PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING, AND QUOTING

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.
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.
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.

Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries?

Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve many purposes. You might use them to . . .
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
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PARAPHRASING

Paraphrasing means putting into your own words what you have read or heard from research
sources. Although you are re-presenting the writer’s ideas using your own words, you need to
reference the source/s from which you gathered the material.
Paraphrasing is writing down an author’s ideas in your own words. It is not simply substituting
the author’s exact words with synonyms. A successful paraphrase is different from the original
text in vocabulary and style but still contains the author’s main ideas. Paraphrasing is NOT a
direct copy of the text. If you directly copy the text without including a citation you are
PLAGIARIZING.

Some Tips Before You Begin the Paraphrase

Eliminate wordiness:
- Learning new words is great, but if you use too many, your paraphrase will not be
successful and will not match your regular writing style.
- Focus on the details that are important for your essay, not on reporting everything the
original author has said.
Keep Keywords: names of theories, places, people – terms that the original author uses
repeatedly in the original text.
Focus on ideas: paraphrase the author’s ideas instead of replacing words with synonyms.
Simplify your explanation: Explain the ideas as if you were telling a friend who has not read
the original text.

Ways to Paraphrase

1. Similar words
Try to find synonyms for verbs and adjectives for the words used in the original source or your
simplified version of the source.
 Use an ENGLISH THESAURUS AND ENGLISH DICTIONARY to check the meaning
of the synonyms
 If you use a translation program or dictionary you will not get accurate word
choices.
 MS Word has a Thesaurus (dictionary of synonyms) built into the program. You
can find it under the “Review” tab on MS Word 2007 & later.
 Try NOT to use too many new words – it is great to improve your vocabulary but if you
don’t understand the meaning of those words, your paraphrase may not have the same
meaning as the original source (NOT GOOD!)
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Example:
The original passage:
 “Artistic, diverse and ever-changing, Vancouver is a hub of cultural activity. The fact that
the city boasts a number of notable cultural institutions, such as the Vancouver Art
Gallery and the Vancouver Opera, is known to many” (Lang 20).
The paraphrase:
 Vancouver is a major cultural centre on Canada’s west coast. The Vancouver Art
Gallery and the Vancouver Opera are just two examples of its many famous cultural
venues (Lang 20).
 “cultural centre” instead of “hub of cultural activity”
 “Venues” instead of “institutions” – venue means a place that people go to, so
it works in this paraphrase as a substitute for institutions. It might not work in
all contexts, however, which is why it is important to use English language
dictionaries.

2. Substituting Definitions
Some key words in the original text may be replaced by their definitions.
Example:
 Original: The defendant waited anxiously for the jury’s verdict at his murder trial.
 Paraphrase: The accused murderer nervously waited for the final judgement at his trial.
 The defendant in a trial is a person who has been accused of committing a crime.
 Final judgement is the definition of verdict.

3. Switching the Order of Clauses

Rewriting a sentence by switching the order of the original clauses is a great way to begin a
paraphrase. This step ensures that you have to adjust the grammar and will help you avoid
plagiarizing.
Take a look one of our earlier examples again:
 Notice that in this paraphrase the second sentence from the original text has become the
first clause in the paraphrased sentence.
 Notice also that there are some changes in the grammar of the sentence.
Example:
 Original Source: Barack Obama says he wants to elevate the public discourse, yet here he
is, hosting the loons and the radicals, the pranksters and the protesters. Anyone with Internet
access can put a petition on the federal mainframe (Scherer 36).
 Paraphrase: The government’s websites have attracted the attention of all sorts of fanatics,
activists and jokesters as a result of President Obama’s desire to improve civic dialogue
(Scherer 36).
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4. Change the Voice

Change the voice of the original sentences. If the voice is active try making the paraphrase
passive. If the voice is passive try making the paraphrase active.
 Active voice means the subject performs the action(verb)
 Passive voice means the subject does not perform the action
Examples:
 Original Source: The economy is suffering because of the bank’s poor judgment (Passive)
 Paraphrase: The bank’s bad decisions caused the economy to crumble. (Active)
 Original Source: The team won because Jones scored the winning goal in the last minute
of the game. (Active)
 Paraphrase: Jones’ last minute goal allowed the team to win. (Passive)

