SUMMARIZING,
PARAPHRASING AND
QUOTING IN ACADEMIC
WRITING
An Academic presentation by
Dr. Nancy Agnes, Head, Technical Operations, Tutors India
Group www.tutorsindia.com
Email: info@tutorsindia.com
INTRODUCTION
According to Plato, art is mimetic in nature. Writing is an art,
and all forms of Writing involve thorough research.
When we indulge in writing, we get inspired by other’s idea.
We incorporate and assimilate them in our writing through
ways such as paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.
This should reflect our understanding and interpretation of
those ideas.
While summarizing and paraphrasing reflect broader sections of the main text,
quotations are brief divisions of a source. Further, summarizing involves choosing an
extensive part of a source such a chapter from a book or an act from a play and stating
their key points.
On the other hand, paraphrasing involves stating the ideas presented in a specific part
of a source such as a passage in a condensed manner.
In spite of their subtle variations in representation, when summarizing, paraphrasing
and quoting are employed, they must be attributed to the source to avoid plagiarism.
SUMMARIZING
Summarizing refers to presenting an overview of a source by omitting unessential or
redundant details and retaining only the significant essence of the ideas conveyed.
While summarizing, it is better to make notes as you go through a source text.
A consolidated view of the source text is presented without any departure from the
subject.
These two stated strategies are vital for a concrete and comprehensive summary of a
source.
Additionally, when relevant examples from a source are provided, it substantiates the
argument being presented. Summarizing: an Example
Interesting blog: How To Solve The Biggest Problems With Dissertation Editing
EXAMPLE: ORIGINAL
How do you go about identify your strengths and weaknesses, and analyze the
opportunities and threats that tide from them? SWOT Analysis is a valuable technique
that helps you to do this.
What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that, with hardly a thought, it can help you
to discover opportunities that you would not otherwise have realized.
And by having a clear understanding of your weaknesses, you can bring about
changes and do away with threats that might otherwise hurt your capability to advance
in your role.
If you look at yourself using the SWOT framework, you
can start to separate yourself from your competitors, and
additionally develop the specialized talents and abilities
that you need in order to improve your career and help
you achieve your individual goals.
SUM M ARY
SWOT Analysis is a technique that helps you identify strengths, weakness,
opportunities, and threats.
Accepting and managing these factors helps one to develop the abilities needed to
achieve their goals and progress in their career.
PARAPHRASING
Paraphrasing is the way by which a text is presented by altering certain words and
phrases of a source.
However, the paraphrase should reflect proper understanding of the source.
Paraphrasing proves useful for personal understanding of complex concepts and it
helps in explaining information present in charts, figures, and tables.
When using synonyms of certain words and phrase, it should be ensured that the
author’s intention is not changed and that it does not express an incorrect
interpretation of the source ideas.
When key concepts or phrases are taken from the source, they need to be put within
quotation marks.
Paraphrasing is the best alternative when there is an abundant usage of direct
quotes in writing.
EXAMPLE: ORIGINAL
Albert Einstein is one of the most prominent scientific personalities.
His theory of black holes was confirmed when the first picture of a
black hole was photographed.
It is inconceivable how such an important figure once had to refuse
something much more important than him.
In 1952 Einstein was offered the role of the Israeli President since he
had been considered as the best Jew in the world.
The satirical aspect of this was that Einstein did not belong to Israel.
PARAPHRASED
Scientist Albert Einstein is one of the most historic figures.
His theories have enabled us to know more about space than ever.
Even without having adequate resources Einstein theorized the existence of
black holes which have been photographed by space researchers.
He was once offered the job of leading the nation of Israel in 1952 which he
did not accept.
Even though Einstein was not Israeli, he still had positive ratings in the country
as he was considered one of the best Jewish men in the world.
QUOTING
Quotations are exact representations of a source.
The source of quotations can either be spoken words or a written one.
Quotes permeate an authoritative tone to academic writing and they
present strong and reliable evidence to the topic or claims made.
However, quotations should only be sparingly used to support your writing
and they should not form a large junk of it.
Quotations are inserted into academic writing in different ways as
follows:
Direct Quotes: They are provided within quotation marks and are properly cited.
Example: “Madame Leval was connected with Duer,” Alexander Baring wrote.
Block Quotes: A quote of three or more lines is often put as a block quote without
quotation marks.
Example: In The Hound of the Baskervilles the hound is actually seen only in the
end:
Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more
savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and
savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog. (Doyle 82)
In-text Quotation: Very short quotes are usually integrated within a sentence and this
enhances the flow better.
Example: According to John Pascoe Fawkner, 'all men have equal political rights,'
whether they had once been convicts or not.
In conclusion, research flourishes on inspiration and assimilation of unusual concepts.
However, when developing your research, do give proper credit to the origin.
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