both paraphrasing and summarizing require what

Paraphrasing vs Summarizing: A Comparative Analysis

Are you feeling overwhelmed with the complexities of academic writing, particularly when it comes to paraphrasing and summarizing? You're not alone. Many students and researchers struggle with these essential skills which are crucial for weaving in authoritative voices and perspectives into your papers without falling into the plagiarism trap.

Unfortunately, the line between paraphrasing and summarizing can often seem blurred, leading to confusion and potential academic missteps. But don't worry, the solution lies in gaining a clear understanding of both techniques, enabling you to confidently engage with source material. By mastering these skills, you will enhance your academic writing, ensuring that it is rich in content, plagiarism-free, captivating and reflective of a well-rounded understanding of the subject matter.

This article provides a comparative analysis of paraphrasing vs summarizing, exploring key differences and when to use each technique. By delving into the nuances of paraphrase vs summary, readers will gain insight into the common challenges of summarizing and paraphrasing and discover solutions to integrate these skills seamlessly into their writing.

What is Summarizing?

Summarizing is the skill of distilling the most significant elements of a text or content into a concise and clear form. This process involves identifying and extracting the main ideas or facts, and presenting them in a shortened version without losing the essence of the original content. Here's a breakdown of what summarizing entails:

• The essence of Summarizing : It's about conveying the core information or arguments from a larger piece of work in a brief format. This includes understanding and articulating the main points in your own words.
• Highlighting key points in the text.
• Creating mind maps to visualize main ideas.
• Developing flashcards for quick reference.
• Useful in academic writing, research, and communication for providing a succinct overview without extensive detail.
• An in-text citation is necessary to credit the original source, although page numbers are not required.
• Tips for effective summarizing include reading the text multiple times, focusing on main concepts, and ensuring the summary is accurate, brief, and clear.

Summarizing serves as a fundamental tool in various contexts, especially when the goal is to give readers a quick understanding of a complex subject without delving into exhaustive details.

Read our complete guide on Summarizing to know more in depth about it.

What is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing, a critical skill in academic writing and communication, involves rewording text while preserving its original meaning and message. This technique is not merely about changing a few words here and there; it's about understanding the source material deeply, then expressing it in your own unique voice. 

Here are some key insights into mastering the art of paraphrasing:

• Purpose : To rewrite text in your own words while maintaining the original intent. Useful for citing details from another source, clarifying complex passages, and enhancing content quality.
• Benefit : Enhances comprehension of the material, facilitates explanation to others, fosters creativity, develops writing style, and helps avoid plagiarism.
• Read the original material thoroughly to grasp its full meaning.
• Write the paraphrased content in your own words, incorporating your interpretation and thoughts.
• Utilize synonyms and alter sentence structures but keep the core message intact.
• Employ plagiarism detection tools to ensure originality.
• Always attribute the paraphrase to the original source to avoid plagiarism.
• Too similar wording or sentence structure to the original, altering the meaning, producing nonsensical text, and failing to cite sources.

Paraphrasing is more than a mechanical task; it's an opportunity to engage deeply with the text, presenting it through the lens of your understanding and style.

Key Differences 

These distinctions highlight the importance of selecting the appropriate technique based on the writing's purpose and the desired depth of engagement with the source material.

Here's a breakdown of their key differences:

• Content Length and Detail :

Summarizing is typically shorter, condensing the original text to its key concepts. Paraphrasing can be similar in length, slightly shorter, or longer, providing original content that conveys the main ideas.

• Purpose and Requirement :

Summarizing aims to convey the main idea efficiently, ideal for giving a quick overview.

Paraphrasing focuses on demonstrating a deeper comprehension of the subject by conveying the meaning of the original message in one's own words.

Both require using your own words to rephrase the original content.

• Choosing Between Summarizing and Paraphrasing : 

Depends on the required detail level from the source. Summarizing is best when only the main ideas are needed, whereas paraphrasing is suitable for detailed exploration or explanation of the source material.

