Overview of Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

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

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

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 such as:

 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

Writers frequently intertwine summaries, paraphrases, and quotations. As part of a summary of an article, a
chapter, or a book, a writer might include paraphrases of various key points blended with quotations of striking
or suggestive phrases as in the following example:

In his famous and influential work On the Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud argues that dreams
are the "royal road to the unconscious,” expressing in coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a
process known as the "dream work" (6). 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 (8).
 Read the following Sample essay for Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don't Want To

by Roger Sipher

A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is in trouble.

One reason for the crisis is that present mandatory-attendance laws force many to attend school who have no
wish to be there. Such children have little desire to learn and are so antagonistic to school that neither they nor
more highly motivated students receive the quality education that is the birthright of every American.

The solution to this problem is simple: Abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those who are
committed to getting an education to attend.

This will not end public education. Contrary to conventional belief, legislators enacted compulsory-attendance
laws to legalize what already existed. William Landes and Lewis Solomon, economists, found little evidence
that mandatory-attendance laws increased the number of children in school. They found, too, that school
systems have never effectively enforced such laws, usually because of the expense involved.

There is no contradiction between the assertion that compulsory attendance has had little effect on the number
of children attending school and the argument that repeal would be a positive step toward improving education.
Most parents want a high school education for their children. Unfortunately, compulsory attendance hampers
the ability of public school officials to enforce legitimate educational and disciplinary policies and thereby make
the education a good one.

Private schools have no such problem. They can fail or dismiss students, knowing such students can attend
public school. Without compulsory attendance, public schools would be freer to oust students whose academic
or personal behavior undermines the educational mission of the institution.

Has not the noble experiment of a formal education for everyone failed? While we pay homage to the homily,
"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink," we have pretended it is not true in education.

Ask high school teachers if recalcitrant students learn anything of value. Ask teachers if these students do any
homework. Quite the contrary, these students know they will be passed from grade to grade until they are old
enough to quit or until, as is more likely, they receive a high school diploma. At the point when students could
legally quit, most choose to remain since they know they are likely to be allowed to graduate whether they do
acceptable work or not.

Abolition of archaic attendance laws would produce enormous dividends.

First, it would alert everyone that school is a serious place where one goes to learn. Schools are neither day-care
centers nor indoor street corners. Young people who resist learning should stay away; indeed, an end to
compulsory schooling would require them to stay away.

Second, students opposed to learning would not be able to pollute the educational atmosphere for those who
want to learn. Teachers could stop policing recalcitrant students and start educating.

Third, grades would show what they are supposed to: how well a student is learning. Parents could again read
report cards and know if their children were making progress.
Fourth, public esteem for schools would increase. People would stop regarding them as way stations for
adolescents and start thinking of them as institutions for educating America's youth.

Fifth, elementary schools would change because students would find out early they had better learn something
or risk flunking out later. Elementary teachers would no longer have to pass their failures on to junior high and
high school.

Sixth, the cost of enforcing compulsory education would be eliminated. Despite enforcement efforts, nearly 15
percent of the school-age children in our largest cities are almost permanently absent from school.

Communities could use these savings to support institutions to deal with young people not in school. If, in the
long run, these institutions prove more costly, at least we would not confuse their mission with that of schools.

Schools should be for education. At present, they are only tangentially so. They have attempted to serve an all-
encompassing social function, trying to be all things to all people. In the process they have failed miserably at
what they were originally formed to accomplish.

Read the Example Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation from the Essay:

Example summary: Roger Sipher makes his case for getting rid of compulsory-attendance laws in primary and
secondary schools with six arguments. These fall into three groups—first that education is for those who want
to learn and by including those that don't want to learn, everyone suffers. Second, that grades would be
reflective of effort and elementary school teachers wouldn't feel compelled to pass failing students. Third, that
schools would both save money and save face with the elimination of compulsory-attendance laws (Sipher 29).

Example paraphrase: Roger Sipher concludes his essay by insisting that schools have failed to fulfill their
primary duty of education because they try to fill multiple social functions (Sipher 29).
(Note: this sentence paraphrases one sentence in the essay.)

Example quotation: According to Roger Sipher, a solution to the perceived crisis of American education is to
"Abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education to
attend" (Sipher 29).

