Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

Contents
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting
Avoiding Plagiarism

When to Summarize

How to Summarize

When to Paraphrase

How to Paraphrase

When to Quote

Integrating Quotations

Long and Short Quotations

Accurate Quoting

Punctuating Quotations

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

When writing an essay, you must convey the results of your research to the reader. This is usually done
by summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting.

Summarizing: Summarizing means stating a source's main ideas or points in your own
words. A summary does not include the source's supporting details or evidence and is
therefore shorter and more concise than its source. A good summary will give the reader a
general sense of what the original material is without his or her having to read it.
Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing also means rewriting something in our own words. However,
unlike a summary, a paraphrase is usually roughly the same length as the original.
Quoting: You can support your ideas and make your essay more interesting with well-chosen
quotations. Rather than detracting from your work, well-chosen quotations add to it, giving
your argument validity and support. Be careful, however, to use quotations sparingly and only
when there is something essential about the wording of the quotation that cannot be
summarized or paraphrased. Use quotations to support your ideas, but not to speak for you.

Most of the time you should either summarize or paraphrase your research.
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Avoiding Plagiarism
Learning to summarize, paraphrase and quote correctly is essential to avoiding plagiarism. Plagiarism
(i.e. passing off someone else's words or thoughts as your own) is a serious academic offence. Whether
summarizing, paraphrasing or quoting, you must footnote, or "cite," your source (see the module on
footnoting and bibliographies for proper bibliographic format). However, even the properly
documented paraphrasing of someone else's writing constitutes plagiarism if the paraphrase contains
more than 2 or 3 consecutive words from the original that are not enclosed in quotation marks, or uses
the same syntax (i.e. sentence structure) as the original but with different words.
The worst kind of plagiarism, of course, is submitting an essay written in whole or in part by someone
else. Even copying a short passage constitutes plagiarism unless the student encloses the passage in
quotation marks and acknowledges the source. But the student who changes only the odd word in
someone else's sentences is also (perhaps unwittingly) committing plagiarism, as is the one who relies
heavily on secondary sources for the argument, organization, and main point of his or her paper. You
can avoid committing plagiarism unwittingly by reading widely on your topic, and by using good
research and note-taking techniques.
Trent University's Academic Integrity Policy sets out the consequences of plagiarism and other forms of
academic dishonesty. Penalties range from a grade of 0 on the essay with no opportunity to re-write, to
failure in the course and a permanent record of the offence on your transcript. Students who offend
repeatedly face suspension and even expulsion. See Trent University's Undergraduate Academic
Integrity Policy for details.
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When to Summarize
Summarize when your reader needs to know only the main points of the source you are consulting and
doesn't need to know your source's supporting details and evidence or how the points are made. You
may want to summarize from a single chapter or article you have read; however, the best essays rely
on material from more than one source. Building your own arguments based on material from more
than one source has three main advantages:

Your material will be more accurate and complete.

You will avoid repeating the bias of just one author.

You will be less likely to copy directly, which will help you to avoid plagiarism.

Read a number of books and articles on your topic, make sense of what is being said, and rewrite that
information in your own words. In most cases, you won't need to give all the details included in the
originals. There may be too many facts or examples and you will just want to give the main points.
Even if you have taken detailed notes, summarize them if that is the most effective way to use them.
Be aware, however, that too much summarizing will make your essay too general. Summary should be
complemented with more specific evidence and examples.
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How to Summarize

When summarizing from more than one source, your summary should be a synthesis of the various
sources and not simply an alternating series of points from first one text, and then another. Following
these steps will help you to write a good summary of material from more than one original text:
1.
2.

Read a variety of sources on your topic, take point-form notes, and be sure to document where
your notes have come from.
Read over your notes from these different sources, and decide which are the main ideas, which
ideas you need to include, and which ideas can be omitted.

3.

Think about the order in which you will present the ideas, grouping similar ideas together

4.

Write a first draft of your summary and check that you have included all the ideas you
identified as being important.

5.

Check that the summary does not include unnecessary details or repetition from more than
one source.

6.