We will talk about this more in detail below

When to Summarize vs. When to Paraphrase

Deciding when to utilize paraphrasing versus summarizing is crucial for effective communication and writing. These techniques serve different purposes and are selected based on the specific needs of the writer and the audience. Below are guidelines to help determine the most appropriate method to use:

• When the Idea Matters, Not the Wording : Opt for paraphrasing when the concept or idea from the source is crucial to your argument or content, but the original wording is not essential. The goal is to convey the same idea in your own words, providing clarity or a different perspective.
• Application : This technique is particularly useful in academic writing, research papers, or detailed analysis where understanding and personal interpretation of the source material are required.
• When Only the Main Points Are Needed : Summarizing is the best choice when the details in the source are not all relevant to your argument, and the audience needs only a concise overview of the original content. It distills the source down to its most crucial points.
• Application : Ideal for providing a quick synopsis, background information, or an overview of a large work in presentations, reports, or when introducing a topic to readers unfamiliar with the subject.

Common Challenges and Solutions

Navigating the intricacies of paraphrasing and summarizing can be fraught with challenges. Here's a breakdown of common hurdles and practical solutions:

• Challenge : Grasping the main idea and supporting points.
• Solution : Engage in multiple readings and discussions to deepen comprehension. Utilize mind mapping to visually organize thoughts.
• Challenge : Striking a balance between original expression and fidelity to the source.
• Solution : Practice rephrasing with a focus on using synonyms and altering sentence structures without distorting the original meaning.
• Challenge : Ensuring the rephrased or summarized content is accurate and coherent.
• Solution : After writing, compare your version with the original to check for completeness and correctness. Peer review can offer additional insights.
• Challenge : Fear of unintentionally plagiarizing.
• Solution : Use plagiarism detection tools judiciously and always attribute the source correctly. When in doubt, quote directly but sparingly.
• Challenge : Language proficiency, such as limited vocabulary and grammatical issues.
• Solution : Leverage dictionaries, thesauruses, and online resources to enhance language skills. Engage in regular writing practice and seek feedback from knowledgeable peers or mentors.

By addressing these challenges with targeted strategies, individuals can enhance their ability to paraphrase and summarize effectively, thereby enriching their writing and academic work.

Understanding when and how to use each method can transform the way ideas are conveyed, ensuring clarity, originality, and depth in writing. The nuanced exploration of both processes, including the challenges and solutions associated with them, underscores their value in fostering a deeper comprehension of the material and enhancing the writer's ability to present ideas effectively.

For those looking to refine their summarization skills further, exploring tools designed to assist in this area can be invaluable. Try TLDRThis for summarizing ; it simplifies converting lengthy texts into concise summaries. Ultimately, embracing these techniques not only bolsters academic and professional writing but also enriches the writer's engagement with the material, paving the way for more nuanced and compelling discourse.

What distinguishes paraphrasing from summarizing?

Paraphrasing involves rewording someone else's ideas in your own language while maintaining the original level of detail. Summarizing, in contrast, condenses the most crucial points of someone else's work into a more concise format.

How does paraphrasing differ from analyzing?

While paraphrasing entails rewording a source's content or presenting certain data, analysis goes further by examining the facts and formulating personal conclusions about the topic.

Does paraphrasing include more detail than summarizing?

Yes, paraphrasing includes more detail. Although both paraphrasing and summarizing require using your own words and writing style, a paraphrase includes important details, whereas a summary distills the text down to its most essential ideas.

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Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing (Differences, Examples, How To)

It can be confusing to know when to paraphrase and when to summarize. Many people use the terms interchangeably even though the two have different meanings and uses.

Today, let’s understand the basic differences between paraphrasing vs. summarizing and when to use which . We’ll also look at types and examples of paraphrasing and summarizing, as well as how to do both effectively.

Let’s look at paraphrasing first.

What is paraphrasing?

It refers to rewriting someone else’s ideas in your own words. 

It’s important to rewrite the whole idea in your words rather than just replacing a few words with their synonyms. That way, you present an idea in a way that your audience will understand easily and also avoid plagiarism. 

It’s also important to cite your sources when paraphrasing so that the original author of the work gets due credit.

When should you paraphrase?

The main purpose of paraphrasing is often to clarify an existing passage. You should use paraphrasing when you want to show that you understand the concept, like while writing an essay about a specific topic. 

You may also use it when you’re quoting someone but can’t remember their exact words. 

Finally, paraphrasing is a very effective way to rewrite outdated content in a way that’s relevant to your current audience.

How to paraphrase effectively

Follow these steps to paraphrase any piece of text effectively:

• Read the full text and ensure that you understand it completely. It helps to look up words you don’t fully understand in an online or offline dictionary.
• Once you understand the text, rewrite it in your own words. Remember to rewrite it instead of just substituting words with their synonyms.
• Edit the text to ensure it’s easy to understand for your audience.
• Mix in your own insights while rewriting the text to make it more relevant.
• Run the text through a plagiarism checker to ensure that it does not have any of the original content.

