The Art of Using a Source: Quoting, Paraphrasing, & Summarizing

No matter how you spin it, there are really only three ways you can use a source in your research paper:

• 1. You can quote it.

  2. You can paraphrase it.

  3. You can summarize it.

Try to think of any other possible way to use the source, and I guarantee you that it will still fall within one of those three categories. I had a student once who thought he proved me wrong by smugly saying one word: "photographs."

Boom.

Mic drop.

But I dusted off the metaphoric mic and handed it back to him, informing him that using a photograph (or a chart, table, or graph) in your paper is actually just a form of quoting.

Quoting

Quoting is the word-for-word use of someone else's words (or images) in your paper. There really is no limit to how much of something can be quoted; it might be two words or two-thousand words. Usually, though, unless you're analyzing the text, a quote should be a few sentences or less.

If you're not sure whether or not to directly quote a source, ask yourself what would be lost if you put it into your own words. Take, for example, the following two quotes (these are actual quotes from articles):

“The iPhone 6 camera is 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, has phase detection autofocus, and dual-LED (dual tone) flash.” – iPhone Website

“If you could lick my heart, it would poison you.” - Yitzhak Zuckerman

If you paraphrased the first quote (i.e. put it into your own words), nothing would be lost. In fact, it would probably be better, because right now it reads like a technical manual. The second quote, however, is dripping with voice and character. It comes from Yitzhak Zuckerman, who claimed in an interview that he didn't know what was happening to the passengers of the trains he would drive to various concentration camps. He would pick them up and deliver them, none the wiser to the horrors that lay beyond the gates. But toward the end of the interview, subtly admitting that he knew exactly what was going on (and that he was more than an ignorant cog in an unknowable machine), he said, "If you could lick my heart, it would poison you." How could you possibly paraphrase that to make it better? You couldn't--too much would be lost. Not every direct quote has that kind of power, but try to only quote those things that have voice, character, or style that would be lost. Everything else, put into your own words.

Introducing and Following-Up on Quotes

Don't be guilty of "hit and run" quoting. Often, students will identify a spot in their paper where a quote might fit, and they just cram the poor thing into the paragraph. They don't introduce the quote by telling us anything about where it came from, who said it, or why that person is important, and they don't follow up the quote by discussing it, analyzing it, or reflecting on it.

An easy way to avoid hit-and-run quoting is to introduce the quote to the reader by providing a sentence or two of information about the quote, then properly cite the quote, and then explain or provide further thoughts on the quote.

This is known as the I.C.E. Method:

Introduce the Quote: You could include things like where the quote came from, who is being quoted, why that person is reliable, and/or when they said it.

Cite the Quote: Use MLA or APA guidelines for in-text citations.

Explain the Quote: You can agree or disagree with the quote, you can clarify it, you can add your own opinion—whatever you want (it’s your paper!).

Example:

In an interview last year with The Spectrum regarding Utah’s proposed four-year graduation promise, Alan Jones, a Botany professor at Dixie State, said, “Dixie differs in many ways from the U; the legislature can’t hold us to the same standard” (qtd. in Watson, 7). Here, Jones draws on the prevailing argument put forth by Dixie State administrators—that DSU is so dissimilar to the larger universities in Northern Utah that one-size-fits-all policies will never work here.

***

Throughout the rest of this chapter, I am going to use the following quote to illustrate the different ways you can quote, paraphrase, and summarize:

"Is it an unimaginable step to take the iPhones out of our hands and put them into our skulls?"

Original Quote:

"Is it an unimaginable step to take the iPhones out of our hands and put them into our skulls?"

Written as a Direct Quote with an Introduction:

Consider our increasing dependence on such technologies as the iPhone. Lev Grossman, the American science-fiction novelist who spends, he admits, more time obsessing about the possible rise of the machines than most, argues that our dependence on our devices will reach its apex in another 30 years: "Is it an unimaginable step,” he asks, “to take the iPhones out of our hands and put them into our skulls?" (48).

Written as a Direct Quote without an Introduction:

Consider our increasing dependence on such technologies as the iPhone. "Is it an unimaginable step to take the iPhones out of our hands and put them into our skulls?" (Grossman 48).

There are occasions when you might not need to introduce a quote. If the person who said it is irrelevant (perhaps it's a nameless reporter describing something), or if the quote makes perfect sense as is and doesn't need anymore info, you might forgo an introduction. If you're not sure, err on the side of providing too much information.

Block Quotes

Every style guide has their persnickety way of dealing with long quotes. If it's more than 4 lines in MLA (or more than 40 words in APA), then you need to make it a block quote. In the example below, you can see what this looks like. Formatting longer quotes this way helps the reader, because it can be hard to remember where a quote started and then identify where it ends, but a block quote lets the reader know at a glance where it starts and stops.

Students love block quotes. I can understand why. If you have a minimum page count--say, four pages--and you plop in fifteen block quotes, then you don't have to actually write very much. I recommend not doing this. My students know that in a typical research paper (five or six pages), they should not use more than one block quote. And if I sense a student is trying to cut corners by abusing block quotes, I usually make them rewrite the paper before I'll grade it.

But beyond not upsetting your instructor, you should avoid block quotes because readers don't like them. In almost every instance, when readers encounter a block quote, they just skim it. They know that they are no longer reading your words, and they trust that you (the writer) will follow up the quote by pointing out the relevant information. This goes against my number-one rule of writing: to make readers want to read your writing. If you are doing something that causes them to skim or tune out, then you're failing as a writer. Convert those block quotes into shorter quotes or paraphrases.

The only time you will really need to use block quotes is if you are analyzing chunks of text. Students in literature courses rely on block quotes because they do a lot of textual analysis. Likewise, students in communications classes might need to use a lot of block quotes when analyzing speeches and political rhetoric. But if you're not actually analyzing the text, then avoid block quoting.