5. Exchanging Verbs & Nouns

Another way to change the voice in a paraphrase is to switch verbs in the original text to their
noun forms in your paraphrase. You can also try switching nouns into verbs that have the same
or similar meaning.
Examples:
 Original source: The researchers started their investigation of the work habits of
teenagers last week. (noun)
 Paraphrase: The researchers recently investigated youth work ethic. (verb)
 Original source: Sami insisted on the truth even if it might cause her pain. (verb)
 Paraphrase: Sami’s insistence on honesty, no matter the personal cost, makes her an
admirable character in this novel. (noun)

6. Change the Quoted Speech

Changing from direct speech to indirect speech or vice versa.
Example:
 Direct : Mr Lee said, “ I am ready for lunch”
 Indirect : Mr Lee said, He was ready for lunch
 Indirect: Julia shouted that she didn't want to go to the dentist.
Direct: Julia shouted, "I don't want to go to the dentist."

7. Combine Sentences
Combining sentences from the original text, using conjunctions or relative clauses is another
great way to preserve the original ideas, while changing the structure of the original material.
Using Conjunctions: When combining two sentences, here are some things to remember about
selecting which word to use:
 For, tells us the reason
 Because, also tells us the reason
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 And, means addition

 Nor, is negative
 But, shows contrast
 Or, gives another reason or choice
 Yet, also shows contrast
 So, tells us the result

Examples:
 Original source: The initial stages of the experiment involved sorting through potential
test subjects. The scientists had to ensure there were sufficient representatives from
each gender, age group and ethnicity.
 Paraphrase Step 1: The initial stages of the experiment involved sorting through
potential test subjects because the scientists had to ensure there were sufficient
representatives from each gender, age group and ethnicity.
 Paraphrase Step 2: Before any actual testing began, the scientists reviewed possible
participants because a successful experiment depends on their subjects representing a
good cross-section of the entire population.
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PARAPHRASING EXCERCISES

Write your own paraphrase for the following sentences:

1. A local newspaper claims that 75% of all homeless people do not like homeless shelters and
prefer to live as they do now.
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Ronny told his aunt that a bear had attacked him, which she found difficult to believe.
______________________________________________________________________________
3. Anyone who has ever driven through the Mojave Desert knows that one should always carry a
supply of extra water.
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Of the 138 million acres of land that Native Americans owned in 1887, 90 million acres were
taken away by whites by 1932.
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5. A woman who was nominated by the president to head the department was quickly approved
by the board of trustees. _________________________________________________________

Paraphrase the following sentences from student paragraphs to avoid plagiarism.

1. However, college students today are the first groups of students to need the Internet for most
of their schoolwork.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. Chinese speculators are able to realize profits from this buy-and-sell practice as property
prices are currently on the upswing.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Researchers have found a strong association between computer and Internet use in adolescents
and engagement in multiple-risk behaviours (MRB), including illicit drug use, drunkenness and
unprotected sex.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Drug resistance remains a major problem in combating HIV infection, but a different approach
to drug development could be the answer.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year, three-fourths are caused by head injuries.
Half of those killed are school-age children. One study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can
reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. In an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and
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cushions the head. From "Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers," Consumer Reports (May 1990):
348.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
6. North China's Shanxi Province, the country's largest coal supplier and most polluted region,
has the dubious distinction of having 16 cities on the list. Neither Beijing nor Shanghai appear on
the list. The report found that only 22.94 percent of sewage was treated adequately in the cities
surveyed and less than 20 percent of household garbage met with proper handling. It said 178
cities examined had not built any sewage treatment facilities and 130 cities had not been
equipped with garbage disposal plants.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
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SUMMARIZING

Summarizing is writing a brief of the passage or writing the synopsis which includes the main
points mentions in the passage.
A summary is shortened version of a larger reading. In your summary, you state the main idea in
your own words, but specific examples and details are left out.
A summary is an overview of a text. The main idea is given, but details, examples and formalities
are left out. Used with longer texts, the main aim of summarizing is to reduce or condense a text
to its most important ideas. Summarizing is a useful skill for making notes from readings and in
lectures, writing an abstract/synopsis and incorporating material in assignments. You can
summarize long sections of work, like a long paragraph, page or chapter. You can also summarize
1) to outline the main points of someone else's work in your own words, without the details or
examples, 2) to include an author's ideas using fewer words than the original text, 3) to briefly give
examples of several differing points of view on a topic, and 4) to support claims in, or provide
evidence for your writing.
How to Summarize
The amount of detail you include in a summary will vary according to the length of the
original text, how much information you need and how selective you are:
1. Start by reading a short text and highlighting the main points as you read.
2. Reread the text and make notes of the main points, leaving out examples, evidence etc.
3. Without the text, rewrite your notes in your own words; restate the main idea at the
4. Beginning plus all major points.