Example of paraphrasing

Here’s an example of paraphrasing:

• Original:  The national park is full of trees, water bodies, and various species of flora and fauna.
• Paraphrased:  Many animal species thrive in the verdant national park that is served by lakes and rivers flowing through it.

What is summarizing?

Summarizing is also based on someone else’s text but rather than presenting their ideas in your words, you only sum up their main ideas in a smaller piece of text.

It’s important to not use their exact words or phrases when summarizing to avoid plagiarism. It’s best to make your own notes while reading through the text and writing a summary based on your notes.

You must only summarize the most important ideas from a piece of text as summaries are essentially very short compared to the original work. And just like paraphrasing, you should cite the original text as a reference.

When should you summarize?

The main purpose of summarizing is to reduce a passage or other text to fewer words while ensuring that everything important is covered.

Summaries are useful when you want to cut to the chase and lay down the most important points from a piece of text or convey the entire message in fewer words. You should summarize when you have to write a short essay about a larger piece of text, such as writing a book review.

You can also summarize when you want to provide background information about something without taking up too much space.

How to summarize effectively

Follow these steps to summarize any prose effectively:

• Read the text to fully understand it. It helps to read it a few times instead of just going through it once.
• Pay attention to the larger theme of the text rather than trying to rewrite it sentence for sentence.
• Understand how all the main ideas are linked and piece them together to form an overview.
• Remove all the information that’s not crucial to the main ideas or theme. Remember, summaries must only include the most essential points and information.
• Edit your overview to ensure that the information is organized logically and follows the correct chronology where applicable.
• Review and edit the summary again to make it clearer, ensure that it’s accurate, and make it even more concise where you can.
• Ensure that you cite the original text.

Example of summarization

You can summarize any text into a shorter version. For example, this entire article can be summarized in just a few sentences as follows:

• Summary:  The article discusses paraphrasing vs. summarizing by explaining the two concepts. It specifies when you should use paraphrasing and when you should summarize a piece of text and describes the process of each. It ends with examples of both paraphrasing and summarizing to provide a better understanding to the reader.

Paraphrasing vs. summarizing has been a long-standing point of confusion for writers of all levels, whether you’re writing a college essay or reviewing a research paper or book. The above tips and examples can help you identify when to use paraphrasing or summarizing and how to go about them effectively.

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Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing: Knowing the Difference

Writers who write informative or academic papers will need to understand the difference between paraphrasing vs. summarizing. Learn more in this article.

Paraphrasing and summarizing are similar writing techniques where an author takes an original passage and puts it into their own words without using the author’s exact words. Yet the goal of these two techniques is different. With one, you rephrase the content in your own words, but you pull out the main ideas and shorten the work with the other.

With both paraphrasing and summarizing, you can use someone else’s ideas in your writing to give it meaning and back up the claims you make. However, you do need to know how to use the tools to properly portray the ideas you wish to convey without falling guilty of plagiarism.

As you work on creating research papers and projects, you’re going to want to know the difference between paraphrasing vs. summarizing. This guide will help you understand how these are different, so you can use the right tool when you need it.

Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing: The Key Is in the Goal

The dangers of plagiarism, when to paraphrase, when to summarize, similarities between paraphrasing and summarizing, paraphrasing and summarizing often go hand in hand, creating a works cited or bibliography page, paraphrasing vs. summarizing: both make your writing stronger, paraphrasing vs. summarizing: key points.

What is the primary difference between summarizing and paraphrasing in your writing? The key is in the goal of your writing.

Both paraphrasing and summarizing are ways to avoid plagiarism in your writing by ensuring you are not using the original author’s exact words, but they are done for different reasons. With paraphrasing, you are rewording the original author’s work, but by summarizing, you boil down the main points into a more concise version of the original post.

In academic writing, plagiarism is a serious offense . To avoid this offense, you must include a proper citation whenever you have a quote, paraphrase, and summary statement. If the original work is not your idea or something considered common knowledge, it requires a citation.

If you are found guilty of plagiarism, you will have serious repercussions. This often means failing the assignment or even the class in academic settings. You may face expulsion, too.

If you are preparing something for publication, you risk having your work completely discredited. Your reputation as a writer is ruined. While few people go to jail for plagiarism, you could face lawsuits or fines for breaking the law.