Paraphrasing

Simply put, paraphrasing is putting something into your own words. Sometimes we do this to "dumb things down" for our readers--if you are using complicated information from a scholarly source, paraphrasing can make it more interesting and accessible to your readers. Sometimes we paraphrase to breath life into our writing--if the information you are using is dull or rote, then putting it into your own words can liven things up and make it more engaging for readers.

A paraphrase should be roughly the same weight and length as the original quote. If the quote is three sentences, then your paraphrase is going to be in that neighborhood. If you take a lot of information--say, a page's worth--and boil it down to one sentence, then you're no longer paraphrasing, you're summarizing (which is fine, just don't call it paraphrasing).

Paraphrase with your audience in mind. Use terms, concepts, and vocabulary relevant to them and to the paper you’re writing. You will also want to use your own language and sentence structures. You want to be true to the information in the paraphrase, but you don't want it to be so close to the original that you might as well have stuck with a direct quote. This leads to what we call "patchwork" paraphrasing: simply swapping out a couple words of a direct quote. It's okay if you want to emphasize a few key words of the original quote in your paraphrase with direct quotes--this is called a "para-quote." But when you put non-key words in direct quotes and then swap out the important words, that's patchwork paraphrasing.

Let's look at a quote from former-President Barrack Obama:

“If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.”

Paraphrasing Done Right:

Obama says it’s important to set a worthy goal and stick to it—even if it doesn’t feel like you’re doing very much, as long as you keep working on it, you’ll achieve something.

Notice that the paraphrase is roughly the same length, but all of the words and concepts have been put into my own way of speaking.

Para-Quoting Done Right (emphasizing Obama’s key words):

Obama says it’s important to find the “right path” and stick to it—even if it doesn’t feel like you’ve gone very far, as long as you “keep walking,” you’ll see “progress.”

Similar to the paraphrase above, I have chosen to use my own structure and wording for the majority of the paraphrase, but I also chose to emphasize a few of the important key terms from the original quote.

Paraphrasing Done Incorrectly as a "Patchwork" Paraphrase (replacing Obama’s key words):

Obama says that if you're walking down the proper road and you're willing to keep going, eventually you'll see improvement.

This paraphrase is all wrong because it uses too many of the non-important words of the original quote and replaces the important words with my own words. It's too close to the original and does a disservice to Mr. Obama and doesn't add anything for the reader.

Original Quote:

"Is it an unimaginable step to take the iPhones out of our hands and put them into our skulls?"

Written as a Paraphrase:

Consider our increasing dependence on such technologies as the iPhone. Grossman imagines the day, not too many years off, when iPhones might be implanted into our skulls (48).

Summarizing

If you are quoting or paraphrasing a source that is critical to your paper, you might want to begin by summarizing it. A summary is the ultimate introduction to your source. By telling the reader about the source, it's key arguments and points, and relevant information about the author or publication, you lay the groundwork to then quote, paraphrase, analyze, critique and use the source any way you need throughout the paper to accomplish your purposes.

For more guidance on writing a summary, read my enthralling chapter on the topic: The Art of Summarizing.

Original Quote:

"Is it an unimaginable step to take the iPhones out of our hands and put them into our skulls?"

Written as a Summary:

Consider our increasing dependence on such technologies as the iPhone. In his Time editorial, Grossman argues that eventually, humans themselves will become cyborgs of sorts, as we begin implanting chips and processors into our bodies. We will be able to swipe our hands at the register instead of opening our wallets, and we will be able to access all the information on our iPhones simply by thinking about it, and letting the processor at the back of our skull do the rest. This, he believes, is a horrifying prospect (48).

Using Brackets [ ]

In my chapter on drafting, I mentioned that I like to use brackets to remind me of stuff I want to add in later (before anyone actually reads the draft). But in a revised and edited paper that follows MLA or APA guidelines, there is only one instance in which you can use a bracket, and that is when you want to change the pronoun, antecedent, or verb tense in a direct quote. You can't change them to anything you want, but you can change the verb tense to make it more readable, or you can replace an antecedent with its pronoun, or a pronoun with its antecedent. Take, for example, the following quote:

Thatcher, in talking about Ronald Reagan, says, “He was actually quite charming” (106).

If I don't mention Reagan before the quote starts, then I might want to replace "he" with "Ronald Reagan," and the bracket makes that possible:

Thatcher says, “[Ronald Reagan] was actually quite charming” (106).

Since Reagan was the actual antecedent of "he," it's okay to do this. I can't replace "he" with George Bush or Jimmy Carter. And if, for some reason, the quote fits better into my paper by changing the verb tense, I could do that as well with the magic bracket:

Thatcher says, “[Ronald Reagan] [is] actually quite charming” (106).

Ellipses ...

I love ellipses. I use them all the time when I text or e-mail. They are a great way to show I'm still thinking, to show a pause, or to show non-commitment (for example, if I text, "I'll try to be there..." my friends know those three dots mean "but don't count on it!").

In academic writing, however, there is only one instance in which you can use an ellipses: to omit chunks of text from a direct quote. Sometimes, there are words, clauses, or sentences embedded within the quote that are irrelevant to your purposes, so rather than tediously including everything, you can drop the stuff you don't want and replace it with an ellipses.

Original Quote:

Walter says, “When they arrived, everything became chaotic. People were screaming, alarms were sounding, and the halls began to fill with smoke; we had no idea what to do” (“All Else” 15).

Quote Edited with Ellipses:

Walter says, “When they arrived, everything became chaotic…we had no idea what to do” (“All Else” 15).

And that's all, folks! Those are the three ways you can use your source: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, and sometimes with the help of a bracket or ellipses.

You're welcome.