Paraphrasing and Quoting with APA Unit 4 Seminar

Understand the basics. A source is an article, book, or other resource you have used to support you own ideas. Any idea you get from a source, any idea that is not original to you or from your common knowledge about a topic, belongs to someone else. That “someone else” must receive credit for his or her ideas. These ideas often are called “intellectual property,” and are considered similar to tangible property. Paraphrasing and quoting provide two ways of acknowledging source authors. Failing to give credit to sources is plagiarism.

When should we use APA documentation? Any type of borrowed information (not your own original writing) must be documented both in the context of the paper as well as on the references page. Borrowed information includes the following: summaries, paraphrases, quotations, dollar values, numbers, dates, percentages, statistics of any kind. Note: Summary and paraphrase take the words, ideas and research of others and put them in a writer’s own words. These ideas are still borrowed information.

APA has two basic parts. APA is made up of two basic elements: the parenthetical in- text citation and the references page. The parenthetical in-text citations are so called because the information appears in parentheses in the text of an essay or article. The most basic form of these in-text citations includes the author’s last name and the date of publication. Example: (Smith, 2005) If an article has no author listed, an abbreviated version of the title takes the place of the author’s last name. Example: (“Not Criminal,” 2006). The references page includes an entry for each source used. This page at its most basic is arranged in alphabetical order by author’s last name or article title when no author is listed.

Question: What are paraphrasing and quoting and how do they compare and contrast? Paraphrasing is putting a source’s ideas in your own words and sentence structure. The idea still belongs to someone else, but you have expressed it in your own writing voice. Quoting is using the exact words, enclosed in quotation marks, of the source. Paraphrasing uses your own words, quoting uses the source’s words, but both provide source support and require APA citation to give credit to sources.

How does APA apply to paraphrasing and quoting? We use these basic parts of APA to document our use of sources as we paraphrase and quote the sources. For now, we will focus on just the first part of APA documentation: in-text citation. For example, the following slide shows an example of paraphrase with APA in-text citation.

Paraphrase: Original source’s exact words: “Responsible parents of children who regularly use the Internet to research understand that being online and unsupervised is as dangerous as the infamous ‘stranger’ on the street.” – From page 25 of Gregory Smith’s 2006 article, “What Kids Find Online” Paraphrase (the essay writer’s words and sentence structure): Parents probably would not abandon their young children to the world outside the home, but Web searches without adult monitoring can be like playing alone in a park or beside a busy intersection (Smith, 2006). *Note: The words and sentence structure of the source have changed, but the idea is the same and has APA in-text citation to give credit to the source.

Quoting: The rules for citing a quotation in text are only slightly different from the rules for paraphrasing. In fact, the only additions are quotation marks and, when available, a page number. The following slide demonstrates APA-cited quotation. Notice that the quotation must be a part of your sentence. It cannot stand alone in a paragraph.

Quoting continued: Original source: “Responsible parents of children who regularly use the Internet to research understand that being online and unsupervised is as dangerous as the infamous ‘stranger’ on the street.” – From page 25 of Gregory Smith’s 2006 article, “What Kids Find Online” Online safety is possible if caregivers keep in mind that “being online and unsupervised is as dangerous as the infamous ‘stranger’ on the street” (Smith, 2006, p. 25). *Note: The exact words from the source are placed in quotation marks and the page number, which is available, is used in the citation. Not all sources include page numbers, but most Library articles in PDF format do provide page numbers.

Understand how paraphrase and quotation support the writer’s own ideas. Sources can 1. support our own reasoning and logic with expert opinion 2. add credibility to an idea 3. provide additional information Sources cannot 1. be the entire essay 2. string together to create entire paragraphs

Example of source support of a writer’s ideas: Based on personal and common knowledge, the writer creates a brief paragraph about school uniforms. School uniforms may level the playing field for students whose parents cannot or will not bow to fashion trends, but uniforms may also create a new battlefield for competition. Students look alike with the same colors and styles of clothing, but brand names and high price tags can still separate designer uniforms from discount versions. Shoes and accessories increase the division between uniform brands and costs, but the benefits of uniforms may outweigh these potential problems. The next slide shows this paragraph supported with paraphrase and one brief quotation.

The writer’s ideas supported by sources: School uniforms may level the playing field for students whose parents cannot or will not bow to fashion trends, but uniforms may also create a new battlefield for competition. Students look alike with the same colors and styles of clothing, but brand names and high price tags can still separate designer uniforms from discount versions. According to Johnson (2005), one in four students ranked uniform brand as the top priority for choosing clothing for school. Shoes and accessories increase the division between uniform brands and costs, but the benefits of uniforms may outweigh these potential problems. In fact, polls of thousands of secondary-school students indicate that young people would rather wear uniforms than so-called street clothes (Andersen, 2005). Parents tend to agree. In fact, a recent study shows that mothers rate school uniforms as “one of the top five stress reducers for the school day routine” (Kritchel, 2006, p. 75). All in all, uniforms seem destined for mixed reviews based on price versus convenience.

Here’s that paragraph again with paraphrase underlined and quotation bolded. School uniforms may level the playing field for students whose parents cannot or will not bow to fashion trends, but uniforms may also create a new battlefield for competition. Students look alike with the same colors and styles of clothing, but brand names and high price tags can still separate designer uniforms from discount versions. According to Johnson (2005), one in four students ranked uniform brand as the top priority for choosing clothing for school. Shoes and accessories increase the division between uniform brands and costs, but the benefits of uniforms may outweigh these potential problems. In fact, polls of thousands of secondary-school students indicate that young people would rather wear uniforms than so-called street clothes (Andersen, 2005). Parents tend to agree. In fact, a recent study shows that mothers rate school uniforms as “one of the top five stress reducers for the school day routine” (Kritchel, 2006, p. 75). All in all, uniforms seem destined for mixed reviews based on price versus convenience. Everything not bolded or underlined is the writer’s own idea. Notice that the source support simply backs up what the writer has already written and validates the bases for the statements. Notice also that only the quotation has quotation marks because it uses exact words from the source. See the next slide for some paraphrasing and quoting rules of thumb!

Know when to paraphrase and when to quote. In general, paraphrase much more often than you quote. Use quotation for distinctive words (“ask not what your country can do for you,”), some statistics you cannot otherwise change, or dialogue. Use paraphrase for everything else, trying always to simplify ideas for your readers. Above all, do not use a series of paraphrases and quotations as your whole paragraph. Paragraphs are not compilations of sources; we are writing original work, not repeating our sources’ ideas only.

Sources from Sample Project Campbell, J. (1991). The power of myth. Harpswell, ME: Anchor Publishing. Lisaius, S. (Producer/Anchor). (2010, April 7). New ordinance puts bite in barking law. [Television broadcast]. Tucson, AZ: KOLDNews. Pima Animal Care Center. (2011). Animal noise complaint process. Retrieved from Pima County, Arizona, Code of Ordinances. (2010). Excessive noise caused by animals or birds.Retrieved from

What’s wrong with these? Periodical article accessed from a database: Volmer, Aidan. “Killer Bees: Fact or Fiction?” Entomology Review, 8(4). Academic Premier Research, July 1, Periodical(not accessed online): Bleeth, J.B. (January, 2008). School lunches are failing students. Time, 124 (2), pp Book: Quinn, Maggie. (2000). Safe at Home: A Parent’s Guide to the Internet. New York: Knopf. Website :(2009). Science &Technology. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved July 5, 2009, Periodical article, no author: Making London Green (2005, August). The New Republic 24(4),