You might also be wondering do you need quotation marks when paraphrasing?

The Definition of Paraphrasing

When you paraphrase something, you take the original material and rewrite it, changing the sentence structure or verb tense to say the same thing differently. The new sentence or paragraph will have enough differences that you cannot point out that it came from the source material.

This process is different from a direct quote. With a direct quote, you use the same wording, word for word, and put it in quotation marks. With a paraphrase, you have no wording that is the same, but instead, you use synonyms and new sentence structure to make it your own. However, the meaning of the original text stays consistent.

Paraphrased works in academic writing still require a citation using the APA or MLA format , depending on the assignment. The original idea still comes from the original author, and you can’t take that and claim it as your own without proper citation.

The best time to paraphrase is when you want to show that you can read someone else’s ideas but then put them in your own words. It shows that you understand the concepts and ideas you are writing about. You still want to credit the original author, but you don’t want to make a paper or article from quotes.

Paraphrasing shows that you understand the concepts of your sources. If you can paraphrase well, you have a clear grasp of the topic.

These paraphrasing exercises might be helpful.

The Definition of Summarizing

Summarizing is done when the original writer’s work is lengthy, and you need the main points, but not a direct quotation or full sentences that copy the meaning. For example, if you are using an entire chapter of a book as a resource for one point in a paragraph, you aren’t going to be able to include all of the ideas from the book. Instead, you will simplify those ideas into something shorter, keeping the main points intact and concisely expressing them.

Summaries, like paraphrases, do not require quotation marks. You won’t use quotation marks even if the main headings or points are repeated in your work. However, you will cite the original author and the original article or book using proper formatting.

A summary works well when you have a large chunk of text you want to pull the main ideas from in your piece. It allows you to get to the main idea of the author’s piece, only pulling out what is necessary for you to make your point. It provides background information to the reader, as well.

Summaries also work well if you need just the main points of the writer’s work instead of all of the added material. This strategy works particularly well when you need to argue a point and want to use an entire work to do so but do not have enough space to quote the source material. You might also be interested in our analogy vs. metaphor guide.

Though they are different, paraphrases and summaries have some similarities. Both allow writers to use other writers’ ideas in their pieces. They both make concepts easier to understand or help them flow in the writer’s own words and writing style. Both keep the passage’s main ideas in place even while changing the wording or shortening the piece.

In academic writing, you will often paraphrase and summarize source materials in the same work. Sometimes, the author’s ideas are already concise, so all you need to do is restate them in your writing. This is paraphrasing.

Sometimes, the author’s ideas are too lengthy for you to include in your work as they are. In these cases, simplification is necessary to flow with your work. Thus, you will summarize.

Paraphrases and summaries are also preferred over direct quotes. They allow you to show your writing skills and ability to pull ideas from someone else’s works without relying entirely on the other writer’s work.

After you finish your writing, you will need to include a list of all of the works you used to create it. This bibliography or works cited page will have formatting based on the publication manual used in the assignment. It will include all of the books, articles, and journals you used to write the essay or paper, whether you quoted, summarized, or paraphrased.

Most writing will borrow from another person’s ideas and even words, as long as the author properly cites and credits the original author. Paraphrasing and summaries are tools writers use to use the ideas of others without copying them directly effectively.

Anyone can copy and paste work from other writers to put together an informative paper or paragraph. Quotes have their place, as they can give the writing a sense of authority and provide strong evidence that the claims you make are valid. However, it takes a skilled writer to summarize or paraphrase the works of other writers.

Both summaries and paraphrases make writing stronger and show that you clearly understand the materials you used in your research. Most academic papers are a mixture of paraphrases, summaries, and quotes. All three require citations, but you will find that paraphrasing and summarizing allow you to put your flair into the writing.

Paraphrasing and summarizing both offer a way to use someone else’s idea as your own in your writing. Paraphrasing transforms the writing into your own words but keeps the same basic length and idea in writing. Summarizing condenses the writing into its main points.

Both paraphrasing and summarizing require proper citation because the idea comes from another writing. You can use your research skills to write engaging essays and papers with these tools. 

If you are interested in learning more, check out our paraphrasing vs. plagiarism guide!

Nicole Harms has been writing professionally since 2006. She specializes in education content and real estate writing but enjoys a wide gamut of topics. Her goal is to connect with the reader in an engaging, but informative way. Her work has been featured on USA Today, and she ghostwrites for many high-profile companies. As a former teacher, she is passionate about both research and grammar, giving her clients the quality they demand in today's online marketing world.

