Incorporating Sources:
Quoting, Paraphrasing,
Summarizing, Citing
Writing Across the Curriculum Workshop
February 20, 2008
Presenter: Dr. Sonya C. Brown
Incorporating Sources
Quoting
Paraphrasing
Summarizing
Quoting
Repeating EXACTLY what
another author or speaker
wrote or said
Paraphrasing
 Putting a short passage from another
author or speaker into your own style
 Paraphrasing should not alter the ideas
of the original author or speaker
 Paraphrasing can be shorter or longer
than the original passage
Summarizing
 Takes a long passage or whole
document written by someone else and
reduces it to main points in your own
style
 Shorter than the original
 Should not alter the ideas of the original
When Should You Quote?
• The style of the original is
impressive
• The author has credibility that will
impress your reader
• You are going to analyze the
wording of the original to make one
of your points
Signal Phrases or Author Tags
 A signal phrase lets your reader know
when you are about to use someone
else’s ideas (QPS)
 Sample signal phrases:
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According to Author Name,…
Author Name, economist, writes:
As Author Name argues,…
Citation Styles: APA, MLA
 APA=American Psychological
Association

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Social Sciences (sociology, psychology,
anthropology, criminal justice)
Business
 MLA=Modern Language Association
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Humanities & Fine Arts
English Education
Avoid Plagiarism
All use of sources must be
CITED in either style
Both styles use parenthetical
citation (not footnotes or
endnotes)
MLA
 Author-page number style
 Parenthetical citations include author last
name and page number (Williams 64)
when available.
 If author name is not available, whatever
information is first on the Works Cited
page is usually used in parentheses.
 Signal phrases almost always used
MLA Block Quotation
 5 lines of text or more
 Indent 2 tabs
 Lead in with a colon (:)
 No quotation marks
 Parenthetical citation goes after final
period
How to Quote for APA
 Author-date style
 Signal phrases are acceptable and
common but not required.
APA Block Quotation
 40 words or more
 Indent 1 tab
 Do not use punctuation to lead in
 No quotation marks
 Parenthetical citation for author name,
date goes after signal phrase is present
OR after final period if no signal phrase
Quotation and Citation: MLA
 In MLA, whether you quote, paraphrase
or summarize, the citation goes in
parentheses at the end of the sentence
that ends your use of the source.
 Put the NAME of the author, if it is
available, a space, and the page
number, if it is available, in the
parenthesis with NO other punctuation.
Put the final period outside the last
quotation mark. (Brown 14).
Citing in APA
 If you use a signal phrase, put the citation
immediately after the signal phrase in
parenthesis.

Sugarberry (2004) indicates that “Gallica roses do
not fare well in the hot, humid southeast.”
 If you do NOT use a signal phrase, put the
citation at the end of the sentence.

“The employment profiles for this time period
substantiated this trend” (Federal Employment,
2001).
MORE ON APA
 For more details on APA formatting,
return to the webpage for the APA
formatting powerpoint presentation.
 For more information on paraphrasing
techniques in any style, continue with
this presentation.
Punctuating Quotations
 If the quotation is a sentence by itself,
separate it with punctuation from the rest
of your writing:


Example 1: According to Renfield (2002),
head of the observational astronomy team
at NBU, “The glories of the universe are
not readily apparent to the naked eye.”
Example 2: Marcus Renfield (2002) of
NBU writes: “The glories of the universe
are not apparent to the naked eye.”
Punctuating Quotations—
Either Style
 If the quotations becomes a part of your
sentence grammatically, put quotation
marks around the words you take from
the original and punctuate the sentence
as normal. Any letters or words changed
to make the sentence fit your grammar
should be put in brackets []:
Example: Marcus Renfield encourages us
to see that “[t]he glories of the universe
are not apparent to the naked eye.”
Quotes Within Quotes
 If the source you are using quotes someone else,
and you want to quote that someone else, too:
 Attribute the quote to the person who really
wrote or said it.
 Change your citation to show both the person
you quoted and the author of your source.
 Example: Sidney Eddison says that to bloom in
blue shades, “Hydrangeas require partial shade
and an adequate soil Ph” (qtd in Prosper 191).
Paraphrasing
 Paraphrasing might best be described as
translating a passage into a new style.
 All evidence of the original style,
including sentence structure and word
choices that reveal the original author’s
personal style, should be changed.
 Some disciplines/instructors require that
the order of ideas presenting should be
significantly different from the original,
too.
Paraphrasing Redux
Original: “Teenagers are hurt by raising the
minimum wage in two ways.”
Bad paraphrase: “Teens are wounded by
increasing the minimum wage in two fashions.”
Why doesn’t it work? Only a few words were
changed. The original sentence structure is still
visible.
Paraphasing Redux Cont.
Original: “Teenagers are hurt by raising the
minimum wage in two ways.”
Paraphrase: “For two reasons, increasing the
minimum wage negatively affects workers age
16-19.”
Hurray!!! The sentence is different, and only the
phrase minimum wage remains the same.
Paraphrasing Redux—Cont.
Q: Why is it okay to repeat the phrase
“minimum wage”?
A: No one researching or writing
about the issue can avoid using
“minimum wage,” so its use is not
“stealing” someone’s style.
Paraphrasing Step By Step
 Select a passage to paraphrase.
 Read the passage until you feel like you understand
it completely.
 Set aside the book, try to put the passage into your
own organization and words. It may help to imagine
an audience of a young child or elderly relative,
because they will require a different vocabulary from
most sources.
 You may include words for which there is no good
synonym.
 Check your paraphrase against the original; it
should be ACCURATE and IN YOUR OWN
WORDS.
Poor Paraphrase
 Original: The worry on Wall Street is that
the housing market is getting so weak it
will crimp consumer spending, which
until now has helped keep the economy
afloat.
 Paraphrase: The concern on Wall Street
is that the housing market is getting so
pathetic that it will reduce consumer
spending, which up until now has kept
the economy from failing (Dixon, 2003).
Good Paraphrase
 Original: The worry on Wall Street is that
the housing market is getting so weak it
will crimp consumer spending, which
until now has helped keep the economy
afloat.
 Economists are concerned that
consumer spending that is now keeping
our national economy alive will soon be
affected by the troubles in the housing
market (Dixon, 2003).
Paraphrasing Practice
Married women who made $40,000 or
more a year spent nearly one hour
less on housework per day than
women who earned $10,000 or less,
according to the findings based on
data from the National Survey of
Families and Households.
Summary
 Unlike paraphrase, summary does not
go line-by-line to report on all the ideas
from an original.
 Summary is a boiling down.
 Summary still requires citation.
Summary Guidelines
 Make sure you are accurate to the
original. It is unethical to report that
someone said something they didn’t.
 Make sure the main points are in your
own words and avoid accidental
plagiarism.
 Cite!
Citation: Use a Handbook or
Guide for Your Style
 If you do not have a paper copy of a
style handbook, find one in the library.
 Or, use the library reference shelf to find
an online style guide that works for you.
Citing
 Figure out what information is available
to you:
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What kind of source do you have?
Who is the author?
Where was it originally published?
When?
Create a Works Cited Page
 Use a style guide to create as complete a


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citation as you possibly can.
Alphabetize your citations according to first
letter, regardless of whether the first letter is a
name or a title or something else
Double-space; use hanging indentation
Top center title of page: Works Cited (MLA) or
References (APA) page.
Proofread: Check your spelling of names and
titles, and the location of your punctuation.
What about Turnitin.com?
 Your instructor can set turnitin to ignore
everything in quotation or block quotes,
so that that does not show up in an
originality report.
 Jargon and keywords should be ignored
unless there is another, equally clear
way of saying the same thing.
 Significant phrase matches between
your language and one of your sources
may require revision.
Things to Remember
 Whether you quote, paraphrase or
summarize, you should cite the ideas
you get from your resources in your
papers.
 MLA style users should always use
signal phrases to introduce quotation.
 APA style users should change the
location of their citation if they use a
signal phrase.
Other Resources
 It is appropriate to go to the writing lab in
Chick 216C for help using sources.
 Their hours are 8-8 Monday-Thursday
and 8-5 on Friday.
 Smarthinking (available to all students
through Blackboard) can put you in
touch with a tutor who can help you cite
sources, too.