Quoting: Using Someone Else’s Words

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:

1. Accuracy: You are unable to paraphrase or summarize the source material without changing the author’s
intent
2. Authority: You may want to use a quote to lend expert authority for your assertion or to provide source
material for analysis.
3. Conciseness: Your attempts to paraphrase or summarize are awkward or much longer than the source
material.
4. Unforgettable language: You believe that the words of the author are memorable or remarkable because of
their effectiveness or historical flavor. Additionally, the author may have used a unique phrase or sentence, and
you want to comment on words or phrases themselves.
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.

Paraphrasing: Writing in Your Own Words

Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime
you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that
information.

A paraphrase is...

 Your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new
form.
 One legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.
 A more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...

 It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.

 It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
 The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the
original.

6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material.
4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the
essential information in a new form.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the
source.
6. Record the source (including the page) so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the
material into your paper.

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:
 To change the organization of ideas for emphasis. You may have to change the organization of ideas in
source material so that you can emphasize the points that are most related to your paper. You should
remember to be faithful to the meaning of the source.
 To simplify the material. You may have to simplify complex arguments, sentences, or vocabulary.
 To clarify the material. You may have to clarify technical passages or specialized information into
language that is appropriate for your audience.
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.

Some examples of paraphrase and summary to compare

The 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. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.

A legitimate 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).

An 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).

A plagiarized version:

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% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So
it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

Summarizing

When do I Summarize?
Summarize a passage when you simply want to give your readers a brief overview of a text.

How do I Summarize?
When summarizing, follow the guidelines listed below:
 Include only the main points of the original passage
 Do not worry about following the original order of ideas.
 Keep the length down to no more than half the length of the original.

Writing a summary essentially takes four steps:

1. Identify the main points of the passage. In some paragraphs, the main idea is expressed in the topic sentence,
yet in others, it may not be explicitly stated at all. Additionally, a passage may contain one or more points that
are vital to its meaning. These elements must be mentioned in your summary. However, you will not include all
the details, as you do in a paraphrase. Instead, only choose the most important.
2. Organize and present these main points in a coherent way. Be careful not to use the author's words or to
follow the sentence structure of the original passage.

3. Make sure that you are faithful to the meaning of the source and that you have accurately represented the
main ideas.

4. Cite appropriately and integrate the summary into the text effectively.

You may use the summary often for the following reasons:
 To condense the material. You may have to condense or to reduce the source material to draw out the
points that relate to your paper.
 To omit extras from the material. You may have to omit extra information from the source material to
focus on the author’s main points.
 To simplify the material. You may have to simplify the most important complex arguments, sentences, or
vocabulary in the source material.

The following is an example of a paragraph from a biology textbook. Following it, you will find examples of a
paraphrase and a short summary of the original passage.
Original Passage
The honeybee colony, which usually has a population of 30,00 to 40,000 workers, differs from that of
the bumblebee and many other social bees or wasps in that it survives the winter. This means that the bees must
stay warm despite the cold. Like other bees, the isolated honeybee cannot fly if the temperature falls below 10
degrees C (50 degrees F) and cannot walk if the temperature is below 7 degrees C (45 degrees F). Within the
wintering hive, bees maintain their temperature by clustering together in a dense ball; the lower the temperature,
the denser the cluster. The clustered bees produce heat by constant muscular movements of their wings, legs,
and abdomens. In very cold weather, the bees on the outside of the cluster keep moving toward the center, while
those in the core of the cluster move to the colder outside periphery. The entire cluster moves slowly about on
the combs, eating the stored honey from the combs as it moves.
“Winter Organization,” in Helena Curtis, Biology, second edition, (New York: Worth, 1976),
822-823.

Paraphrase
Honeybees, unlike many other varieties of bees (such as bumblebees and wasps), are able to live through
the winter. The 30,000 to 40,000 bees within a honeybee hive could not, individually, move about in cold winter
temperatures. But when “clustering together in a dense ball,” the bees generate heat by constantly moving their
body parts. The cluster also moves slowly about the hive, eating honey stored in the combs. This nutrition, in
addition to the heat generated by the cluster, enables the honeybee to survive the cold winter months (Curtis
822).

Summary
Honeybees, unlike many other varieties of bees, are able to live through the winter by “clustering
together in a dense ball” for body warmth (Curtis 822).

Examples from: Reading for College Writers by Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen.
(Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1987), 58-59.

Review
When you are incorporating outside material into your own work (such as for a research paper) you will need to
know how to summarize and how to paraphrase.
In both instances, you are restating someone else's ideas in your own words. What's the difference?
When you summarize, you condense the original material — you use less words to cover the same idea.
When you paraphrase, you use roughly the same number of words to restate the original idea.