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Writing > The Difference Between Summarizing & Paraphrasing

The Difference Between Summarizing & Paraphrasing

Summarizing and paraphrasing are helpful ways to include source material in your work without piling on direct quotes. Understand the differences between these approaches and when to use each.

Summarizing vs. Paraphrasing: The Biggest Differences

Though summarizing and paraphrasing are both tools for conveying information clearly and concisely, they help you achieve this in different ways. In general, the difference is rooted in the scale of the source material: To share an entire source at once, you summarize; to share a specific portion of a source (without quoting directly, of course), you paraphrase.

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What is Summarizing?

Summarizing is simplifying the content of a source to its main points in your own words. You literally sum up something, distill it down to its most essential parts. Summaries cover whole sources rather than a piece or pieces of a source and don’t include direct quotes or extraneous detail.

How to Summarize

• Understand the original thoroughly. You may start by scanning the original material, paying close attention to headers and any in-text summaries, but once you’re sure that this source is something you’re going to use in your research paper , review it more thoroughly to gain appropriate understanding and comprehension.
• Take notes of the main points. A bulleted list is appropriate here-note the main idea of each portion of the source material. Take note of key words or phrases around which you can build your summary list and deepen your understanding.
• Build your summary. Don’t just use the list you’ve already created—this was a first draft . Craft complete sentences and logical progression from item to item. Double check the source material to ensure you’ve not left out any relevant points and trim anything extraneous. You can use a bulleted or numbered list here or write your summary as a paragraph if that’s more appropriate for your use. Make sure to follow the rules of parallelism if you choose to stay in list form.

What is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is rephrasing something in your own words; the word comes from the Greek para -, meaning “beside” or “closely resembling”, 1 combined with “phrase,” which we know can mean a string of words or sentences. 2 Paraphrasing isn’t practical for entire sources—just for when you want to highlight a portion of a source.

How to Paraphrase

• Read actively . Take notes, highlight or underline passages, or both if you please-whatever makes it easiest for you to organize the sections of the source you want to include in your work.
• Rewrite and revise. For each area you’d like to paraphrase, take the time to rewrite it in your own words. Retain the meaning of the original text, but don’t copy it too closely; take advantage of a thesaurus to ensure you’re not relying too heavily on the source material.
• Check your work and revise again as needed . Did you retain the meaning of the source material? Did you simplify the language of the source material? Did you differentiate your version enough? If not, try again.

Summarizing and paraphrasing are often used in tandem; you’ll likely find it appropriate to summarize an entire source and then paraphrase specific portions to support your summary. Using either approach for including sources requires appropriate citing, though, so ensure that you follow the correct style guide for your project and cite correctly.

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Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Putting it in your own words, summarizing and paraphrasing, step one: skim the source, step two: take point-form notes, step three: close or put away the source, step four: turn your point-form notes into sentences.

• Step Five: Test What You Have Written to Ensure You Have Avoided Plagiarism

Step Six: Make Any Necessary Corrections

When writing a research paper, you, the writer, must incorporate into the paper the information and ideas you have learned in the course of your research that come from primary and secondary sources. Occasionally, it is appropriate to quote, but, usually, it is better to either paraphrase or summarize what you have learned. This task may seem simple; how often have we heard a teacher or instructor tell us to put what we have read “into our own words”? Yet, while easy to say, it is not so easy to do. 

It is important to be able to summarize and paraphrase correctly in order to effectively integrate your research into your essay without relying on direct quotation or committing plagiarism.

Summarizing – means rewriting something in your own words but shortening it by stating only the main idea and the supporting points you need for your purposes. A summary can be just one sentence or it can be much longer, depending on whether you are presenting a broad overview or a more thorough outline.

Paraphrasing – means rewriting something in your own words, giving the same level of detail as the source and at roughly the same length as the original. You may choose to paraphrase details or particular evidence and/or examples.

The choice between summarizing and paraphrasing depends on how much detail from the source you need for your paper. When you need the source’s main argument and/or supporting points, summarize. Or, you may summarize a section or part of a source, by identifying the section’s main point or idea. When you want all the details from a particular passage or section of a source, paraphrase. (Don’t try to paraphrase an entire source.)

