paraphrasing and summarising exercises

Paraphrasing and Summarizing Exercises with Answers

Paraphrasing and Summarizing are two skills that are highly useful for writers. With these two techniques, writers can get help creating their content and providing it to their readers in an easy-to-peruse way.

However, if you happen to be new to the field of writing, you could be a little unaware and untrained in both these skills. But don’t worry. Everyone starts out as a beginner.

In this post, we’re going to be looking at some  paraphrasing and summarizing  exercises along with their answers and explanations. By following along, you’ll get a good idea about how you can use these techniques in your own capacity.

Let’s begin!

What is Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Before we get to the exercises, let’s digress a little and understand what paraphrasing and summarization actually are.

Let’s start with paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing  is the process in which a particular piece of content is reworded and rephrased in such a way that it looks different from its original version but it has the same meaning and context.

A simple example of paraphrasing would be to change “John likes his cat” to “John adores his feline pet”. Paraphrasing can be as slight as merely changing some words in the text, or it can be as drastic as fully changing the tone, structure, order, and words of the content.

On the other hand,  Summarizing  is the process in which a piece of content is shrunk and shortened to about one-tenth of its original size. In this shortened version, the main idea and concept of the content is provided.

Summarization is usually used by authors and writers when they want to give a brief outline of a book or article to their readers.

Now that we’ve looked at the definitions of both, let’s move ahead to look at some exercises.

Paraphrasing Exercises (with Answers)

The main purpose of providing these exercises along with their answers is to help you understand what these techniques look like when they are implemented. Since we have explained their core definition above, you can try and work along the exercises to improve your skills a little as well.

Related:  Difference Between Paraphrasing And Rephrasing

Paraphrasing Exercise # 1:

Here is a sample paragraph that we will be paraphrasing as an exercise. We’ll write the paragraph alone first, and then provide the answer after a brief explanation.

Sample Paragraph:

"John could not find the butter in his fridge. He went to buy some from the store. On coming back, he saw his cat sitting on the floor, smacking its lips. There was some yellow stuff smeared all around its face. Thus, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

So, as we mentioned earlier, paraphrasing can be done simply and sparingly, or it can be done drastically.

One of the primary and basic ways of paraphrasing is to simply change some words in the provided content with their synonyms. This is, we reiterate, a very basic level of paraphrasing, and it is often very easy to see through it.

So, for this first exercise, we are going to be doing only that level of paraphrasing as a way to illustrate how it looks like.

Here is what the above paragraph looks like when paraphrased:

Paraphrased Paragraph:

"John could not locate the butter in the refrigerator. He went to purchase some from the shop. On coming back, he observed his cat sitting on the ground, licking its lips. There was some yellow material smeared all around its face. Hence, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

While we are on this discussion, it will also be salubrious to understand that when changing words with their synonyms for the purpose of paraphrasing, you have to be careful that you pick those that don’t mess up the context and intent of the lines.

Paraphrasing Exercise # 2:

Moving on, let’s look at another paraphrasing exercise. Here is the paragraph that we will be using for this one:

"John’s cat got lost in the forest. He went looking for it in the night time. He heard some movement in one of the bushes. He put his hand in and felt the fur. He pulled the thing out, thinking it to be his cat. After coming home, he realized it was an angry raccoon."

We mentioned in the last exercise that the basic level of paraphrasing is to change some of the words in the given text with their synonyms. And we also mentioned how that sort of paraphrasing can be easily detected.

So, for writers who want to paraphrase something in such a way that it does not resemble its original form a lot, there’s a step further that they can go, and that is to change the sentence structures + phrases.

Essentially, by changing the phrases used in the content as well as the arrangement of the sentences, the overall look of the paraphrased piece looks very different. If someone wants to go even ahead of that, they can shuffle the sentence  order  as well.

Considering this type of ‘extensive’ paraphrasing, here is the answer to the paragraph given above:

"John’s cat went missing in the forest. He went to search for it when it was dark. He discerned some movement in the hedge. After putting his hand inside it, he felt some fur. Thinking that it was his cat, he pulled the animal out. It was only after coming home that he realized that it was a frustrated raccoon."

Read more: How And Why to Paraphrase Your Content?

Summarizing Exercises (with Answers)

Now that we have looked at the paraphrasing exercises, let’s move on to look at some for summarizing.

Just as we’ve looked at two types of paraphrasing above, we’ll also look at two different types of summarizing.

Actually, it’ll be better if we explain those two types before getting to the exercises.

Basically, there are  two types of summaries . One of them is called  extractive  and the other is called  abstractive .

In extractive summarization, the summary of a piece of content is generated merely by taking out some sentences from it and joining them together. This is usually the type of summaries that you get from automated tools.

When extractive summaries are created, there is no effort to understand the actual meaning and context of the text. Rather, the purpose is only to take some lines from it and join them together in such a way that they make sense.

On the other hand, abstractive summaries are those that are written using a completely new and different set of words, phrases and sentences than the content (that is being summarized). As opposed to extractive summarization, abstractive summarization involves understanding the meaning and context of the text, and then creating a completely new summary that features all those concepts and ideas.

Summarizing Exercise # 1 (Extractive)

In order to demonstrate and explain extractive summarization, we’re going to first write a paragraph here and then provide its summary afterwards:

Sample paragraph:

"John’s car broke down. He stopped by the road side and screamed at people to stop and help him. But no one stopped for him. He continued howling and howling for hours. People kept driving by. After getting tired, he picked up a sheet and wrapped it around himself. Then, he started spinning on his spot. He grew dizzy. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Now, since we have to use the “extractive” summarization technique here, we’ll create the summary using the lines and sentences used in the content itself.

"John’s car broke down. But no one stopped for him. Then, he started spinning on the spot. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Summarizing Exercise # 2 (Abstractive)

For this exercise, we will use the same para that we did above. However, the technique used for the summarization will be different.

Since we will be using the abstractive technique here, the summary will be created using different words and phrases as the original.

"John’s vehicle went phut. But, no one stopped their car to help him. After he was tired, he made himself dizzy by spinning and then went to sleep."

So, that’s about it.

If you were a little confused about paraphrasing and summarization techniques, hopefully you’re a little more confident about them now.

These skills can come in handy for writers in a lot of different situations. If you don’t have the hang of them already, you should try and get it as quick as you can.

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Summarizing worksheets & activities.

Summarizing is one of those skills that may seem very easy to a teacher but can be difficult for students who have not been properly taught how to summarize. For many years I did not even teach my seventh and eighth grade students how to summarize. I would just ask them to summarize texts and then get mad at them when they failed to produce quality summaries. I was wrong in doing this. Now I always teach my students how to write summaries.

Additionally, as per the Common Core State Standards, summaries should not contain opinions, background knowledge, or personal information; rather, a summary should be entirely text based. After years of learning to make connections between the text and themselves, students must be retrained to keep themselves out of their writing in regards to summaries. Teaching this skill surely warrants some of your class time.

Here are some resources that I used in my classroom to teach my students how to summarize. I hope that you find this page useful:

Summarizing Common Core State Standards

120 comments, kowsar seyfudin mahmax.

Thank you very much

I want to express my gratitude for the work you have put into this site.

I have used your site for students for almost a decade now and they have not disappointed once.

Thank you for coming back!

I really appreciate these worksheets and all the worksheets you have published. I work as a volunteer for a literacy group, and we don’t have many resources at this level. I was an SLP so I have had no professional experience as a language arts teacher. These resources allow me to teach better and not have to create items from scratch.

thank you it was informative.

Alphonsa Anis

Thanks it was extremely helpful.

Absolutely fabulous. I’m using them for two employees who are struggling to summarise information. Very, very helpful – thank you.

Hello, can these great worksheets be linked to Google Classroom? Also, how can I have my students access the online assessments? Thank you.

There is a Google Classroom button on the title slide of each online assignment. Press this button to assign it. Google Classroom integration is pretty thin right now, but I’m hoping that they open up their platform more sometime soon!

Thank you, Mr. Morton, for sharing your tips and worksheets for summary teaching and writing practices. Very useful!

Some great activities, really helpful. One thing I want to point out is that shinobi-no-mono is NOT Chinese – this is Japanese. And in the text the characters given are Japanese, NOT Chinese. This is quite a big oversight. As language teachers we need to be aware of different languages.

Thank you. I appreciate the insight.

I want summary and practice sheets for grade 6

Please send me an answer key for the summarizing test.

Acutually 忍の者 isnt chinese the word の is japanses, while in chinese and japanese they call ninja , 忍者. Other than that this is some really good stuff to study my summary from

great material. I´ve been looking for this type of easy to read/ understand material for a long time.

Would it be possible to have the solutions to the test?

Thanks in advance.

Diane Thomas

These are wonderful!Thank you so much!

Thanks a lot .

JANINE RAINES

DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWER KEY TO THE SUMMARIZING TEST?

Mrs. Robinson

Hello, I’m looking for the answer guide for the Summarizing test, please advise if it is available?

Loan Nguyen

Thanks for your sharing. Invaluable resources for teachers. It would be highly appreciated if you can send me the key for the summary test.

Is there an answer sheet for the summarizing test?

EXCELLENT worksheets!

Like many of the above comments, I was hoping that there was an answer key for the summarizing test.

I’m pleased that today is the day that I can finally say, “ Here you go .”

Thank you so much!!

Thank you very much. Bless you!

Thank you, Mr. Morton, for sharing these materials. Indeed this is of great help in my class.

The materials are awesome!! I’d like to separate them to two levels of my students. I’m teaching international students, the comparasion of the good and bad summary really works a lot. I really appriciate for your sharing. However, could you share the summarising answer keys as well? That would help me a lot. Thank you!

Would you consider making something for the 4th & 5th grade level? The examples were all very helpful, but many of my students read below grade level. Thank you again! Jill C.

Thanks from Toronto! Great help for ESL classes here.