Example ;
Original:
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.
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 1976, 46-47).
Original:
America has changed dramatically during recent years. Not only has the number of
graduates in traditional engineering disciplines such as mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical, and
aeronautical engineering declined, but in most of the premier American universities engineering
curricula now concentrate on and encourage largely the study of engineering science. As a result,
there are declining offerings in engineering subjects dealing with infrastructure, the environment,
and related issues, and greater concentration on high technology subjects, largely supporting
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increasingly complex scientific developments. While the latter is important, it should not be at the
expense of more traditional engineering.
Rapidly developing economies such as China and India, as well as other industrial
countries in Europe and Asia, continue to encourage and advance the teaching of engineering. Both
China and India, respectively, graduate six and eight times as many traditional engineers as does
the United States. Other industrial countries at minimum maintain their output, while America
suffers an increasingly serious decline in the number of engineering graduates and a lack of well-
educated engineers. (169 words).
(Source: Excerpted from Frankel, E.G. (2008, May/June) Change in education: The cost of sacrificing
fundamentals. MIT Faculty Newsletter, XX, 5, 13.)

Summary
In a 2008 Faculty Newsletter article, “Change in Education: The cost of sacrificing fundamentals,”
MIT Professor Emeritus Ernst G. Frankel expresses his concerns regarding the current state of
American engineering education. He notes that the number of students focusing on traditional
areas of engineering has decreased while the number interested in the high-technology end of the
field has increased. Frankel points out that other industrial nations produce far more traditionally-
trained engineers than we do, and believes we have fallen seriously behind. (81 words)
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SUMMARIZING EXCERCISES

Original Text
The cinema did not emerge as a form of mass consumption until its technology evolved from the
initial “peepshow” format to the point where images were projected on a screen in a darkened
theater. In the peepshow format, a film was viewed through a small opening in a machine that was
created for that purpose. Thomas Edison’s peepshow device, the Kinetoscope, was introduced to
the public in 1894. It was designed for use in Kinetoscope parlors, or arcades, which contained
only a few individual machines and permitted only one customer to view a short, 50-foot film at
any one time. The first Kinetoscope parlors contained five machines. For the price of 25 cents (or
5 cents per machine), customers moved from machine to machine to watch five different films (or,
in the case of famous prizefights, successive rounds of a single fight).
These Kinetoscope arcades were modeled on phonograph parlors, which had proven successful
for Edison several years earlier. In the phonograph parlors, customers listened to recordings
through individual ear tubes, moving from one machine to the next to hear different recorded
speeches or pieces of music. The Kinetoscope parlors functioned in a similar way.
Exhibitors, however, wanted to maximize their profits, which they could do more readily by
projecting a handful of films to hundreds of customers at a time (rather than one at a time) and by
charging 25 to 50 cents admission. About a year after the opening of the first Kinetoscope parlor
in 1894, showmen such as Louis and Auguste Lumiere, Thomas Armat and Charles Francis
Jenkins, and Orville and Woodville Latham (with the assistance of Edison’s former assistant,
William Dickson) perfected projection devices. These early projection devices were used in
vaudeville theaters, legitimate theaters, local town halls, makeshift storefront theaters, fairgrounds,
and amusement parks to show the films to a mass audience.

