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: According to Author Name,… Author Name, economist, writes: As Author Name argues,…

Citation Styles: APA, MLA

APA=American Psychological Association Social Sciences (sociology, psychology,

anthropology, criminal justice) Business

MLA=Modern Language Association 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:

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 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.