Thanks so much from Istanbul! Kids loved it and saved me so much precious precious time

saida merad

Thank you for your valuable help!

Thank you for putting all the material together.

I couldn’t find the answers for the Summarizing Test. They will surely save me some time. Please send them to me, or let me know where I can find them. Thank you so much,

Did you get the answer sheet?

Thank you for all the great materials to use, they will prove to be a great resource!

I was wondering if you would mind pointing out the source from which you pulled the information about ninjas for your worksheet on them. I just wanted to make sure I had the right information because from the bit of research that I pulled up, I see that both in history (concept / existence) and etymology, ninjas are Japanese. The Japanese use kanji, which are essentially Chinese characters, and is only one of the three different “alphabet” sets they use for written communication. So words like “shinobi” and “shinobi no mono” are all Japanese in origin, but written using Chinese characters and not really associated with Chinese culture. This is especially true because “no mono” is a Japanese phrase. Please let me know if there is a source that does say otherwise, so that I can have all the information. Thank you again!

Hello. I pulled that content from a Wikipedia page a long time ago. I’m no expert on the subject. I was just writing a worksheet that I hope would interest students.

These worksheets are helpful but the commenter above is correct, none of these words are or have ever been Chinese. “Shinobi” was in Japanese poems in the 8th century, not Chinese. Shinobi was the Chinese reading of the characters, but it was always a Japanese word. It might be helpful to fix this worksheet to avoid presenting incorrect information to students.

What is the answer key for summary test please?

Thanks a million for this Mr. Morton. This lesson will help me and my students understand summarizing better. God bless your sir!

Thank you so much for helpful material

Brian Samson

What a phenomenal effort you’ve done in putting together all these. Appreciate your ideas. Fabulous!

How amazing to come across your Summarising resouces with explicit instructions. Your comments about teaching the students how to effectively summarise was the most important fact. This in turn forced me to reflect on my own teaching. Thank you for the step by step instructions, they were very valuable. Have you posted any other reading strategy hints?

Sure, I’ve posted them all around this site. Feel free to explore a bit.

What’s the reading level for summary worksheet 3?

Can I get answers for summarizing test about Gutenberg

It is an awesome sight.I got to now today from where the school gives us topics in worksheets.Very useful,but one problems that we don’t get the answers of the questions so that we can check and correct our answers

Mary Jane Dela Cerna

Good day Mr. Morton 😀 what is the answer keys for the summary test? I am not sure in my answer 😀

Wow, just wanted to thank you for your hard work and generosity to publish them for everybody. Thank you so much.

I was studying for an exam and couldn’t find enough information on summarizing. I was very excited when I found your site. It was very helpful.Thanks a million!

A terrific resource. Thank you so much for sharing. I came across your site as I was looking for help with teaching summarising – no need to look any further! Powerpoint and practice sheets, examples …. awesome.

Gracie Alexander

Is there an answer key for the Test?

Kristen Moore

What an incredible site! Thank you for sharing your resources and ideas. Especially the Summary power point. I’ve been struggling to get my students to differentiate between a summary and a list of details. This will help so much!

Amy Gartland

I just discovered this site today. I teach high school ELL and was looking for good nonfiction texts that were accessible for my students. I will definitely be looking around some more and plan on using material in my lessons this week!

This was VERY helpful. Even for a university student who needed a refresher!

An answer key for the Summary would be helpful if provided. And also a whole passage summary, not just the summary for each paragraph.

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Best 5 Paraphrasing Exercises

Read on to see our helpful paraphrasing exercises and tips in this article to get you started.

One of the most important skills you can hone as a student or writer is to paraphrase the words of other academics and experts effectively. Since new knowledge is built upon that which is already known, it makes sense that you’d want to reference the ideas of others in your work. However, this is often easier said than done. Paraphrasing, especially if you want to do it well, can be challenging.

Fortunately, as is the case with most other skills in life, you can improve your ability to paraphrase through practice. For instance, you can improve this skill by regularly doing paraphrasing exercises. As I was an academic for a long time in my life, I thought it might be helpful to those who have little or no experience in paraphrasing if I provided a list of paraphrasing exercises. If you’re such a person, I hope that this article will get you started on your journey toward mastering the art of paraphrasing. Your academic or writing career will undoubtedly be better off for it when you do.

The Art of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing exercises and activities to help you master the skill, 1. broaden your vocabulary, 2. create a word map, 3. paraphrase in small chunks, 4. ways to paraphrase shorter and easier sentences, 5. imagine you’re explaining the source material to someone, helpful tips, 1. avoid plagiarism, 2. summarizing is not paraphrasing, 3. changing word order is not paraphrasing.

Although paraphrasing is an essential skill when writing papers, essays, or articles, it’s one that many find challenging to master. To paraphrase the words of others, you need first to comprehend their meaning, and then you need to express this meaning in your own words. To do this effectively requires a broad and sophisticated range of vocabulary and advanced grammar skills.

As stated in the introduction, you can improve your paraphrasing skills through paraphrasing exercises. Doing this will help you construct meaningful and original paraphrased sentences and increase the speed at which you work. Especially when you’re a student, reading, and paraphrasing the words of other scholars and experts can form a big chunk of your work. Learning how to paraphrase well and at a quick pace will enhance your academic experience and will open up your schedule for other activities, such as sports or parties.

Our paraphrasing vs. summarizing guide might be helpful.

Now that you know the importance of paraphrasing, let’s dive right in and look at some exercises and activities that can help you improve. Remember, as is the case when learning any other new skill, you need to engage with these exercises regularly.

Since you cannot paraphrase appropriately without a decent range of vocabulary, it makes sense to aim to add more words to your vocabulary bank constantly. Of course, if you’re an academic, you’ll want to focus on improving your academic vocabulary in your specific field. However, since academic language has a formal tone, you can add general terms to your vocabulary bank to help you express yourself more sophisticatedly. Examples of such words, for instance, are verbs such as “theorize,” “opine,” “constitute,” and “approximate.”

There are various ways in which you can enrich your academic vocabulary. These include:

• Keeping a word journal: A great way to learn new words is to carry a little book along with you, in which you can write down words that you don’t know. You can write down the word and then look up the meaning when you have time. It can also be helpful to construct your sentence with the word once you’ve jotted down its definition.
• Highlight words in texts: Whether you’re working with a physical copy of a text or a digital version, it’s good to highlight or underline words that you don’t know. You can then either write a definition of the words in the margin or, if you’re working with a digital copy, you can add a comment. Another good tip is to write by hand – people learn better when writing something by hand than if they typed the same information.
• Read as much as you can: Although this may be obvious, the best way to improve your vocabulary is to read as many books and articles as you can fit into your schedule. Even if you don’t have the time to look up the meaning of each word that you don’t understand, just seeing the word pop up in different contexts will help you work out the meaning for yourself over time. Apart from reading, you can also listen to podcasts or watch documentaries and news channels.

If you’re battling to paraphrase an original paragraph or sentence into your own words, it can be helpful to create a word map. You can, for instance, write a few complex words or phrases down on a piece of paper. Next, draw a box around each word or phrase, and leave enough space around each so that you can draw and link other boxes. As a next step, you can draw boxes in which you write the synonym of each word. You can also write down the definition of each word if you’re unsure of its meaning.

Next, you need to clarify the relationship between these words or terms. Draw arrows between them indicating patterns, correlation, or cause and effect. You can also add boxes between the original words or phrases in which you add other words, such as verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, or adjectives. Doing so can help you further explain the terms or link them meaningfully. Once you’ve added all the information you can think of, try to create a paraphrased sentence or paragraph from your word map.

A valuable way to learn how to paraphrase when you’re a beginner is to break sentences into smaller parts. For example, instead of paraphrasing a long and complex sentence, which can become overwhelming if you’re not used to this process, you can focus on shorter phrases. Let’s take a look at an example. Here, for instance, is a long and complex sentence:

“ Many impacts are unavoidable and will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns — but collective action from governments to both curb greenhouse-gas emissions and prepare communities to live with global warming could yet avert the worst outcomes. “

You may find it challenging to paraphrase this sentence as a whole. However, breaking it into smaller chunks makes the task more doable. You can break this sentence up in the following way:

• Many impacts are unavoidable
• And will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns
• But collective actions from governments
• To both curb greenhouse-gas emissions
• And prepare communities to live with global warming
• Could yet avert the worst outcomes

Remember, the sentence structure of your paraphrased version can and often will look different from the source. This means that you can form two or multiple sentences if this helps you create a meaningful paraphrased version, even if the original is one sentence.

If you want to practice your paraphrasing skills, you can do so by paraphrasing a sentence in two or three different ways. You can practice finding different synonyms, grammar, and sentence structures while retaining the meaning across all versions.

If you have time, you can do this exercise with longer sentences. However, it may be good to start by paraphrasing shorter sentences. Doing so will allow you to focus on finding multiple synonyms and different ways to write the same sentence.

Here’s an example:

“ Scientists know that bees are dying from a variety of factors. “

Paraphrased version 1:

“Experts maintain that the future of bees is in danger due to multiple causes.”

Paraphrased version 2:

“There are many different reasons why bees are going extinct, according to scientists.”

A helpful way of practicing paraphrasing while reading through articles or research papers is to recite your paraphrased version of some more complex sentences. Since the first step of paraphrasing is to ensure that you’ve correctly understood the source, repeating what you’ve just read in your own words can help you grasp the meaning of the source material.

You don’t need to use formal academic language and complex terms when doing this paraphrasing exercise. Instead, the aim is to repeat what you’ve read in plain and simple terms. Also, since you don’t need to write anything down for this paraphrasing exercise, it’s something you can regularly do while you’re reading through the source material.

It’s vital that you understand what you’re reading and that all the information is not just going over your head. Doing this exercise, primarily when you find yourself drifting off or having problems grasping a sentence, will ensure that you’ve understood the section you’ve read. At the same time, you get to practice your paraphrasing skills.