Whether you decide to summarize or paraphrase a source, the process is similar. You just can’t cut and paste a chunk of text   into your essay draft and then change a few words here and there. You will remain too close to the source’s organization, sentence structure and phrasing. Instead follow these six steps.

Skim a source to determine what you need from it: its argument, a specific supporting point, and/or particular evidence. Identify exactly what information you want to go into your paper. This decision will help you decide how detailed your notes about this source should be.

For a paraphrase, the notes will be more detailed and extensive. For a summary, the notes will focus on the main points of a reading. Either way, taking notes is an acquired skill and takes practice.

The first stage in the note-taking process is illustrated below. The note-taker has decided to paraphrase the passage as it has lots of detailed information relevant to the paper being written. The note-taker then reads the passage, bolding the important information and ideas he or she wishes to capture for the paper, and then pauses to jot down notes.

In America today, millions of people leave their homes in a protracted and often futile search for healthy food for their families. Many walk out their front doors and see nothing but fast-food outlets and convenience stores selling high-fat, high-sugar processed foods; others see no food vendors of any kind . Without affordable fresh food options, especially fruit and vegetables, adults and children face fundamental challenges to making the healthy food choices that are essential for nutritious, balanced diets. And without grocery stores and other viable fruit and vegetable  merchants, neighborhoods lack a critical ingredient of vibrant, livable communities: quality food retailers that create jobs, stimulate foot traffic, and bolster local commerce .

(From: Bell.J. & Standish, M. (2009). Building healthy communities through equitable food access. Community Development Investment Review, 5 (3), 75-87.)

• For millions in the US: looking for healthy food to buy difficult. Why?
• Many neighbourhoods have no grocery stores: only fast-food and convenience stores

Convenience Stores:

• Sell high-fat, high-sugar candy, junk and processed food (anything healthy is more expensive?)

No grocery stores = fund. challenges to healthy eating

Neighbourhoods lack grocery stores, any kind of fruit and vegetable vendors that create jobs

• stimulate foot traffic (how? Usually surrounded by parking lots?)
• bolster local commerce

Overall effect:

• Hard to eat in healthy manner (lack of health? obesity?)
• Breakdown of vibrancy and livability of communities

The note-taker first identifies the main point of the passage. The notes are in point-form: the reason for not writing out full sentences is to break the connection with the original’s sentence structure. The note-taker also occasionally inserts questions for further analysis or follow-up.  Doing all of these things filters the information and ideas of the source through the note-taker’s own understanding.

If, instead of paraphrasing, you make the decision to summarize the passage, the notes would include only the major points of the passage.

This is a fairly self-explanatory step, but the point is that when you try to write about the information you have learned from this source, you do so without the source in front of you.

How to do this? Keep in mind that both paraphrasing and summarizing are about showing that you have internalized what you have read to the point where you can say it yourself. So, read over your notes two or three times, put those out of sight too, and, perhaps pretending you are explaining what you have just read to a fellow student or your instructor, write either your paraphrase/summary. Remember that, for a summary all you have to do is convey the main point and key supporting points of the passage, not the details.  

You need to make clear where the information and arguments come from, so it can be a good idea to start off with the author’s or authors’ name(s).  Writing “Bell and Standish argue that...” or “Bell and Standish’s main point is that...” is often a good way to get the words to start to flow. Remember you can rearrange the information, group it differently, or change the sequence slightly to suit your purposes; all of these actions will help you to write the paraphrase or summary in “your own words.”

Step Five: Test What You Have Written To Ensure You Have Avoided Plagiarism

If you followed the first four steps rigorously, you should pass this test. The way to test your writing is to go through your passage and the original passage and underline, highlight or put in bold the words that appear in both passages. There is no way to write a paraphrase or a summary that does not have some of the same words as the original, but doing this test will show you any places where you have lifted whole phrases or sentences and put them in your text.

Words appearing in both passages are in bold:

Bell and Standish (2009) make the point that, for millions of Americans, buying healthy, fresh food such as fruits and vegetables , takes a major effort because many neighbourhoods do not have grocery stores close by but only fast-food outlets and convenience stores . Convenience stores do not sell much healthy food but, instead, sell junk food , candy, and processed food hi gh in fat and sugar . Some neighbourhoods do not have food vendors of any kind .  Bell and Standish argue that these kinds of neighbourhoods are not just places in which it is difficult to buy and eat healthy food , they are also less vigorous and energetic, and less comfortable to live in because grocery stores and other healthy food vendors may encourage walking, create jobs , and support the local economy in other ways as well.

