1. Bibliography & Citation What is EasyBib? How does it work?

2. What does it mean to Paraphrase?  Paraphrasing is putting the ideas of an author into your own words.  Paraphrasing helps the quality of your paper by explaining another person’s thoughts in your own writing style, improving the flow and readability.

3. Tips for effective paraphrasing:  The statement must be in your own words.  If you use any phrases that are in the original quote, place them in quotation marks.  Add a citation—even if a paraphrase is in your own words, it is still someone else’s idea.  If you’re having difficulty paraphrasing, make a short list of the quote’s main idea(s) and words that relate to it. Incorporate these concepts and words in your paraphrase.

4. Compare this direct quote, which comes from an article in The New York Times discussing the relocation and redevelopment of a train station in New York City, with an effective paraphrase in the right column:

5. Direct Quotes:  Direct quotes are copied, credited quotations from an original text that are used in your paper.  If an author makes a poignant, well-written point, it can be useful to include a direct quote. Don’t get too crazy, though— you still want to have your own voice in the writing, not just clippings of direct quotes from other sources.

6. Tips for using direct quotes:  Check the manual of the paper’s style (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) to see if the formatting of direct quotes changes if the text runs on for a certain number of lines (“block quoting”).  Use direct quotes sparingly in assignments.  Add a citation to block quotes.