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind while paraphrasing.

Even though you’re not using direct quotes when paraphrasing but rather stating another author’s ideas in your own words, you still need to reference their work. Failing to do so amounts to plagiarism, a serious offense, whether you’re producing academic work or an article for a web page.

The format you have to use when citing the work of others varies. For instance, in academic writing, you need to provide in-text citations and a list of references at the end of your essay, article, or thesis. The precise way you’ll write your in-text citations and list of references will be determined by the formatting style, whether this is APA , Harvard , Chicago , or MLA .

Although both tools or techniques involve using your own words to describe somebody else’s text, they are different. You need to retain the original work’s meaning with both techniques while using your own words. When you’re summarizing a work , you’re selecting only the most essential points of the text and rewriting these in your own words. This means that you provide a short overview of what a text is about.

It would be best to remain far more loyal to the source material with paraphrasing. You refer to specific ideas an author has provided to incorporate these into your work. To ensure that you’re not changing the original version too much or skewing the meaning the author intended to bring across, you have to rewrite actual sentences and paragraphs. You can’t just write a summary of large chunks of text.

Although this is a “technique” employed by lazy students, you should be aware that merely swapping around the word order of an original text does not constitute paraphrasing. It’s also not good enough to merely change a sentence from passive voice to active voice or vice versa.

Using either of these as your only paraphrasing method when rewriting somebody else’s words can amount to plagiarism since you’ve not used your own words or demonstrated your understanding of the source material. In such instances, you’d be better off simply rewriting the author’s exact words and placing these in quotation marks.

To learn more, check out our guide on paraphrasing vs. plagiarism .

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• How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Published on April 8, 2022 by Courtney Gahan and Jack Caulfield. Revised on June 1, 2023.

Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing a source involves changing the wording while preserving the original meaning.

Paraphrasing is an alternative to  quoting (copying someone’s exact words and putting them in quotation marks ). In academic writing, it’s usually better to integrate sources by paraphrasing instead of quoting. It shows that you have understood the source, reads more smoothly, and keeps your own voice front and center.

Every time you paraphrase, it’s important to cite the source . Also take care not to use wording that is too similar to the original. Otherwise, you could be at risk of committing plagiarism .

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Table of contents

How to paraphrase in five easy steps, how to paraphrase correctly, examples of paraphrasing, how to cite a paraphrase, paraphrasing vs. quoting, paraphrasing vs. summarizing, avoiding plagiarism when you paraphrase, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about paraphrasing.

If you’re struggling to get to grips with the process of paraphrasing, check out our easy step-by-step guide in the video below.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Putting an idea into your own words can be easier said than done. Let’s say you want to paraphrase the text below, about population decline in a particular species of sea snails.

Incorrect paraphrasing

You might make a first attempt to paraphrase it by swapping out a few words for  synonyms .

Like other sea creatures inhabiting the vicinity of highly populated coasts, horse conchs have lost substantial territory to advancement and contamination , including preferred breeding grounds along mud flats and seagrass beds. Their Gulf home is also heating up due to global warming , which scientists think further puts pressure on the creatures , predicated upon the harmful effects extra warmth has on other large mollusks (Barnett, 2022).

This attempt at paraphrasing doesn’t change the sentence structure or order of information, only some of the word choices. And the synonyms chosen are poor:

• “Advancement and contamination” doesn’t really convey the same meaning as “development and pollution.”
• Sometimes the changes make the tone less academic: “home” for “habitat” and “sea creatures” for “marine animals.”
• Adding phrases like “inhabiting the vicinity of” and “puts pressure on” makes the text needlessly long-winded.
• Global warming is related to climate change, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.

Because of this, the text reads awkwardly, is longer than it needs to be, and remains too close to the original phrasing. This means you risk being accused of plagiarism .

Correct paraphrasing

Let’s look at a more effective way of paraphrasing the same text.

Here, we’ve:

• Only included the information that’s relevant to our argument (note that the paraphrase is shorter than the original)
• Introduced the information with the signal phrase “Scientists believe that …”
• Retained key terms like “development and pollution,” since changing them could alter the meaning
• Structured sentences in our own way instead of copying the structure of the original
• Started from a different point, presenting information in a different order

Because of this, we’re able to clearly convey the relevant information from the source without sticking too close to the original phrasing.

Explore the tabs below to see examples of paraphrasing in action.

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• Newspaper article
• Magazine article

Once you have your perfectly paraphrased text, you need to ensure you credit the original author. You’ll always paraphrase sources in the same way, but you’ll have to use a different type of in-text citation depending on what citation style you follow.

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It’s a good idea to paraphrase instead of quoting in most cases because:

• Paraphrasing shows that you fully understand the meaning of a text
• Your own voice remains dominant throughout your paper
• Quotes reduce the readability of your text

But that doesn’t mean you should never quote. Quotes are appropriate when:

• Giving a precise definition
• Saying something about the author’s language or style (e.g., in a literary analysis paper)
• Providing evidence in support of an argument
• Critiquing or analyzing a specific claim

A paraphrase puts a specific passage into your own words. It’s typically a similar length to the original text, or slightly shorter.

When you boil a longer piece of writing down to the key points, so that the result is a lot shorter than the original, this is called summarizing .

Paraphrasing and quoting are important tools for presenting specific information from sources. But if the information you want to include is more general (e.g., the overarching argument of a whole article), summarizing is more appropriate.

When paraphrasing, you have to be careful to avoid accidental plagiarism .

This can happen if the paraphrase is too similar to the original quote, with phrases or whole sentences that are identical (and should therefore be in quotation marks). It can also happen if you fail to properly cite the source.

Paraphrasing tools are widely used by students, and can be especially useful for non-native speakers who may find academic writing particularly challenging. While these can be helpful for a bit of extra inspiration, use these tools sparingly, keeping academic integrity in mind.

To make sure you’ve properly paraphrased and cited all your sources, you could elect to run a plagiarism check before submitting your paper. And of course, always be sure to read your source material yourself and take the first stab at paraphrasing on your own.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Critical thinking

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

To paraphrase effectively, don’t just take the original sentence and swap out some of the words for synonyms. Instead, try:

• Reformulating the sentence (e.g., change active to passive , or start from a different point)
• Combining information from multiple sentences into one
• Leaving out information from the original that isn’t relevant to your point
• Using synonyms where they don’t distort the meaning

The main point is to ensure you don’t just copy the structure of the original text, but instead reformulate the idea in your own words.

Paraphrasing without crediting the original author is a form of plagiarism , because you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

However, paraphrasing is not plagiarism if you correctly cite the source . This means including an in-text citation and a full reference, formatted according to your required citation style .

As well as citing, make sure that any paraphrased text is completely rewritten in your own words.

Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas in your own words.

So when does paraphrasing count as plagiarism?

• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if you don’t properly credit the original author.
• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if your text is too close to the original wording (even if you cite the source). If you directly copy a sentence or phrase, you should quote it instead.
• Paraphrasing  is not plagiarism if you put the author’s ideas completely in your own words and properly cite the source .

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To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

• Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
• You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
• You’re presenting a precise definition
• You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

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Paraphrasing, Quoting, and Summarising

Efl & esl english language skills.

Skills:  Reading & Writing

Level:   B2  Upper-intermediate and above

Learn how best to rewrite correctly, with a creative paraphrasing and summarising activity based on movies

Printables: Paraphrasing exercises , Logline activities

What is paraphrasing?

How to paraphrase in three easy steps, paraphrasing exercises, how to quote, summarising with loglines, the avengers  logline, write your own logline.

Paraphrasing is the ability to copy what we heard or read by repeating it in our own words composed by our own thoughts. Being able to paraphrase well is an essential speaking and writing skill.

It’s also a reading skill. Sentences normally only have one idea. So that we can repeat what we read while keeping the original meaning at the same time, it’s important that we understand everything, including the finer details. Paraphrasing is often done for short pieces of text such as one or two sentences, which brings us on to its purpose.

There are a couple of reasons to paraphrase. Firstly, if we are writing an original piece of work, say an essay or a blog, and we want to include an extract from a copyright text such as a book or an article, then we can paraphrase it. We could perhaps quote it instead, but this often comes with some limitations, for example how much is legally allowed to be copied or maybe the extract itself is just too wordy.

This is the second reason to paraphrase. We can make the extract shorter and simpler and pass our understanding on to the reader by making it clearer too.

Therefore, paraphrasing is different to directly quoting or plainly summarising. All three are ways of rewriting something but they each have a different purpose. We don’t paraphrase a book, we summarise it, as books have many ideas. You can find one type of summary on the back of most books, which is called a blurb .

In fact, on the back of a novel you might see all three examples at play. The opening sentences of the novel could be paraphrased in an interesting way at the top. In the centre there will be a descriptive summary of the story and the author. Below that it might have some catchy quotes from reviewers.

Paraphrasing is effective at demonstrating that we understand a writer’s point of view in a sentence they wrote. Another benefit to this technique is that because paraphrasing is not just copying word for word, it helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. Although, whether we are paraphrasing, quoting, or summarising someone else’s words, it’s always necessary to mention the source of the information.

Here are some examples of paraphrasing:

Norwegian law says that anything found that is older than 1537 is state property.

Paraphrased:

Objects found in Norway from before 1537 should be returned to the government.

Fatou sometimes asks herself, “I can’t dance, I can’t rap ... What am I doing?”

Every so often, Fatou finds herself questioning her singing and dancing abilities.

In a statement given by the European Council, they said that “batteries contain many valuable resources and we must be able to reuse those critical raw materials”.

It’s important that the precious natural materials that go into making batteries are reusable, the European Council have officially stated.

When we need to copy some text without quoting it, we can’t get away with just changing the word order and call it paraphrasing! Here is how to paraphrase in three easy steps.

