Summarizing, Paraphrasing,
and Quoting
The building blocks of using your research to
the fullest.
• This info applies to all our assignments but most heavily
to the final argument paper.
• Your current assignment (the rhetorical analysis paper)
does not require very long summaries of the sources since
you’re mainly focused on style and rhetorical tactics.
• Thusly, the mechanics of quoting are most relevant at this
point.
Important Note
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Summarizing
Paraphrasing
Quoting
Analysis/Relevance
• When a piece of research comes up in your essay, you
will often give it this 4-step treatment to ensure that your
research has a purpose.
How it Works
• Source material is not there to make your
argument or point for you!
• Source material is integrated into your
essay so you can comment on it, analyze
it, and use it to make your argument.
• In a RA it’s there to provide the specific
examples to which you’re assigning
rhetorical relevance
Importante!
• For all 3 techniques, APA asks that your
attributions be in the past tense.
• Shakespeare wrote,
• Johnson argued,
• Smith disagreed with Jones . . .
Past Tense
• Your reader has not read your research. It is your
responsibility to give them a brief overview when you
first introduce it.
• The length of the summary is dependent on:
• How complex the source is
• How much you plan to analyze/discuss the source
• What the audience generally needs to know for your
rhetorical purpose
Summarizing
• Introduce author by full name upon first mention
• Use last name only in subsequent mentions
• Give full title of article only upon first mention
• First sentence should signal the fact that it’s a summary
• In John Martin’s (2012) article, “Stamping the Butt: The
Dangers of Second Hand Smoke,” he reviews a series of
studies related to the public health issue of smoking in public.
Martin’s research discovers a common thread running through
all the studies: second hand smoke is a problem that the health
industry cannot ignore.
Summarizing
• Summary verbs
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Argued
Asserted
Claimed
Emphasized
Observed
Reported
Signaling the Summary
• Keep summary relatively short; your analysis is most
important.
• Word your summary with your purpose for using the
resource in mind
• As TSIS says, write a summary “in a way that fits your
composition’s larger agenda” (p. 36)
• The summary should offer the fairest, most unbiased look
at the source possible
Summarizing
• Takes a statistic, unique point, essential information and puts it
in your own words
• Is more focused than a summary; a paraphrase focuses on one
point
• Paraphrase when the wording is not as important as the
meaning.
• Though it’s your own words, the sentence structure should
reflect the original source.
Paraphrase
• Original Source:
• “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.”
• 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, 1999, p.
46-47).
Paraphrase
• Original Source:
• “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.”
• Plagiarism:
• 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.
Paraphrase
• The Rule of 3
• If the information could likely be found in at
least 3 general knowledge places
(encyclopedias, general text books, etc.) then it
does not need citation.
• Cite a paraphrase when it’s a unique point
specific to the resource you’re using.
Paraphrase
• A quote takes the EXACT language from the source and
places it directly into your own paper.
• The exact words must be set off inside “quotation marks”
• An in-text citation is always needed.
• Every quote should be, as TSIS suggests, framed.
• Let the reader know who said it, what for, and what you’re
using the quote for
Quoting
• In his famous and influential work the Interpretation of
Dreams, Sigmund Freud (1899) argued that dreams are
the "royal road to the unconscious" (p. 34), expressing in
coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a
process known as the "dream-work" (p. 35). 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 (p. 42).
Quoting
• Quote when the language is particularly
unique and effective; therefore, it would be
a crime to rob the power of the language in
a paraphrase.
When to Quote versus
Paraphrase
• In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther
King Jr. (1963) stated, “I have a dream that one day on
the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the
sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down
together at the table of brotherhood.”
• Martin Luther King Jr. (1963) expressed his desire that
former slaves might one day be able to hang out with
former slave owners.
Q versus P
• TSIS offers on pages 46-47, an excellent list of ways to
introduce quotes that will provide variety to your writing.
• Though seemingly just different wordings, they do
function rhetorically:
• According to X, . . .
• Writing in the journal Commentary, X stated that . . .
• X complicated matters further when she wrote . . .
Variety & Rhetoric
• Quote when the person has a great amount
of authority about the topic.
• Bill Gates (2000) writes, “It’s fine to
celebrate success but it is more important
to heed the lessons of failure” (p. 201).
Q versus P
• After all this summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting, you are
not done.
• Your S, P, and Q must be immediately followed with your own
analysis of why the source is relevant to your thesis.
• Most often, your analysis and commentary is directly related
to, or comes out of, the quote you choose to use.
• Length of analysis or discussion should be as long as
necessary. But, should always take as much (too a little bit
more) page real estate as the actual quote does.
• So Block Quote away! But be prepared to write about that quote
for a long time!
The Key
• In John Martin’s (2012) article, “Stamping the Butt: The Dangers of
Second Hand Smoke,” he reviews a series of studies related to the
public health issue of smoking in public. Martin’s research discovers
a common thread running through all the studies: second hand
smoke is a problem that the health industry cannot ignore. These
studies all list off over 700 known chemical compounds in second hand
smoke (p. 45). Martin reports, “second hand smoke has higher
concentrations of cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) than the smoke
actually taken in by a smoker” (p. 47). Statistics like these make clear
how important workplace laws are in the name of making a safe
environment for employees. Waiters, bartenders, and other restaurant
workers cannot avoid this smoke; they need to be in their place of
business to earn a paycheck. While smoking patrons happily puff away,
these innocent employees are forced to breathe in smoke that is actually
more harmful than the smoke inhaled by their customers.
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Summary
Paraphrase
Quote
Analysis tied back to thesis.