Using the Words of Others
Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Responding in APA Style
University Writing Center & Learning Resource Center
Cal Poly Pomona
The Purpose of This
Workshop
• Students practice quoting, paraphrasing, and
responding to material in APA style.
• Students learn to
– Work with direct quotes.
– Paraphrase material in the form of reported speech.
– Put themselves and their ideas in dialog with the words of
others.
The Purpose of This
Workshop (cont’d)
• Quoting, paraphrasing, and responding are absolutely
necessary for writing successful papers that utilize
sources.
• These skills are required most often for the following
types of writing:
– Research papers
– Literature reviews
– Discussion of literature
The Article
Cech, E. A. (2014). Education: Embed social awareness
in science curricula. Nature, 505, 477-478.
doi:10.1038/505477a
Descriptive Outline
• Should social welfare content be addressed in STEM
curricula?
– Most STEM majors graduate with less concern for social
issues than when they started college.
– STEM ethics courses are a start but do not go far enough to
address these issues in the overall curriculum.
– Historically, technological advances have been biased in
terms of gender, race, and age and require more attention
to public welfare.
• Therefore, social awareness issues should be
incorporated into the curriculum of each STEM course
taught.
Embed social awareness in science
curricula?
Here is a passage from Education: Embed social
awareness in science curricula by E. Cech set off as a
block quote:
As a social scientist who is also trained as an engineer, I am
puzzled by how often public-welfare and social-justice issues are
viewed as irrelevant or tangential to 'real' technical work in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
professions. I carried out a study, the results of which suggest
that university education exacerbates this culture of
disengagement.
Direct Quote
Cech (2014) stated, “As a social scientist who is also
trained as an engineer, I am puzzled by how often
public-welfare and social-justice issues are viewed as
irrelevant or tangential to 'real' technical work in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM) professions.”
Paraphrase
Cech (2014) said that ethical issues are often not
reflected in the curricula of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics majors.
Response
Cech (2014) has lamented the lack of emphasis on
“public-welfare and social-justice issues” in STEM
disciplines. However, these areas of study have more
to do with what can be quantified, known, and
innovated rather than what is ethical or moral.
Survey Results
Between 2003 and 2008, I surveyed a total of more
than 300 engineering students in four US universities —
a large state college, an elite technical college, a small
engineering-only university and a small private liberalarts college. Following students from their first year to
18 months after their graduation, I found that, on
average, they left their degrees less interested in public
welfare than when they began.
Direct Quote
Cech (2014) reported evidence of her findings:
“Following students from their first year to 18
months after their graduation, I found that, on
average, they left their degrees less interested in
public welfare than when they began.”
Paraphrase
According to Cech (2014), students graduating
with their degrees in STEM majors are becoming
less and less concerned about the ethical issues
within their fields.
Response
Cech (2014) may have surveyed 300 students at
four different types of colleges and universities.
However, she has only presented us with a
general average of her findings and has not
revealed the finer details, such as averages by
institution.
Activity
• Spend 10 minutes practicing with another
excerpt from the article.
• You will be
• Quoting the excerpt
• Paraphrasing the excerpt
• Responding to the excerpt
Activity (cont’d)
Quote part of the following excerpt:
STEM practitioners and educators increasingly
recognize that those who understand the role of
their profession in society are better at solving realworld problems. Ethics courses for STEM students
are proliferating. But adding a few courses is not
enough. Social issues should be embedded
throughout STEM curricula.
Activity (cont’d)
Now paraphrase part or all of the excerpt:
STEM practitioners and educators increasingly
recognize that those who understand the role of
their profession in society are better at solving realworld problems. Ethics courses for STEM students
are proliferating. But adding a few courses is not
enough. Social issues should be embedded
throughout STEM curricula.
Activity (cont’d)
Now respond to the excerpt:
STEM practitioners and educators increasingly
recognize that those who understand the role of
their profession in society are better at solving realworld problems. Ethics courses for STEM students
are proliferating. But adding a few courses is not
enough. Social issues should be embedded
throughout STEM curricula.
Airbag Gender Bias
This culture of disengagement is a concern because
most STEM problems have cultural and political issues
built into them. The early design of safety airbags in
cars, for example, was subject to gender bias. In 1993,
the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
dictated to manufacturers that the rate of force for
airbag deployment had to be strong enough to protect
an unbelted, average adult male. Car designers did not
test their airbags on dummies of the average weight
and stature of women or children; injuries and deaths
followed.
Combining Paraphrase and
Quote
Cech noted that safety airbags in cars were initially
rated according to their performance protecting adult
males. She went on to say, “Car designers did not test
their airbags on dummies of the average weight and
stature of women or children; injuries and deaths
followed.”
Next Steps
• The material generated in this activity can be used to
write a response paper or a review of the article.
• The exercise can be repeated with another related
article or can provide materials for a “researched”
paper.
Potential Problems
• Students may write paraphrases that distort or
confuse the ideas of the original source.
• Students may not know what they think and thus be
unable to respond.
• Collaboration in dyads and triads may help students
understand the material better.
Conclusions
• The “Quote, Paraphrase, Respond” exercise gets
students involved in a fundamental academic activity.
• Students put their own ideas and words in dialog
with those of others.