Do you understand the idea(s) of the sentence(s)? Do you know the meaning of all the words?

When we want to use what someone else wrote in our own work, it’s probably because we like it. It’s certain that we understand it if that is the case. If, however, we want to paraphrase something because we disagree with it, it’s worth checking that we understand the full meaning. Either way, asking yourself the two questions above is a great first step.

The next step is to identify the words that carry the meaning of the sentence. There are a few things to be aware of here:

• The facts cannot be changed, such as who or what the sentence is about. Things such as proper nouns or facts and figures will most likely stay the same.
• The rest of the important words can be changed with synonyms to suit our taste, such as government for state . Also, looking at names or data as words, it is possible to use synonyms. Compare for example, a percentage figure of 51% could be written as “just over half”.
• The sentence structure might also change too. Using verbs instead of nominalisations could be useful when rewriting something, especially to make it clearer. For example, the opening phrase “In a statement given by...” compared to the closing phrase “...have officially stated”.

The last thing to do is to re-read your new sentence to see if it carries the same meaning as the original. Finally, the original needs to be referrenced in an appropriate way.

Choose between A or B as the best paraphrased answer.

1. Original :

Snoop Dogg said the store “stays true to who I am” and that Tha Dogg House will be mind-blowing.

Paraphrase A:

“I’m a true artist” said Snoop Dogg, talking of his mind-blowing new project, Tha Dogg House.

Paraphrase B:

It will blow people’s minds Snoop Dogg said, speaking of Tha Dogg House being a reflection of his creativity.

B is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase A is a bad example of paraphrasing because quote marks are used for words that Snoop Dogg doesn’t actually say.

2. Original :

Finally Zimmer managed to ask, “Will you marry me?” There was screaming and clapping from the crowd as the newly-engaged couple hugged.

Zimmer eventually got around to asking the big question. The crowd showed their delight with a large applause as Zimmer and his partner had an embrace.

The audience gave a loud applause after Zimmer proposed and gave his partner an embrace in front of them.

B is the best paraphrase because it uses only one sentence to paraphrase the information.

3. Original :

Research in 2018 shows that today’s generation consumes 20% less alcohol than the previous one.

The latest generation drinks quite a bit less alcohol than older generations — 20% less actually, according to 2018 research.

Recent studies reveal that today’s generation drinks a fraction less alcohol than older generations did.

A is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase B tries to rephrase the data but is too subjective.

4. Original :

The initiative aims fundamentally to help men who struggle with problems like depression and anxiety in their everyday life.

The purpose of the scheme is to help men with their day-to-day mental difficulties.

They have a plan to help people who are failing to cope with the stresses of modern life.

A is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase B is too vague.

5. Original :

Dua Lipa recommends the books she reads on social media and that reading helps her to “understand emotions and feelings”.

Dua Lipa shares what she reads on social media, believing it helps her feel better about herself in the process.

Dua Lipa shares the books she has read on social media because she believes it helps us to understand ourselves better.

B is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase A doesn’t make it clear what Dua Lipa is reading or why she shares it.

top   |  print paraphrasing exercises

Quoting is linked to paragraph structure, for example as a way to illustrate a point, which is a language skill for another time. So this section will mostly cover the technical know-hows of quoting instead of diving into the reasons why, and offer some higher-level synonyms for the word said .

Quotes are often used as evidence, compared to paraphrasing something in your own terms. In fact, quoting is sometimes known as “direct quoting” whereas paraphrasing is sometimes known as “indirect quoting”. Direct quotes require quotation marks but paraphrasing doesn’t need quotation marks. Typical examples of direct quoting would be a famous movie line or the words of an expert. Or both at the same time, as in this passage from Matthew Bortolin’s 2005 book The Dharma of Star Wars :

Yoda’s words about Luke in The Empire Strikes Back can easily be applied to us: “Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing.” Likewise, our minds are rarely in touch with where we are and with what we are doing.

It is also possible to make a quote fit within the rhythm of your own sentence:

Scientist Rayyanah Barnawi was thrilled to say “hello from outer space” from on board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Or even to employ paraphrasing and a quotation together:

The RAC said they want the trialled cameras in the worst areas affected, and “the sooner effective camera enforcement can be put in place the better”.

Here are some alternative verbs to use instead of relying on say .

A2 Pre-intermediate and lower:

B1 Intermediate:

B2 Upper-intermediate:

C1 Advanced:

A short final note on usage. British and American English rules of quotation can vary slightly. American English uses double quote marks, “like this” and British English uses single quote marks, ‘like this’. However, British media tends to use the double style too, as do the lessons on Every Bit English. And according to British English rules, your sentence punctuation goes outside the quote marks. Look out for an in-depth language skills page on punctuation here in the future!

In the first section What is paraphrasing? above, it was mentioned that paraphrasing, quoting, and summarising have different purposes, and it had book blurbs as an example. Well, now we’re on the summarising section, we will see that summarising can have various purposes and styles of its own.

Instead of looking at how to write an academic summary, say a book summary for an essay, we’ll look at summaries in the form of loglines .

A logline is a short, one or two sentence summary of a movie (or television show or book) written with the aim to catch the reader’s interest. It is short but packed with detail such as the main theme of the story, what the characters are like, and it will be written in an exciting style.

You’ll see loglines on Netflix for example, typically directly underneath the movie’s image and title. This is because loglines play an important role in advertising a movie and they’re written before a movie ever even starts production.

A writer needs a useful way to summarise their script and so they write a logline. This will be a carefully written summary that uniquely captures exactly what their story is about. If it is written successfully, then producers and studios who read it (before the script) are more likely to be interested in making it into a movie.

If we turn writing a logline into an English lesson activity, then it presents a fascinating way to practice the reading and rewriting skills necessary for good summarising and paraphrasing. Remembering the first step of paraphrasing above, to write any paraphrase requires understanding the original text. The same applies to summaries and their original texts. For both techniques, some level of reading analysis is required.

In the next section a movie logline is analysed and in the final section the materials and guidance are offered to try it yourself.

Earth’s mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.

Source (external link):  IMDb.com

Sounds like an exciting movie judging by this summary! We can tell from just these few words that it’s a fantasy action movie. It pictures a massive-scale battle between good and bad, and possibly in between the heroes too. Let’s take a closer look at what the logline manages to detail.

The setting:

The heroes:

mightiest heroes

Their present situation:

must come together and learn to fight as a team

Their goal:

if they are going to stop

The problem:

the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.

As every movie has a different story, loglines always tell a different story. As summaries, loglines will often contain these narrative elements:

• The setting. This is usually a place or a period in time.
• The hero or heroine. It could be a group as in the above example. The literary term for the main character is protagonist .
• The main character’s present situation. Where they start their story. In a logline, this is often a time of difficulty or change in their life.
• The goal. What the main character has to do for a happy ending to the story.
• The problem. In literary terms, the villain, or hero’s enemy, is called the antagonist . This could be anything from a fantasy figure with evil plans, to a long journey to be overcome.

Writing a logline is a good exercise for practising summarising and paraphrasing. There are two activities presented below. In the first, you can practice paraphrasing by rewriting a logline, and in the second, you can practice summarising by writing your own logline.

Before that, here are some tips for writing a better logline:

• The order of events as shown in the above example is good for loglines
• Try not to use the main character’s name. Describe them instead.
• For practice purposes, keep it only one sentence long.
• Don’t say how the story finishes! (No spoilers .)
• Don’t finish with a question mark.

Once you’ve completed the activities and written some loglines, share them and see if anyone can guess what movies they are!

Look up any logline and write it down. Then analyse it for the five narrative elements and write each element in the table. Use the keywords in the logline to help identify what element it is. Then think of some synonyms for the keywords. Use your new keywords to paraphrase the original by writing your own version of the logline.

Think of a movie you know well. Fill in the table with ideas for keywords that describe and summarise the movie. Then compose your own logline for it. Afterwards, look up the original and see how close you were!

top   |  print logline activities

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Lesson Collection

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Summary, Paraphrase, and Outlines in WR 111

Major assignment.

One of the important tasks of WR 111 is to teach students to craft strong, clear basic summaries of texts. Paraphrasing and outlining are of course related, though distinct, skills. The resources on this page may help instructors scaffold this assignment for students. For the first summary assignment in the course, spend additional time on the strategies for summarizing, and omit the response after the summary; the the later summary, include the response and focus more on paragraph coherence in the summary itself. These materials may also be adapted for a quick, early-semester review of basic summary in WR 112 , where summary may be used as a precursor to analysis in the context of the major papers, as well as an informal assessment of reading comprehension.

to be able to define summary and list its key characteristics and its purpose; to summarize a text of appropriate level; to refer to an author consistently throughout; to work on paragraph coherence and logical signaling; to balance correct use of verb tenses between the critical present tense and other tenses; to use MLA formatting in a formal paper.

summary; reading comprehension

Basic Summary Assignment (With or Without Response)

• Comprehensive – include the major points necessary to understand the essay
• Concise – stick to the main ideas and don’t include unnecessary details
• Accurate – make sure you understand the essay and are describing it correctly
• Objective – don’t include ideas or analysis of your own
• Original – use your own words and phrasing and avoid using quotes
• Write a basic summary of any essay that we have read together.
• Note that your summary should be as concise as you can make it without leaving out any important points. Your paper should not be more than one page long, and it should include 1-3 paragraphs (aim for 150-300 words).
• Introducing the essay with the full title and author’s name and referring to the author after that by his or her last name,
• Using third person pronouns for the author and not bringing in your own personal opinions or ideas,
• Keeping your verbs in the present tense when referring to things the author of the text says, does, writes, or thinks in the essay (and other tenses as needed for sequence of tenses and/or historical events),
• Respond (if applicable)  to the text you have summarized: at the end of the summary you should include a brief (no more than one to two paragraphs) response to some element in the essay that caught your attention (rhetorical technique, theme, idea, etc.) and discuss what effect it had on you and why. This is your opportunity to offer your own opinion/analysis of the text.
• Does it refer to the author throughout the paragraph?
• Does it show clear logic and paragraph coherence?
• Where can you improve it, and why?
• What strategies did you use while writing? Remember that summaries should typically not proceed sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph throughout the entire essay–how do you decide what details to include, though, and what to omit? Did you find or create topic sentences for paragraphs or sections, and eliminate repetitive information and unnecessary details?
• Discuss  your summary with a partner.
• Format  your paper in MLA style.

