Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Research Skills

Definitions: The following approaches can be used to take notes on a source… Paraphrasing is restating the entire source in your own words. It will be about as long as the original. Summarizing is expressing the main ideas and major points (in the order in which they appear in the source) in your own words. It will be much shorter than the original. Quoting the source is copying an important phrase, sentence, or paragraph word for word. Enclose the copied words in quotation marks.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due Research Skills

Avoiding Plagiarism When you use another person’s ideas in your writing, you must give credit by using citations! In the paper itself, you will use parenthetical citations with the author’s last name and the page number. Citations should come at the end of the sentence (or last sentence) of the summarized, paraphrased, or quoted information. Ex: According to the research, “Mrs. Facca loves to read” (Author 145). Ex: Mrs. Facca enjoys reading and taking her dog for walks (Author 145). At the end of the paper, you will create a works cited page. This will include all of the information about the source: the author, the publishing date, the publisher, etc. We do this to avoid plagiarism- passing off someone else’s ideas or words as your own If the ideas you are using are common knowledge, you don’t need to cite. However, it is better to be safe than sorry. When in doubt, CITE! 

14. Taking Notes and Giving Credit