Write your summary here:

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Original Text
A television camera contains a lens system which is used to focus an image of the object on to the
face of the camera tube. This tube contains a photo-cathode which emits electrons in response to
light. The brighter the light from the image, the more electrons are emitted by the photo-cathode.
In a black and white camera, the photo-cathode responds only to brightness, hence it is at this point
that information on the colour of the image is lost. The electrons from the cathode are now made
to strike a target electrode causing some of its atoms to become positively charged.
The target electrode is scanned by an electron beam. The beam sweeps the target electrode in a
series of closely spaced lines. There are 405 or 625 of these lines depending on the system used.
When the beam reaches the end of the top scan line, it is brought quickly back to the beginning of
the next line which is slightly lower. This return is called fly-back and is much quicker than a line
scan.
The scanning beam loses electrons to the positively charged atoms on the target electrode and is
thus changed or modulated. Its density is thus proportional to the light intensity of the original
image. In this way the camera produces a continuous waveform which contains information on the
brightness of the original image. This video waveform has information added to it, sync pulses, to
synchronise the start of each scanning line and frame.
The video signal is transmitted and received in a similar fashion to sound transmissions. After
detection and amplification, it is fed to the cathode or the CRT12 in the television receiver thus
controlling the intensity of the electron beam. The sync pulses ensure that the beam in the CRT is
in exactly the same position as the beam in the television camera. The beam is made to move
sideways and progressively downwards matching line by line the scanning of the television
camera. As the electron beam strikes the television screen, the phosphor coating on the screen
emits light. This light varies in whiteness according to the brightness of the original image.
Because the line by line build up the picture takes place so quickly, the eye sees only a complete
picture of the object in front of the television camera.

Write your summary here:

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QUOTING

A quotation is an exact reproduction of spoken or written words. Direct quotes can provide
strong evidence, act as an authoritative voice, or support a writer's statements.
For example:

Critical debates about the value of popular culture often raise the specters of
Americanization and cultural imperialism, particular issues for a ‘provincial’
culture. However, as Bell and Bell (1993) point out in their study of Australian-
American cultural relations: “culture is never simply imposed ‘from above’ but is
negotiated through existing patterns and traditions”. (Bell & Bell 1993, p.9)

How to Quote

Make sure that you have a good reason to use a direct quotation. Quoting should be done sparingly
and should support your own work, not replace it. For example, make a point in your own words,
then support it with an authoritative quote.
- Every direct quotation should appear between quotation marks (“ “) and exactly reproduce
text, including punctuation and capital letters.
- A short quotation often works well integrated into a sentence.
- Longer quotations (more than 3 lines of text) should start on a new line, be indented and in
italics when to quote
- When the author’s words convey a powerful meaning.
- When you want to use the author as an authoritative voice in your own writing.
- To introduce an author’s position, you may wish to discuss.
- To support claims in, or provide evidence for, your writing.
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QUOTING EXCERCISES

Now detect and write the quotation you found on the text from ‘Dimension of Forensic
Linguistic’ by John Gibbons and Teresa Turell (2008) below:

Plagiarism is a very common we found today. People who wanted to take a shortcut in writing
process obviously took this action, despite they noticed or not if this was a crime. In 1999, the US
Office of Science and Technology Policy had defined the word plagiarism as the appropriation of
another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit, including
those obtained through confidential review of others’ research proposals and manuscripts. The
negative connotations of plagiarism as an illegal appropriation of ideas are based on the concept
of Intellectual Property. Plagiarism can be defined as intentional lifting of an idea and/or
intentional copying of the text (including linguistic, musical, etc.) used to express that idea, to
cover up non-originality said Turell on his book that published on 2004. Judicial systems belonging
to the Common or the Civil Law traditions may characterize the legal base involved in plagiarism
quite similarly, although it is generally agreed that plagiarism as an accepted or unaccepted
practice, has to do with a community’s culture; in other words, that there is a cultural background
embedded in the nature of plagiarism that is reflected as in Oxford dictionary in 2010 that listed
the word plagiarize as an act of copying another person’s ideas, words or work and pretend that
they are your own. In 2001, the accusation that Spanish writer Luis Racionero, at that time the
Director of the Spanish National Library, had plagiarized in his work, Atenas de Pericles (1993),
several dozens of pages from British historians Gilbert Murray and Arnold J. Toynbee, caused an
uproar within Spanish cultural and intellectual domains. Racionero rejected criticism by
formulating in his defence that “his was not a case of plagiarism, but rather of intertextuality”. He
admitted using these historians’ material in order to produce a completely new piece of work, but
did not admit that he used this material as his own, copying literally and not citing.

Write your answer here:

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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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REFERENCES

(Source: Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/01/ )

(Source: Excerpted from Frankel, E.G. (2008, May/June) Change in education: The cost of
sacrificing fundamentals. MIT Faculty Newsletter, XX, 5, 13.)