Paraphrasing Exercise

• Practice  paraphrasing when you are preparing to write a summary, but be sure you understand their differences.
• Note that unlike a summary, which aims at condensation, a paraphrase aims at clarification. A paraphrase restates the ideas in a passage by closely tracing the author’s line of reasoning, much as a translation does. Paraphrases are very useful for understanding difficult material. Unlike a summary, a paraphrase does not condense, but rather is about the same length or even a bit longer than the original. Like a summary, a paraphrase presents someone else’s ideas in your own words and sentence structure.
• the words are not memorable enough to quote;
• the ideas in the source need to be changed in some way to fit the ideas in your paper.
• Put the passage into your own words and grammar. The best way to do this is to cover up the passage and rewrite the main ideas.
• Reread the original passage and revise your paraphrase to be sure the meaning matches the original and that you are not using the author’s words or sentence structure.
• Read the passage you are paraphrasing several times, looking up unfamiliar words.
• Proceed sentence by sentence, translating ideas into your own words.
• Change first person point of view to third person.
• Read over your paraphrase (it should be easier to read than the original)
• Check carefully to make sure you have not plagiarized. Plagiarism includes not only the use of an author’s exact words, but his or her sentence structure.

Outlining Exercise and Reflections

• Use outline form to outline a text we have read together in class.
• Remember  that the purpose of an outline of a text is to remind yourself of the text later on; it does not need to include every single detail of the text, but it will likely include more detail than a short basic summary. It does, however, need to show the connections (cause and effect, sequence, etc.) between different sections of the text you are summarizing.
• Outlining is very connected to your skills in summarizing. How is summary connected to outlining, and how might writing one help you write the other more effectively?
• What new difficulties or obstacles did you encounter throughout the process of completing this assignment which you do not encounter when you summarize?
• How did you work to overcome those obstacles and were you successful? Or do you still have some lingering confusion? Explain.
• What are your goals for your next writing assignment in this class? What planning/writing/language skills do you hope to focus on and improve next, and how are those connected to your work on the outline?

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?

• Frequently asked questions

The main difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is that paraphrasing involves rewording part of an outside source, but summarizing involves describing what an entire source is mainly about.

A paraphrase rephrases a specific fact, statistic, or idea from an outside source that you’re using as evidence in academic writing .

A summary is a synopsis that describes the main topic and key points of a complete text (e.g., an article) in order to give your readers context about why the source is significant. Summaries are common in literature reviews and annotated bibliographies .

To avoid plagiarism , use your own words anytime you paraphrase or summarize another person’s work in your writing, and give credit to the original source with a signal phrase or an in-text citation .

If you need help with paraphrasing and summarizing, QuillBot’s free Paraphrasing Tool can reword ideas from another source. QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can also help you create in-text citations.

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?: Citation

Proximity operators , such as NEAR ( N x ), WITHIN ( W x ), and SENTENCE , can be used along with keywords to filter for results that include the keywords within a certain proximity to each other.

Different proximity operators are used to obtain different results. For example, W x identifies sources where the keywords occur within a specific number of words ( x ) of each other and in the order listed.

In APA references , the titles of books, webpages, and reports are italicized, as are the titles and volume numbers of journals and other periodicals.

The titles of articles or book chapters are not italicized.

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can automatically create APA Style references for you.

In an APA reference list , page numbers are typically included for journal articles and chapters in edited works. Entries for books and webpages typically do not include page numbers.

The two numbers in a page range are connected using an en dash (–) rather than a hyphen (-).

Access dates are not normally required in APA Style in-text citations or references. They are never needed for online journal articles or ebooks.

But, if you create an APA citation for a website that is likely to be updated in the future, you should include an access date. For example:

The University of Texas at Arlington. (n.d.) Our alumni make history . Retrieved May 9, 2024, from www.uta.edu/about/alumni

Often, when there is no individual author listed, the source can be attributed to an organization or agency (e.g., a report, a press release, a company’s website). In these cases, the organization name can be used in place of the author in both the APA in-text citation and APA reference page .

If there is no individual or organizational author (as is the case with some website sources ), the title can be used instead. In the in-text citation, long titles can be shortened, and they can be formatted as in the reference list (i.e., either in italics or in quotation marks).

APA in-text citations of quotations or paraphrases of specific text must include a locator. When no page numbers are available (e.g., when citing a website ), you can use paragraph numbers or heading names (or a combination) instead: (Cordero, 2021, Key Facts section, para. 3).

When you refer to the source as a whole, you do not need to include any locator information.

APA in-text citations for online articles or websites include the author’s last name and publication year: (Patel, 2020). Often, the author is an organization: (National Institutes of Health, 2022).

When citing a quotation , you should include some type of locator. This could be a paragraph number (Patel, 2020, para. 10) or section title (Patel, 2020, Future Plans section).

For further information, read our guide on APA website citations .

Using the CRAAP test will help you to assess information critically . This focuses on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of the information source.

Good questions to ask include:

• Who is the author? Do they have expertise in the field?
• How does the author make their argument? Do they back it up with evidence?
• Why did they publish the information? What are their purpose and motivation?

Some important critical thinking skills are:

• Identifying credible sources
• Using relevant criteria to test hypotheses
• Evaluating arguments and responding to them
• Assessing alternative opinions

APA Style uses sentence-style capitalization for article titles in the reference list , which means only the first word and any proper nouns are capitalized (e.g., “Language production and serial order”).

Sentence-style capitalization is also used for book and webpage titles.

However, for the titles of journals, headline-style capitalization is used. This means all words except prepositions , conjunctions, and articles are capitalized (e.g., Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics ).

A Boolean search uses Boolean operators (e.g., “AND,” “NOT”) and keywords to narrow or expand search results. You can use Boolean searches to:

• Search exact keywords
• Search keyword variations
• Prioritize keywords
• Exclude keywords

Make sure you have a clear idea of the parameters of your research and the key terms you want to search. Then choose a database that is relevant to your research (e.g., Cochrane, JSTOR, Medline).

Use specific keywords and their variations and synonyms when searching for scholarly sources .

Some databases have a “subject search” option, which can be useful. Become familiar with Boolean operators to efficiently combine keywords, search for exact phrases, and exclude specific terms.

When evaluating sources , vertical reading means reading a source (e.g., a website) to evaluate its credibility.

This is contrasted with lateral reading , which means researching what has been written about the source elsewhere in order to help you evaluate its credibility (e.g., searching for references to a website on other websites that you trust).

When evaluating sources , do a preliminary evaluation of each source before you invest time in an in-depth evaluation:

• Find the table of contents to assess the scope of the work
• Scan the abstract, preface, introduction , and conclusion
• Look through the index for important terms and names of relevant scholars.

Academic researchers use a range of credible sources in their works. They will typically cite only their primary and secondary sources . The main types of sources are:

• Academic journals
• Encyclopedias

Your research process is likely to include many of these types of scholarly sources , although the sources used will vary according to the goals and topic of your research.

Knowing how to find the credible sources you need is important when conducting research.

• Check with the library at your institution to see what journals, books, research databases, and other types of sources they can give you access to.
• Search for publications from respected academic publishers and university presses, as these have a reputation for being trustworthy scholarly sources .
• Search for journals that use a peer review process. They are more credible as experts have reviewed the research before publication.

Scholarly sources are written by experts in the field of study using technical or academic language. Very often they are peer-reviewed before publication, and they will always have a full bibliography. They are usually considered to be credible sources .

Popular sources are written for a more general audience. They are most likely to be written by journalists and may not have a bibliography. Their language is generally less formal, and they might be written from a biased point of view. This means that these types of sources are not always reliable, but can still be used and cited if appropriate to your research.

Researchers use many different types of sources , including:

The types of source you use might change as you make progress through the research process.

How you use “et al.” in citations depends on the style guide you are using.

In MLA, “et al.” is used both for in-text citations and the Works Cited page when a source has three or more authors.

In APA 6th edition, works with three to five authors are listed using “ et al. ” after the first citation. In APA 7th edition, works with three or more authors are listed using “et al.” from the first in-text citation .

In Chicago style, works with four or more authors are listed using “et al.” from the first citation.

When to use et al. in APA in-text citations depends on which edition of the APA Publication Manual you are using.

In APA 6th edition, works with three to five authors are listed using “ et al. ” after the first citation.

Example: “Freeman, Taylor, and Werg (2024) reject this hypothesis. Instead, their data indicates that the opposite is true (Freeman et al., 2024).”

In APA 7th edition, works with three or more authors are listed using “et al.” after the first author’s name from the first citation.

Example: “Freeman et al. (2024) reject this hypothesis.”

In MLA, “ et al. ” is used both for in-text citations and the Works Cited page when a source has three or more authors.

Example: Some critics agree that the symbolism is difficult to decipher (Ruiz et al. 190).

In Chicago style, works with four or more authors are listed using “ et al. ” after the first author’s name in both in-text citations and footnotes.

In the bibliography entry, up to 10 authors’ names should be listed.

“ Ibid. ” is included only in footnotes or endnotes and should not be used as an in-text citation . Additionally, not all style guides (e.g., APA, MLA) permit the use of “ibid.”

Once you have included the full citation for a source, “ibid.” can be used to refer back to that source in the next citation. It cannot be used if there are other intervening citations.