The most important thing to remember, whether you are summarizing or paraphrasing, is that you must not
borrow too much from your original source. You must use your own words and your own phrasing.
If you do not change enough of the vocabulary and sentence structure of the original passage, you have
plagiarized.

PARAPHRASE and SUMMARY

A paraphrase puts information that you read into your own words. It is about as long as the original.
A summary briefly restates the original passage in your own words. It should include only the main point and
key supporting points. It is much shorter than the original.
Guidelines
 Read the original passage carefully.
 Include all important information.
 Do not include your own opinion or additional comments in either paraphrase or summary.
 You may sometimes use direct quotations in your paraphrase or summary. Use them sparingly and only
when the writer’s phrasing is so well stated or technical that it would be difficult to put into your own
words. Remember to use quotation marks.
 Even though you paraphrase the passage in your own words, you need to use a parenthetical citation
identifying the original source to avoid plagiarism.
 Do not imitate the author’s sentence structure or merely substitute synonyms for the author’s words.
Now, you will show what you know. You will need to use binder paper to complete the exercises.

Read this paragraph:

At least four separate theories of crime and punishment compete for preeminence in guiding correctional
policies. Justice: First, there is the ancient Judeo-Christian idea of holding individuals responsible for their
guilty acts and compelling them to pay a debt to society. Retribution is an expression of society’s moral outrage,
and it lessens the impulse of victims and their families to seek revenge. Deterrence: Another philosophy argues
that punishment should be sure, speedy, commensurate with the crime, and sufficiently conspicuous to deter
others from committing crimes. Incapacitation: Still another philosophy in correctional policy is that of
protecting the public from lawbreakers or habitual criminals by segregating them behind prison walls.
Rehabilitation: Finally, there is the theory that criminals are partly or entirely victims of social circumstances
beyond their control and that society owes them comprehensive treatment in the form of rehabilitation (100-
101).
--Dye, T. (1995). Understanding public policy (8th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Now let’s look at a sample paraphrase of the passage. This sample paraphrase has several key problems. Read
the paraphrase that follows and then write down some of the problems with this paraphrase on your sheet of
paper. Make sure you are very specific and neat.

Four separate theories about crime and punishment compete in guiding correctional policies. The first is an
ancient Judeo-Christian idea of justice. This idea holds individuals responsible for their own actions and
compels them to pay a debt to society. In this case, retribution is an expression of society’s moral outrage. This
lessens the impulse of victims to seek revenge. A second theory of crime and punishment is deterrence. This
philosophy argues that punishment should e certain, swift, and commensurate with the crime. If punishment is
conspicuous, this theory holds that it will deter others from committing crime. A third theory is the theory of
incapacitation. This theory is to protect the public from criminals by placing criminals behind prison walls. A
final theory of crime and punishment is the theory of rehabilitation. This theory suggests that criminals are
victims of social circumstances beyond their control. In this instance society owes them comprehensive
treatment in the form of rehabilitation (Dye, 1995).

Now that you’ve identified both the key points and the problems with the above paraphrase, write your own
paraphrase of the passage. You may incorporate quotes. Before you do this, I’d strongly suggest reviewing the
difference between paraphrase and summary and the length/expectations for a paraphrase!
Complete the following exercises to demonstrate your understanding of how to summarize.

Exercise I:
Knowing how to argue is a useful skill. We use it on ourselves in order to arrive at decisions; we use it with
others as we discuss business strategies or policy changes on committees, as members of the local PTA, a law
office, an environmental action group; we use it as fundraisers for a cause, like saving whales, we use it in
applying for foundation grants and in drafting a letter to the editor of our hometown paper; we use it when we
discuss child abuse, toxic waste, tax cuts, pothole repair, working mothers, and university investment policies.
Our ability to express opinions persuasively—to present our views systematically as arguments—will allow us
to make some difference in public life. If we lack the necessary skills, we are condemned to sit on the sidelines.
Instead of doing the moving, we will be among the moved; more persuasive voices will convince us of what me
must do. (pp. 222-223).
--Hall, B. & Birkerts, S. (1998). Writing well (9th ed.). New York: Longman.

Topic Sentence: Knowing how to argue is a useful skill.

For exercise I, you’ll have to choose the main points. Choose the main points from the passage in the selection
of sentences/phrases below. Write them on your own sheet of paper.

