using a particularly authoritative source and you need the author’s
expertise to back up your point.
3. Quote if you are analyzing diction, tone, or a writer’s use of a specific word or phrase.

Adapted from Montgomery Community College, Collin College, and Western Organ University
 4. Quote if you are taking a position that relies on the reader’s understanding exactly what
another writer says about the topic.

Incorporating Quotations
Method 1: Use a signal phrase
Sometimes it works best to introduce a quotation by using a clear signal phrase—a
phrase that explicitly attributes a quote to its author.

Examples:
Observing the tendency of young writers to give up on a piece of writing before
it reaches its full potential, writer Natalie Goldberg declares, “push yourself
beyond when you think you are done with what you have to say” (103).

As Goldberg explains, “sometimes when you think you are done, it is just the
edge of the beginning” (103).

Helpful verbs to use in signal phrases:

The list of signal verbs below will help you integrate quotes into your sentences.

Acknowledges Chronicles Delineates Highlights Points out Replies

Adds Claims Denies Hypothesizes Posits Reports
Admits Comments Discloses Illustrates Purports Responds
Advances Compares Discounts Implies Reasons Reveals
Affirms Concludes Disputes Indicates Recounts States
Agrees Concurs Documents Insists Refers Submits
Alludes to Confirms Emphasizes Maintains Reflects Suggests
Argues Contends Explains Narrates Refutes Supports
Asserts Contrasts Expresses Negates Reiterates Theorizes
Attests to Declares Extrapolates Notes Relates Writes
Characterizes Defines Grants Observes Remarks Verifies

Adapted from Montgomery Community College, Collin College, and Western Organ University
 Method 2: Embed the quotation
Another option when quoting from a source is to embed the quote into a sentence; in other
words, you can structure your sentence so that it leads naturally into the quotation. If you do
this, make sure that the grammatical structure of the sentence including the quotation is
correct. Your wording should lead into the quotation so seamlessly that if you read your
sentence aloud, it would be impossible for someone listening to determine where your
wording ended and the quotation’s wording began.

Examples:
Discussing the importance of specificity in writing, Natalie Goldberg maintains that
weshould “give things the dignity of their names” (70).

Indeed, when writing the word “‘geranium’ instead of ‘flower,’ you are penetrating
more deeply into the present and being there” (Goldberg 71).

Method 3: Use a complete sentence followed by a colon

The final option for introducing a quotation is to attach the quote to a complete sentence using a
colon. This method works well when you want to pair a statement with a quotation that directly
exemplifies or parallels the statement.

Examples:
Goldberg urges writers to listen to their intuition and instincts: “first thoughts are themind
reflecting experiences—as close as a human being can get in words to the sunset, the
birth, the bobby pin, the crocus” (68).

It can be difficult for a writer to get a clear perspective on a recent composition: “the best
test of a piece of writing is over time” (Goldberg 158).

Using Block Quotes

A block quote is used for direct quotations that are longer than four lines of text.

Adapted from Montgomery Community College, Collin College, and Western Organ University
The block format is a freestanding quote that does not include quotation marks. Introduce the
block quote with a colon (unless the context of your quote requires different punctuation) and
start it on a new line. Indent the entire quote 1-inch from the left margin and double-space it
(even if the rest of your paper is not double-spaced). Include the page number at the end of your
block quote outside of the ending period. Also include the author's last name, date of publication,
and page number(s)/paragraph number.

Example:
Harry is constructed as the antithesis of Voldemort and is bound to him in numerous
ways: the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead is the most obvious, as are Harry’s ability to
speak Parsel tongue and his wand, which is an exact counterpart of Voldemort’s. Like
Frodo Baggins, Harry is the reluctant hero who must act as the instrument of absolute
good, even at the risk of his own life, to defeat the instrument of absolute evil (Chevelier
p. 339)

Adapted from Montgomery Community College, Collin College, and Western Organ University