Chicago style still permits the use of “ ibid. ,” but the use of short notes is preferred. In either case, the choice to use “ibid.” or short notes should be consistent.

APA Style, like MLA style, does not permit the use of “ ibid .” Both MLA and APA Style use in-text parenthetical citations , and footnotes are used only to add further information, not for citations.

If there are two authors, separate their names with an ampersand (&). If there are three or more authors, list the first author’s name, followed by “ et al. ” Do not include a comma between the first author’s name and “et al.”

Examples: (Smith & Robinson, 2022, pp. 67–69)

(Smith et al., 2022, p. 43)

To create an APA in-text citation for a source with an unknown author, use the title of the text in place of an author’s last name. Italicize the title of books, but use quotation marks around the title for articles and chapters.

Example: (“In-Text Citations,” 2024)

“ Et al. ” means “and others.” It is used to save space in in-text citations when citing a source with three or more authors; you use it after the first author’s name in place of the remaining names.

Paraphrasing plagiarism happens when someone paraphrases an outside source in a piece of writing without giving credit to the original source.

When you paraphrase ideas from outside sources in your own words, you must show where that information came from in order to avoid plagiarism . Sentences that have paraphrased information should include in-text citations .

An in-text citation includes the author’s name at a minimum, and depending on the citation style you’re using, it might include other elements such as a year of publication or a page number.

For example, APA citations for paraphrases should include the author and year of publication.

• According to a recent survey, nearly half of dog owners in the U.S. said that they are unlikely to purchase pet insurance in the near future.
• According to Megna (2024), nearly half of dog owners in the U.S. said that they are unlikely to purchase pet insurance in the near future.

You can avoid paraphrasing plagiarism by using QuillBot’s free Plagiarism Checker to look for paraphrases in your writing that need citations.

You can paraphrase a source without plagiarizing by following both of these steps.

• Write the information in your own words without using the same phrases and sentences from the original source.
• Give credit to the source you paraphrased with an in-text citation . For example, APA citations for paraphrases should include the author and year of publication.

If you need help paraphrasing a source without plagiarizing, QuillBot’s free Paraphraser can reword excerpts from outside sources. QuillBot’s free Plagiarism Checker will help you find paraphrases in your writing that need in-text citations.

You should paraphrase information instead of using a direct quote when the information that you’re sharing with your readers is more important than the original source’s style of writing.

Use paraphrases to share facts and statistics from outside sources. In this situation, the original author’s wording is less important than the information. Paraphrasing helps you maintain your own writing voice.

Use direct quotes from outside sources in these situations:

• When  the information is worded so creatively that you can’t express the author’s full intended meaning by paraphrasing
• When your purpose is to analyze another piece of writing (e.g., a poem or novel), in which case, direct quotes are evidence of the writer’s style, word choices, or use of literary devices

Whether you paraphrase or quote another writer’s ideas, use in-text citations to avoid plagiarism .

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you create in-text citations for direct quotes and paraphrases.

You always have to cite a paraphrase in order to avoid plagiarism .

An in-text citation helps your readers differentiate between your original ideas and other writers’ ideas.

The format for in-text citations varies by each citation style (e.g., APA , MLA , or Chicago). In MLA writing, in-text citations should include the author’s last name and the page number where the information is located in the original source.

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you cite a paraphrase in your writing.

Secondary sources include textbooks, journal or newspaper articles, reviews, essays, or biographies.

Secondary sources summarize, analyze , and interpret primary sources. Sources that provide an overview on a topic or give another researcher’s views are generally secondary sources.

To cite information from a footnote in an MLA in-text citation , include the author’s name and page number as usual, followed by “n” and the footnote number (Bing 205n4).

To cite multiple footnotes, use “nn” and an en dash with the number range (Bing 205nn4–8).

For footnotes without numbers, include a space after the page number followed by “un” (Bing 103 un).

MLA in-text citations for sources without an author should include the first element of the corresponding Works Cited entry. This is usually the title of the piece (“Practice Writing Exercises”) or the name of the organization that has published the piece (Princeton Review).

Quotes are a valuable tool for enhancing your argument and adding additional support for your claims. However, it is important to avoid overusing quotes, as this can cause your own voice to be lost.

When you use quotes in academic writing , accompany them with analysis and explanation, and do not include quotes for information that you can present in your own words.

The information contained in a citation depends on the style guide you are following.

• APA citations, for example, include the author’s last name and the publication year, separated by a comma (e.g., Turing, 1947).
• MLA citations include the author’s last name and the page number (e.g., Dahl 167).
• Chicago citations include the author’s last name and the publication year, as well as the page number (e.g., Dahl 1961, 167).

Essentially, in-text citations must contain the necessary information for a reader to be able to identify the complete citation in your reference list.

A quote is a direct copy of another person’s words and must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Paraphrasing is a summary or rephrasing of another person’s words without using the exact language.

Both quoted and paraphrased material must be accompanied by a citation to avoid plagiarism .

A parenthetical citation is an in-text citation within a set of parentheses. It includes source information like the name of the author, publication date, and page number(s). It will usually come at the end of a sentence before the punctuation mark.

Parenthetical citations vary depending on the citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago).

QuillBot’s Citation Generator can help you quickly generate citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago style formats.

An APA parenthetical citation includes the author’s name, publication date, and page number(s) within parentheses. In APA, a narrative citation has the author’s name in the sentence and the date of publication in parentheses. 

Example: In As I Lay Dying , Faulker illustrates the effects of death on the living (1930). 

To cite a text in an APA parenthetical citation , list the author’s last name, the publication year, and page number, all separated by commas. 

Example: (Smith, 2014, p. 67)

In APA in-text citations , sources without a known author should be cited using the source title or organization name (Quillbot, 2024).

Sources without a publication date can use “n.d.” in lieu of the date (Yintl, n.d.).

Page numbers are only necessary in APA in-text citations when material is directly quoted . Include the page number after the publication date (Author, date, p. 1).

To cite a page range, include “pp.” and use an en dash (Author, date, pp. 1–10).

In APA Style, if you use multiple sources from the same author that have different publication years, the different publication years are sufficient to distinguish the citations.

To cite multiple sources with the same publication year in an APA in-text citation , include the author name and date as usual, and add a lowercase letter to the end of the publication year (Perkins, 2004a; Perkins, 2004b).

To cite an indirect source in APA in-text citations , include the author name and date where available, followed by “as cited in” and the author name and date of the secondary source you are using.

Parenthetical: (Weber, 2010, as cited in Baqqa, 2016) Narrative: Weber (2010, as cited in Baqqa, 2016) claims that …

In-text citations should always come before punctuation, including periods, commas, semicolons, and dashes. You can include a citation mid-sentence or at the end of the sentence.

Primary sources include statistical data, speeches, transcripts, photographs or videos, original artistic or literary works, and historical documents.

If you analyze something directly, it functions as a primary source. This includes your own original quantitative or qualitative data.

To evaluate whether a source is a primary or secondary source , ask the following questions:

• Is the source from someone who participated in the studied event (primary) or from another researcher (secondary)?
• Am I examining the source itself (primary) as my main research objective, or is it supplying background information?
• Does the source give novel information or data (primary), or is it commenting on, interpreting, and or analyzing information from other sources (secondary)?

Some sources generally always serve as primary sources. These include artworks and literature, raw statistics, official documents and records, and personal communications such as journal entries or interviews.

Primary sources are generally considered the most credible evidence to use to support an argument because they are directly involved with the research subject. However, you should still vet these sources for reliability and accuracy.

All sources you use must be accompanied by a citation to avoid plagiarism . You can use QuillBot’s Citation Generator to automatically generate citations for all types of sources .

MLA in-text citations must be included any time you quote or paraphrase another source. Failing to include a citation could result in accidental plagiarism .

Citations are not usually needed for generally available knowledge, such as the dates of historical events or the birthdates of historical figures.

Biographies are generally secondary sources as they present information about the life of someone else. The author will likely consult primary sources to compose the biography, such as personal letters, archival records (e.g., birth registries), or diaries. In contrast, an autobiography is a primary source as it is a firsthand account of one’s own life.

However, if you are researching the ways in which a particular figure’s life has been represented, then biographies written about the person would function as primary sources.

Any time a biography or other source is used, it must be accompanied by a citation and reference entry to avoid plagiarism . You can use QuillBot’s Citation Generator to automatically generate citations for all types of sources .

Newspaper and magazine articles can function as primary or secondary sources depending on how you use them for your research.

In a historical study, for example, you might use contemporary newspaper articles as direct evidence of the time period. In social and communication studies, you might examine the language or content of an article to glean insights into the particular phenomenon under study (e.g., through a content analysis or discourse analysis).

If you are using an article to furnish background information or facts about the topic, the article functions as a secondary source.

Any articles you use should be cited appropriately and included in your references list. You can use QuillBot’s Citation Generator to automatically generate citations for all types of sources .

Strong academic research requires engagement with information from other researchers, but this is only valid when the sources used are accurate. Online information and published articles may exhibit bias, lack credibility, or lack evidence to support their claims.

Information literacy denotes the range of skills you need to be able to decipher the credibility of a source. Information literacy and critical thinking are fundamental to academic research and responsible media consumption more broadly.

Sources can be vetted using the CRAAP test as well as checked for the following points to ensure credibility :

• Updated information
• Trustworthy publisher and author with relevant credentials for the topic
• Cited materials should be able to be consulted and unbiased
• Online sources should have a trustworthy URL and layout

Quillbot’s Citation Generator tool can help you to create and manage your citations throughout the research process.

You should always include a citation for the sources you use to support any academic text.

In-text citations must accompany any material that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized . The in-text citation should direct the reader to the full reference entry in the references list or bibliography.

The format of your citations and reference entries is determined by the citation style you are using (e.g., MLA , APA , Chicago).