Make sure you have documented the sources of the original material. If you rewrite someone
else's material in your own words without saying where you found it, you are still plagiarizing.

7.

Read through your summary. Edit it and make changes and corrections where necessary to
make the ideas and text flow smoothly.

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When to Paraphrase
An essay consisting entirely of summarized material tends to be very general. You will also need to
focus on specific ideas presented in a single text. This is where paraphrasing is helpful. Use
paraphrasing when you want to emphasize the ideas presented in a single, short text, but when you
don't want or need to give a direct quotation. If the information is more important than the actual
words used, paraphrase the original. It is usually better to paraphrase than to quote directly since
quotations are often difficult to integrate smoothly. If you paraphrase, your essay will flow better and
your ideas will be clearer.
You should paraphrase only a short paragraph or a few sentences. You cannot paraphrase several
pages of text; if you attempt to do this, your essay will simply be a re-statement of the idea of one
author. Your own voice will have been lost, and you will be dangerously close to plagiarism. If you have
developed the habit of putting your reading notes into your own words, you will find paraphrasing for
an essay much easier.
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How to Paraphrase
Where most students err in terms of unintentional plagiarism is not in failing to acknowledge ideas, but
in paraphrasing incorrectly. Many novice researchers assume that if paraphrasing means putting a
passage "in your own words," this can be accomplished by simply substituting synonyms for key terms.
Stealing syntax, or sentence structure, is as significant an offence as stealing an idea because, as you
know from your own writing experience, trying to phrase a point exactly is a difficult art. Proper
paraphrasing depends on thorough comprehension of material, not on a thesaurus.

For example, consider this passage:

"The problem with the evidence cited by Finucane for women fighting during the Third Crusade is that
it all comes from Muslim sources, who had their own reasons for depicting Christian women fighting." 1
An improper paraphrase might read:
The difficulty with the accounts of women fighting in the Third Crusade is that it comes entirely from
Muslim sources, who had their own motives for describing Christian women fighting.
This paraphrase keeps the same basic syntax (i.e. sentence structure) as the original and simply
changes key words.
A proper paraphrase might look something like the following:
All the evidence for women fighting on the Third Crusade comes from Muslim sources. These sources
are problematic since their authors may have had ulterior motives for altering or exaggerating their
accounts.
______________________________________________
Helen Nicholson, "Women on the Third Crusade," Journal of Medieval History, 23, no.4 (1997): 336

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When to Quote
Some instructors may ask that you avoid using quotations from secondary sources (i.e. scholarly works
that comment on historical events) altogether, unless you need to comment on an author's exact
words. Quotations from primary sources (i.e. original, first-hand accounts of those events) are more
accepted since they serve as direct evidence of your assertions. Nonetheless, as a general rule, quote
sparingly. Use only a few quotations in your essay and choose them carefully. If your quotations are to
be effective, they must be an integral part of your essay. Resist the temptation to throw in a quotation
merely because it sounds impressive and has something to do with your subject. Have a reason for
using a quotation. Use the following guidelines on when to quote:

when the writer's style or eloquence is so memorable that summarizing or paraphrasing would
be significantly less effective. For example, Winston Churchill's World War II speech, "We shall
fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in
the streets..."1
when you want to comment on, agree with, disagree with or otherwise take exception to what
the writer has said
when you want to comment specifically on the writer's use of words

The shorter your quotations are, the better. In a short essay in particular, you should avoid quoting
huge chunks of text. The ideal quotation is often just a few words integrated into your own sentences.
______________________________________________
1. Winston Churchill, Blood, Sweat, and Tears (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1941), 297.
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Integrating Quotations

If quotations are to be effective in your writing, they must be carefully worked into your own sentences
and paragraphs. Quotations must be introduced, commented on and related to the main ideas of the
paragraphs in which you have placed them. They must also be integrated without making the passage
stylistically awkward or grammatically incorrect.
Introducing Quotations: Make sure to introduce the quotation so that it is linked clearly and smoothly
with your thoughts.Vary the way in which you introduce quotations with phrases such as "according
to," "in the opinion of," "as X argues (or believes, admits, affirms, declares, suggests, etc.)." These are
known as attributory words.
Explaining Quotations: After the quotation, make sure that you supply any needed explanations of or
comments on the quotation. Do not assume the reader will interpret the quotation exactly as you do.
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Long and Short Quotations