1. “We must use it on ourselves in order to arrive at decisions”

2. “members of the local PTA”

3. “we use it with others”

4. “drafting a letter to the editor of our hometown paper”

5. “Our ability . . . will allow us to make some difference in public life”

6. “we are condemned to sit on the sidelines”

7. “saving whales”

Now, write a summary of the paragraph that includes all of the main points. Review the description of a
summary so you avoid making mistakes.

For each of the following, write a summary on your own sheet of paper.
Exercise II:
Audiences want the sense that you’re talking directly to them and that you care that they understand and are
interested. They’ll forgive you if you get tangled up in a sentence and end it ungrammatically. They won’t
forgive you if you seem to have a “canned” talk that you’re going to deliver no matter who the audience is or
how they respond. You can convey a sense of caring to your audience by making direct eye contact with them
and by using a conversational style. (p. 475)
---Locker, K. O. (2003). Business and administrative communication (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Irwin/McGraw-
Hill.

Exercise III:
Writing a memo is essentially like writing any other form of technical communication. First you have to
understand your audience and purpose. Then you gather your information, create some sort of outline, write a
draft, and revise it. Making the memo look like a memo- adding the structural features that your readers will
expect—is relatively simple. Your software has templates, or you can build the structure into your outline or
shape the draft at some later stage. (p. 424)
--Markel, M. (1996). Technical communication: Situations and strategies. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Exercise IV:
The persistently poor are only a minority of the people who ever experience poverty, but they place a
disproportionate burden on welfare resources. Less than half of the people on welfare rolls at any one time are
persistently poor, that is, likely to remain on welfare for five or more years. Thus, for most welfare recipients,
welfare payments are a relatively short-term aid that helps them over life’s difficult times. For others, welfare is
a more permanent part of their lives. (121)
--Dye, T. (1995). Understanding public policy (8th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Let's look at examples of illegitimate and legitimate paraphrase. The original passage is from Oliver Sacks'
essay "An Anthropologist on Mars":
The cause of autism has also been a matter of dispute. Its incidence is about one in a thousand, and it occurs
throughout the world, its features remarkably consistent even in extremely different cultures. It is often not
recognized in the first year of life, but tends to become obvious in the second or third year. Though Asperger
regarded it as a biological defect of affective contact—innate, inborn, analogous to a physical or intellectual
defect—Kanner tended to view it as a psychogenic disorder, a reflection of bad parenting, and most especially
of a chillingly remote, often professional, "refrigerator mother." At this time, autism was often regarded as
"defensive" in nature, or confused with childhood schizophrenia. A whole generation of parents—mothers,
particularly—were made to feel guilty for the autism of their children.

What follows is an example of illegitimate paraphrase:

The cause of the condition autism has been disputed. It occurs in approximately one in a thousand children, and
it exists in all parts of the world, its characteristics strikingly similar in vastly differing cultures. The condition
is often not noticeable in the child's first year, yet it becomes more apparent as the child reaches the ages of two
or three. Although Asperger saw the condition as a biological defect of the emotions that was inborn and
therefore similar to a physical defect, Kanner saw it as psychological in origin, as reflecting poor parenting and
particularly a frigidly distant mother. During this period, autism was often seen as a defense mechanism, or it
was misdiagnosed as childhood schizophrenia. An entire generation of mothers and fathers (but especially
mothers) were made to feel responsible for their offspring's autism (Sacks 247-48).

Exercise V: Explain why this is an illegitimate paraphrase.

The following represents a legitimate paraphrase of the original passage:

In "An Anthropologist on Mars," Sacks lists some of the known facts about autism. We know, for example,
that the condition occurs in roughly one out of every thousand children. We also know that the characteristics of
autism do not vary from one culture to the next. And we know that the condition is difficult to diagnose until the
child has entered its second or third year of life. As Sacks points out, often a child who goes on to develop
autism will still appear perfectly normal at the age of one (247).
Sacks observes, however, that researchers have had a hard time agreeing on the causes of autism. He
sketches the diametrically opposed positions of Asperger and Kanner. On the one hand, Asperger saw the
condition as representing a constitutional defect in the child's ability to make meaningful emotional contact with
the external world. On the other hand, Kanner regarded autism as a consequence of harmful childrearing
practices. For many years confusion about this condition reigned. One unfortunate consequence of this
confusion, Sacks suggests, was the burden of guilt imposed on so many parents for their child's condition (247-
448).

Exercise VI: Explain why this is a legitimate paraphrase.