Quillbot’s Citation Generator  can help you to create and manage your citations throughout the research process.

Wikipedia is not generally considered a credible source on its own. This is because Wikipedia is an open-access platform that anyone can edit at any time. Thus, while Wikipedia can be helpful when just starting out in your research, it should not be cited among your sources in your final paper.

However, you can use the references cited in Wikipedia articles to access the research materials the articles are based on. If a Wikipedia article cites academic sources such as journal articles, go directly to these sources to perform more in-depth research. These sources can be used to support your paper.

Tertiary sources are generally not cited directly in academic writing. However, they can be useful as a jumping-off point when you begin the research process.

When you’re starting your research, you can use tertiary sources to:

• Collect background information
• Pick out keywords and terms
• Learn current views on the topic
• Identify key figures whose work may be useful to you

Tertiary sources can direct you to primary and secondary sources that you can use later during the writing process.

Your research problem and the way you use a source will determine whether it is tertiary.

The following questions can help you evaluate whether something is a tertiary source :

• Is the source itself the object of analysis (primary or secondary), or does it only provide background information (tertiary)?
• Does the source give a firsthand account or original data ( primary ) or interpret other sources ( secondary )? Or does it list or summarize information from other sources (tertiary)?

Primary sources involve original research with novel findings or provide firsthand evidence (e.g., photographs, records, official documents).

Secondary sources offer analyses or interpretations of primary source evidence or findings (e.g., journal articles, reviews).

Tertiary sources are reference works that use primary and secondary sources to provide an overview of the topic (e.g., databases, dictionaries).

Signal phrases have a variety of functions. They can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.

When using signal phrases to integrate another author’s ideas, words, or data, include:

• The name of the scholar(s) or study
• An attributive tag (e.g., “has proposed,” “has asserted”)
• The quote or paraphrased material

The verb tense you use in your signal phrase depends on the style guide you are following.

• APA Style uses the past tense or present perfect tense
• MLA and Chicago use the simple present tense

Signal phrases are used to attribute information to the original source. This is important as it enables you to:

• Establish the credibility of the information presented
• Underscore your knowledge of the field and relevant arguments
• Place your work into conversation with other researchers’ findings
• Avoid committing plagiarism

The type of signal phrase you use provides information about your or the original author’s position on the point presented. Signal phrases can indicate agreement, disagreement, doubt, and other relationships between authors’ stances.

Common signal phrases to indicate agreement include “confirms” or “supports” (e.g., “Smith’s works confirms the prevailing view”).

Common signal phrases to indicate disagreement include “denies” or “refutes” (e.g., “Attorney Marta Resnick denies that there is any credible evidence pointing to her client”).

Neutral signal phrases include “states” or “observes” (e.g., “Liu and Gray observe that …”).

Academic journals use peer review processes to evaluate submissions for publication. Experts in the subject area use defined criteria to measure the quality of a text and determine suitability for publication.

The peer review process results in high-quality publications, which is why academic journals are often considered the most credible sources .

If a source doesn’t use a peer review process, you can use the CRAAP test to determine whether it is credible.

The “Accuracy” component of the CRAAP test for evaluating sources refers to whether the information in a source is correct, factually based, and supported by evidence. Consider where the information has come from and the source itself. For example, was it published by a reputable source, and are you able to verify the claims?

The “Relevance” component of the CRAAP test for evaluating sources refers to whether the information in a source is related to your research subject. Consider if the information adds something to your argument and whether the information is intended for a specialized audience.

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Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

Depending on the conventions of your discipline, you may have to decide whether to summarize a source, paraphrase a source, or quote from a source.

Scholars in the humanities tend to summarize, paraphrase, and quote texts; social scientists and natural scientists rely primarily on summary and paraphrase.

When and how to summarize

When you summarize, you provide your readers with a condensed version of an author's key points. A summary can be as short as a few sentences or much longer, depending on the complexity of the text and the level of detail you wish to provide to your readers. You will need to summarize a source in your paper when you are going to refer to that source and you want your readers to understand the source's argument, main ideas, or plot (if the source is a novel, film, or play) before you lay out your own argument about it, analysis of it, or response to it.

Before you summarize a source in your paper, you should decide what your reader needs to know about that source in order to understand your argument. For example, if you are making an argument about a novel, you should avoid filling pages of your paper with details from the book that will distract or confuse your reader. Instead, you should add details sparingly, going only into the depth that is necessary for your reader to understand and appreciate your argument. Similarly, if you are writing a paper about a journal article, you will need to highlight the most relevant parts of the argument for your reader, but you should not include all of the background information and examples. When you have to decide how much summary to put in a paper, it's a good idea to consult your instructor about whether you are supposed to assume your reader's knowledge of the sources.

Guidelines for summarizing a source in your paper

• Identify the author and the source.
• Represent the original source accurately.
• Present the source’s central claim clearly.
• Don’t summarize each point in the same order as the original source; focus on giving your reader the most important parts of the source
• Use your own words. Don’t provide a long quotation in the summary unless the actual language from the source is going to be important for your reader to see.

Stanley Milgram (1974) reports that ordinarily compassionate people will be cruel to each other if they are commanded to be by an authority figure. In his experiment, a group of participants were asked to administer electric shocks to people who made errors on a simple test. In spite of signs that those receiving shock were experiencing great physical pain, 25 of 40 subjects continued to administer electric shocks. These results held up for each group of people tested, no matter the demographic. The transcripts of conversations from the experiment reveal that although many of the participants felt increasingly uncomfortable, they continued to obey the experimenter, often showing great deference for the experimenter. Milgram suggests that when people feel responsible for carrying out the wishes of an authority figure, they do not feel responsible for the actual actions they are performing. He concludes that the increasing division of labor in society encourages people to focus on a small task and eschew responsibility for anything they do not directly control.

This summary of Stanley Milgram's 1974 essay, "The Perils of Obedience," provides a brief overview of Milgram's 12-page essay, along with an APA style parenthetical citation. You would write this type of summary if you were discussing Milgram's experiment in a paper in which you were not supposed to assume your reader's knowledge of the sources. Depending on your assignment, your summary might be even shorter.

When you include a summary of a paper in your essay, you must cite the source. If you were using APA style in your paper, you would include a parenthetical citation in the summary, and you would also include a full citation in your reference list at the end of your paper. For the essay by Stanley Milgram, your citation in your references list would include the following information:

Milgram, S. (1974). The perils of obedience. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.), The Blair reader (pp.725-737).

When and how to paraphrase

When you paraphrase from a source, you restate the source's ideas in your own words. Whereas a summary provides your readers with a condensed overview of a source (or part of a source), a paraphrase of a source offers your readers the same level of detail provided in the original source. Therefore, while a summary will be shorter than the original source material, a paraphrase will generally be about the same length as the original source material.

When you use any part of a source in your paper—as background information, as evidence, as a counterargument to which you plan to respond, or in any other form—you will always need to decide whether to quote directly from the source or to paraphrase it. Unless you have a good reason to quote directly from the source , you should paraphrase the source. Any time you paraphrase an author's words and ideas in your paper, you should make it clear to your reader why you are presenting this particular material from a source at this point in your paper. You should also make sure you have represented the author accurately, that you have used your own words consistently, and that you have cited the source.

This paraphrase below restates one of Milgram's points in the author's own words. When you paraphrase, you should always cite the source. This paraphrase uses the APA in-text citation style. Every source you paraphrase should also be included in your list of references at the end of your paper. For citation format information go to the Citing Sources section of this guide.

Source material

The problem of obedience is not wholly psychological. The form and shape of society and the way it is developing have much to do with it. There was a time, perhaps, when people were able to give a fully human response to any situation because they were fully absorbed in it as human beings. But as soon as there was a division of labor things changed.

--Stanley Milgram, "The Perils of Obedience," p.737.

Milgram, S. (1974). The perils of obedience. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.), The Blair reader (pp.725-737). Prentice Hall.

Milgram (1974) claims that people's willingness to obey authority figures cannot be explained by psychological factors alone. In an earlier era, people may have had the ability to invest in social situations to a greater extent. However, as society has become increasingly structured by a division of labor, people have become more alienated from situations over which they do not have control (p.737).

When and how much to quote

The basic rule in all disciplines is that you should only quote directly from a text when it's important for your reader to see the actual language used by the author of the source. While paraphrase and summary are effective ways to introduce your reader to someone's ideas, quoting directly from a text allows you to introduce your reader to the way those ideas are expressed by showing such details as language, syntax, and cadence.

So, for example, it may be important for a reader to see a passage of text quoted directly from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried if you plan to analyze the language of that passage in order to support your thesis about the book. On the other hand, if you're writing a paper in which you're making a claim about the reading habits of American elementary school students or reviewing the current research on Wilson's disease, the information you’re providing from sources will often be more important than the exact words. In those cases, you should paraphrase rather than quoting directly. Whether you quote from your source or paraphrase it, be sure to provide a citation for your source, using the correct format. (see Citing Sources section)

You should use quotations in the following situations:

• When you plan to discuss the actual language of a text.
• When you are discussing an author's position or theory, and you plan to discuss the wording of a core assertion or kernel of the argument in your paper.
• When you risk losing the essence of the author's ideas in the translation from their words to your own.
• When you want to appeal to the authority of the author and using their words will emphasize that authority.

Once you have decided to quote part of a text, you'll need to decide whether you are going to quote a long passage (a block quotation) or a short passage (a sentence or two within the text of your essay). Unless you are planning to do something substantive with a long quotation—to analyze the language in detail or otherwise break it down—you should not use block quotations in your essay. While long quotations will stretch your page limit, they don't add anything to your argument unless you also spend time discussing them in a way that illuminates a point you're making. Unless you are giving your readers something they need to appreciate your argument, you should use quotations sparingly.

