Appropriate Ways to Use Outside Sources: Paraphrasing and Directly Quoting a Source

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is the most common skill that scholars and professionals will use when they incorporate outside sources of information into their work. Paraphrasing is using ideas from another source and putting them into your own words. This type of rephrasing requires you to take the information from that source and demonstrate your understanding of that information and how it supports your work. Although you are using your own words to paraphrase an outside source, you must still acknowledge and give credit to that source by including a citation.

Directly Quoting a Source

Sometimes it is appropriate to directly quote a source of information. Use direct quotes if it is particularly important to capture the exact wording of a source or if you want to emphasize a point. When quoting, put the exact words of the author(s) within quotation marks and follow the quotation with the appropriate in-text citation for the work. In academic writing, use direct quotations sparingly—only if using the author's exact wording is really compelling.

It is important that you learn and understand how to paraphrase and quote outside sources correctly in order to avoid issues with plagiarism. For a good source of more information on the proper use of direct quotes vs. paraphrasing or summarizing, please refer to the Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing section of the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).

Reference

Purdue University Online Writing Lab. 2013a. Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. OWL, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/ (updated 15 Feb. 2013; accessed 7 Jan. 2018).