by George Brosi

There are three ways to use a source in your paper: 1. quote word-for-word, 2. paraphrase, and 3. summarize. The paraphrase and the summary differ from the quote in that neither follow the source world-for-word and neither thus needs quotation marks. The paraphrase is like the quote in that it expresses the exact same ideas as the quote. The summary, in contrast, reduces what the source says, eliminating unneeded details while expressing the important ideas in the source.

The whole point of the paraphrase is to express the source's ideas in your words to give your paper greater continuity. Thus the practice of substituting the sources words for synonyms is utterly ridiculous and should never be considered. Instead, read the source, understand the point it is making, turn the source's page upside down and express the idea in your own words. Then double-check to make sure you haven't subconsciously used the source's own words. If you find yourself using the source's words more than once, evidently they are expressed in a memorable way, and you should give up on paraphrasing and use a direct quote instead.

Never use quotation marks around a paraphrase. Quotation marks are reserved for direct, word-for-word quotes only.

There is no distinction between how a paraphrase and a summary are handled. Like the quote, they both begin with an introduction, in the body of the paper, of the source. For example, your paper may begin, "According to Dr. Doughnut of Boston University, policemen . . ." This clearly establishes to any reader that you are going out of your voice and utilizing the work of another source. Like the quote, both the paraphrase and the summary end with parenthetical documentation giving the page number(s) where the information was found. Of course if three or more pages are cited for two sentences, it is obvious that you are summarizing, not paraphrasing!

You may find that it makes the most sense to reveal the work of a source by combining a quotation with a paraphrase and/or a summary. That is fine. But be sure to use parenthetical documentation immediately after the end quotation marks, even if you need to repeat the exact same page number in your parenthetical documentation after adding a paraphrase or summary of just a few words. Your reader deserves to know immediately the sources of a quote without any ambiguity. On the other hand, if you begin with a paraphrase or summary, you do not need parenthetical documentation between the paraphrase or summary and the quote.