When you quote from a source, you should make sure to cite the source either with an in-text citation or a note, depending on which citation style you are using.  The passage below, drawn from O’Brien’s  The Things They Carried , uses an MLA-style citation.

On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha's letters. Then he burned the two photographs. There was a steady rain falling, which made it difficult, but he used heat tabs and Sterno to build a small fire, screening it with his body holding the photographs over the tight blue flame with the tip of his fingers.

He realized it was only a gesture. Stupid, he thought. Sentimental, too, but mostly just stupid. (23)

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried . New York: Broadway Books, 1990.

Even as Jimmy Cross burns Martha's letters, he realizes that "it was only a gesture. Stupid, he thought. Sentimental too, but mostly just stupid" (23).

If you were writing a paper about O'Brien's The Things They Carried in which you analyzed Cross's decision to burn Martha's letters and stop thinking about her, you might want your reader to see the language O'Brien uses to illustrate Cross's inner conflict. If you were planning to analyze the passage in which O'Brien calls Cross's realization stupid, sentimental, and then stupid again, you would want your reader to see the original language.

Date: My name: Section ID: E-mail address: Format: Me: My Instructor: My TA: Other: To learn more about the book this website supports, please visit its . Copyright Any use is subject to the and | You must be a registered user to view the in this website. If you already have a username and password, enter it below. If your textbook came with a card and this is your first visit to this site, you can to register. Username: Password: '); document.write(''); } // --> ( ) .'); } else{ document.write('This form changes settings for this website only.'); } //--> Send mail as: '); } else { document.write(' '); } } else { document.write(' '); } // --> '); } else { document.write(' '); } } else { document.write(' '); } document.write(' TA email: '); } else { document.write(' '); } } else { document.write(' '); } // --> Other email: '); } else { document.write(' '); } } else { document.write(' '); } // --> "Floating" navigation? '); } else if (floatNav == 2) { document.write(' '); } else { document.write(' '); } // --> Drawer speed: '; theseOptions += (glideSpeed == 1) ? ' ' : ' ' ; theseOptions += (glideSpeed == 2) ? ' ' : ' ' ; theseOptions += (glideSpeed == 3) ? ' ' : ' ' ; theseOptions += (glideSpeed == 4) ? ' ' : ' ' ; theseOptions += (glideSpeed == 5) ? ' ' : ' ' ; theseOptions += (glideSpeed == 6) ? ' ' : ' ' ; document.write(theseOptions); // --> 1. (optional) Enter a note here: 2. (optional) Select some text on the page (or do this before you open the "Notes" drawer). 3. Highlighter Color: 4. Search for: Search in: Course-wide Content Instructor Resources Course-wide Content Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Welcome to the Purdue OWL This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. This handout is intended to help you become more comfortable with the uses of and distinctions among quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. This handout compares and contrasts the three terms, gives some pointers, and includes a short excerpt that you can use to practice these skills. What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing? These three ways of incorporating other writers' work into your own writing differ according to the closeness of your writing to the source writing. Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author. Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly. Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material. Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries? Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve many purposes. You might use them to: Provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing Refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing Give examples of several points of view on a subject Call attention to a position that you wish to agree or disagree with Highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage by quoting the original Distance yourself from the original by quoting it in order to cue readers that the words are not your own Expand the breadth or depth of your writing Writers frequently intertwine summaries, paraphrases, and quotations. As part of a summary of an article, a chapter, or a book, a writer might include paraphrases of various key points blended with quotations of striking or suggestive phrases as in the following example: In his famous and influential work The Interpretation of Dreams , Sigmund Freud argues that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious" (page #), expressing in coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a process known as the "dream-work" (page #). According to Freud, actual but unacceptable desires are censored internally and subjected to coding through layers of condensation and displacement before emerging in a kind of rebus puzzle in the dream itself (page #). How to use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries Practice summarizing the essay found here , using paraphrases and quotations as you go. It might be helpful to follow these steps: Read the entire text, noting the key points and main ideas. Summarize in your own words what the single main idea of the essay is. Paraphrase important supporting points that come up in the essay. Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly. There are several ways to integrate quotations into your text. Often, a short quotation works well when integrated into a sentence. Longer quotations can stand alone. Remember that quoting should be done only sparingly; be sure that you have a good reason to include a direct quotation when you decide to do so. You'll find guidelines for citing sources and punctuating citations at our documentation guide pages. 138 IMAGES english paraphrasing exercises pdf SOLUTION: Paraphrasing & Summarizing Exercises Presentation Teaching With a Mountain View: Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Texts Summary or Paraphrase? SOLUTION: Paraphrasing & Summarizing Exercises Presentation Summary And Paraphrase Worksheets VIDEO Introduction paraphrasing by TeacherMardon #ieltswriting #introduction #paraphrasing || 4th Semester English || Paraphrasing and summarising|| SKILL OF PARAPHRASING Paraphrasing Process #2 Elements of Academic Writing: Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarising, Critical Analysis Paraphrasing and Rephrasing COMMENTS Exercise : Basic-level Paraphrase and Summary Writing Practice paraphrasing and summarizing sentences and texts from various sources. The web page provides basic-level exercises with answers and links to more advanced exercises. Paraphrase and Summary Exercises Learn how to paraphrase and summarize sentences and texts with examples and exercises. Find out the differences between paraphrasing and summarizing, and how to avoid plagiarism and improve your writing skills. Paraphrasing and Summarizing Exercises with Answers Learn how to paraphrase and summarize texts with these exercises and explanations. Paraphrasing is rewording a text with the same meaning and context, while summarizing is shortening a text to its main idea. Summarizing Worksheets & Activities Find resources to teach and practice summarizing skills for seventh and eighth grade students. Download worksheets, slideshows, and tests with nonfiction passages and examples. Exercise : Intermediate-level Paraphrase Exercises Practice paraphrasing and summarizing passages from various sources with these online exercises. Choose from four passages on topics such as education, history, and politics. Best 5 Paraphrasing Exercises Learn how to paraphrase effectively by doing exercises that help you improve your vocabulary, word maps, and sentence structure. Find out the benefits of paraphrasing and the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing. PDF Paraphrasing Paraphrasing Created by: Heran Zhang 3 Paraphrasing Exercise (The answers are on the next page.) Directions: Write a paraphrase of each of the following sentences or passages. 1. The student requested that the professor excuses her absence, but the professor refused. 2. International Center is hosting English Conversation classes. How to Paraphrase Learn how to paraphrase correctly and avoid plagiarism by changing the wording of a source while preserving the meaning. See examples of paraphrasing different types of sources and compare it with quoting and summarizing. PDF 1 SUMMARIZING & PARAPHRASING: AVOIDING PLAGIARISM Paraphrasing and Summarizing: Express ideas in a quicker, more straightforward way. Avoid unnecessary details. Condense large ideas into compact, easily understood chunks that can add to your writing. Quotations: Restate someone else's ideas in a respectable, cited manner. Clarify that a passage or phrase is not your own. Paraphrasing, Quoting, and Summarising Learn how to rewrite sentences, paragraphs, and texts in your own words with paraphrasing, quoting, and summarising. Find out the difference between these techniques and see examples and exercises. Basic-level Paraphrase and Summary Writing Practice paraphrasing and summarizing sentences and paragraphs with these basic-level exercises. See the answers and explanations for each question. Summary, Paraphrase, and Outlines in WR 111 One of the important tasks of WR 111 is to teach students to craft strong, clear basic summaries of texts. Paraphrasing and outlining are of course related, though distinct, skills. The resources on this page may help instructors scaffold this assignment for students. For the first summary assignment in the course, spend additional time on the ... PDF Principles of Paraphrasing Quoting, Summarizing, & Paraphrasing • There are three ways to represent the work or ideas of another author in your writing: - You canYou can quote the authorthe author - You can summarize the author's point or findings - You can paraphrase the author's text • When you quote a text you need to follow different rules from when you ... PDF Paraphrasing and Summarising Paraphrasing and Summarising Writing information in your own words is a highly acceptable way to include the ideas of other people in your writing. There are two ways you can do this: paraphrasing and summarising. It is very important, however, to paraphrase and summarise correctly because there is a fine balance between acceptable and unacceptable Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Exercise Writing Exercise Steps. 1. Create a "source" article. 2. "Publish" the article and write a bibliographical citation. 3. Use each other's source articles to write a summary, a paraphrase, and a quotation. 4. Use this summary, paraphrase, and quotation to write a short essay and "Works Cited" page. Paraphrasing Exercise Practice paraphrasing skills with five passages from various sources. Compare your paraphrases with the original texts and learn from the examples. What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing? The main difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is that paraphrasing involves rewording part of an outside source, but summarizing involves describing what an entire source is mainly about. A paraphrase rephrases a specific fact, statistic, or idea from an outside source that you're using as evidence in academic writing. Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Learn when and how to paraphrase or quote from a source in your paper, and how to cite the source correctly. Paraphrasing means restating the source's ideas in your own words, and quoting means using the source's exact words. Summarizing Exercises Summarizing Exercises - Advanced. Paraphrasing and Summarizing: Rephrase the main idea of each sample in your own words, without repeating words or sentence structure from the original statement. Asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, allergies and many other human health problems have been linked to poor air quality. Paraphrasing Learn how to paraphrase a text without quoting it directly, using your own words and citing the source. Follow the six steps to effective paraphrasing and see examples of paraphrase, summary, and plagiarism. Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Learn how to use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries to incorporate other writers' work into your own writing. Find definitions, purposes, examples, and tips for each method, as well as a practice exercise. Answer : Intermediate-level Paraphrase Exercises OWL Exercises. Multilingual Exercises. Paraphrase and Summary Exercises. Answer : Intermediate-level Paraphrase Exercises. Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Learn how to use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries to incorporate other writers' work into your own writing. Find out the differences, purposes, and tips for each method, and practice with an example text. essay homework paper phd project resume review speech thesis