Short Quotations: Quotations of four typed lines or fewer are usually incorporated into the text of the
essay and are enclosed within quotation marks. For poetry or song lyrics, incorporate quotations of two
lines or less directly into the text, separating each line by a forward slash ( / ) with a space on either
side of it.
Long Quotations: Use longer quotations sparingly.You can often make your point better with a short
selection than with a longer one. However, long quotations are sometimes necessary to preserve
accuracy and completeness of meaning. Indent every line of a long quotation and double space
throughout. In long quotations, quotation marks are not used unless they appear within the text of the
quoted material.
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Accurate Quoting
Ensure that the quotation corresponds exactly with the wording, spelling, and punctuation of the
original; any changes that you make in the quotation must be indicated using the following methods:

Ellipsis: Use ellipsis dots wherever you omit material from what you are quoting, except when
omission comes at the beginning or end of a quotation. E.g. "Why are parents to lose their
children, brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives? Surely, this is a new refinement in
cruelty... and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery." 1
Square Brackets: Use square brackets if you wish to insert in the quotation a word or more of
explanation. E.g. "I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that
[the ship's crew] were going to kill me."2

Capitals: Because a quotation should fit into your sentence or paragraph as an integral part of
your language and meaning, it is sometimes necessary to change a capital letter (one
beginning a sentence in the quoted source, for example) to a lower-case letter. Square
brackets are used to make this change. E.g. According to Equiano, "[t]he closeness of the
place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship... almost suffocated us." 3

Sic: If you wish to indicate that your quotation is accurate even though the passage's spelling,
language or logic is faulty, place the word sic in square brackets following the error.

Note: When altering a quotation, especially when omitting portions of a quotation, it is very important
to ensure that your changes don't affect the meaning intended by the author.
___________________________________________
1. Olaudah Equiano, "Excerpt from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano," in The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Robert J. Allison, ed. (Boston: Bedford / St.
Martin's, 1995), 58.
2. Equiano, 53.
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Punctuating Quotations
If you work the quotation into the structure of your sentence, no introductory or additional punctuation
is necessary. E.g. While it is true women did not often fight, the crusade was "the most urgent situation
in all Christendom."1
Attributory words: If you use attributory words, use commas to set off these words, whether they
appear before, after, or between parts of the quotation. E.g."[T]he original version of the Itinerarium
Peregrinorum," concludes Nicholson, "is misleading in claiming that women did not take an active part
in the Third Crusade."1
Independent Clauses: If you precede your quotation with an independent clause, use a colon to
introduce the quotation. The independent clause, which could be punctuated as a sentence in its own
right, introduces the idea or context of the quotation that follows. E.g. Muslim accounts of women
going into battle dressed as men must be taken cautiously: "It seems far less likely that noblewomen
dressed up as men and fought on the battlefield on horseback, still less that they led their troops into
battle; such actions would be more likely to attract comment." 1
Closing punctuation: Periods or commas at the close of a quotation are placed before the quotation
marks. Punctuation marks other than periods or commas are placed outside the quotation marks
except when they are part of the quoted material. The number for your footnote or endnote goes last.
E.g. Were accounts of women fighting left out of the IP1 because they "would only make a bad defeat
look worse"?1
Quotations within quotations: Use single quotation marks if you have already used double marks
around the entire passage. In other words, when quoting a sentence that contains quotation marks
already, place double marks around all the words you are quoting and turn the double quotation marks
of the original into single marks. E.g. Nicholson observes how one Muslim accounts feminizes Christian
castles, noting how in the account, "[t]he Hospitaller's castle of Kaukab was 'an inviolable woman, a
maid who could not be asked for in marriage'; the captured castle of ash-Shughr was 'a virgin fortress
taken by force.'"2
______________________________________________
1. Helen Nicholson, "Women on the Third Crusade," Journal of Medieval History 23, no. 4 (1997): 349.
2. Nicholson, 341.
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