Giving Credit
Paraphrasing is restating someone else’s ideas into your own words. It differs from a quotation because you are not copying the source in a word-for-word manner. Like a direct quotation, paraphrased writing should be cited. Here are some tips for effective paraphrasing:
- After you read something, make a practice of summarizing the main concepts in your own words and record this in your notes.
- Avoid patchwriting which is just changing the word order or using synonyms from a thesaurus to distinguish your paraphrase from the original material.
- You may include specific terminology, core concepts, or names in your paraphrase to effectively restate the meaning of the original source.
Lehman Library. (2014, April 23). "Just Because You Put It in Your Own Words..." YouTube.
A direct quotation or quote is restating someone’s ideas or words exactly in your writing. Use direct quotations selectively to support your own ideas and used quotation marks to signify you are quoting verbatim. Consult a style manual for precise guidelines to directly quote a source.
Direct Quote in MLA Style
According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).
Direct Quote in APA Style
Effective teams can be difficult to describe because "high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another" (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470).
Sources: MLA Handbook 9th ed. edition (p. 228) and Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 7th ed. (p. 272).
Summarizing condenses the meaning of long passages into a brief statement of the main ideas in your own words. You should cite the original source when you summarize.
Common knowledge is information that is widely known by the average reader or could be described in reference sources like dictionaries and encyclopedias. It includes historical events, factual information, and biographical information for well-known figures. Common knowledge does not need to be cited.
Should I Cite?
- Should I cite flow chart alternate text only versionThis flowchart poses a series of questions to guide students in deciding if information should be cited and instructions to correctly cite source material.