The test shows that while the two passages share many common words, there are very few exact copies of phrases in the paraphrase. Phrases such as “grocery store,” “healthy food,” “convenience store,” or “food vendors” are not unique turns of phrase that belong to one writer; they are common terms, so changing these words is not necessary. For example, “convenience store” is the best and most commonly used phrase for that particular kind of retail outlet; changing it would be artificial and less clear. (The same rule applies to technical and scientific terminology. These terms don’t belong to anyone, and there is no reason to try to find synonyms for them.)

Precisely how long can a phrase that is identical to one in the original source be before it becomes a problem? A phrase of three words is usually too long; it should be changed or included as a direct quotation. Based on this criteria, in the paraphrase, there are a couple of problematic phrases that should be changed:  “fast-food outlets and convenience stores,” and “food vendors of any kind.”

Words common to the original source and to the paraphrase are in bold:

Bell and Standish (2009) argue that for millions of Americans, healthy eating is a difficult task because many neighbourhoods do not have grocery stores close by, only fast-food restaurants or convenience stores . These neighbourhoods lack the jobs and economic support that grocery stores bring, thus making them less “vibrant” and “livable” (75).

The words in bold show that the summary passes the test. It’s usually a little easier to write a summary in your own words than to write a paraphrase in your own words because condensing and shortening will automatically ensure some change in organization, sentence structure and wording. In this case, the decision was made to quote the two final adjectives, “vibrant” and “livable”, as none of the synonyms were as descriptive in as few words.  

You may find a few exact phrases from your test; it is important to change them. In the paraphrase, “fast-food outlets and convenience stores” can be changed to “convenience stores or fast-food restaurants.” Similarly, “food vendors of any kind” can be changed to “any type of food vendor.”

Another technique to keep in mind is to occasionally quote a short phrase in the midst of your summary or paraphrase. For example, in the final sentence of the original passage, the authors used two adjectives, “vibrant” and “livable.” These appear in the paraphrase as “vigorous and energetic” and “comfortable for its residents to live in.” However, the authors are here using a distinctive turn of phrase to describe ideal communities as opposed to using common terms such as “convenience store” or “healthy food”. So, in this instance, another good choice would be to quote the authors:

...Bell and Standish argue that these kinds of neighbourhoods are not just places in which it is difficult to buy and eat healthy food, they are also less “vibrant” and less “livable” (75) because grocery stores and other healthy food vendors may encourage walking, create jobs, and support the local economy in other ways as well.

As you can see, learning how to paraphrase and to summarize your sources takes practice and patience. Following the six steps suggested here should ensure that you are successful in conveying information and ideas learned from your sources “in your own words”.

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Citation Basics / Quoting vs. Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing

Quoting vs. Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing

If you’ve ever written a research essay, you know the struggle is real. Should you use a direct quote? Should you put it in your own words? And how is summarizing different from paraphrasing—aren’t they kind of the same thing?

Knowing how you should include your source takes some finesse, and knowing when to quote directly, paraphrase, or summarize can make or break your argument. Let’s take a look at the nuances among these three ways  of using an outside source in an essay.

What is quoting?

The concept of quoting is pretty straightforward. If you use quotation marks, you must use precisely the same words as the original , even if the language is vulgar or the grammar is incorrect. In fact, when scholars quote writers with bad grammar, they may correct it by using typographical notes [like this] to show readers they have made a change.

“I never like[d] peas as a child.”

Conversely, if a passage with odd or incorrect language is quoted as is, the note [sic] may be used to show that no changes were made to the original language despite any errors.

“I never like [sic] peas as a child.”

The professional world looks very seriously on quotations. You cannot change a single comma or letter without documentation when you quote a source. Not only that, but the quote must be accompanied by an attribution, commonly called a citation. A misquote or failure to cite can be considered plagiarism.

When writing an academic paper, scholars must use in-text citations in parentheses followed by a complete entry on a references page. When you quote someone using MLA format , for example, it might look like this:

“The orphan is above all a character out of place, forced to make his or her own home in the world. The novel itself grew up as a genre representing the efforts of an ordinary individual to navigate his or her way through the trials of life. The orphan is therefore an essentially novelistic character, set loose from established conventions to face a world of endless possibilities (and dangers)” (Mullan).

This quote is from www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/orphans-in-fiction , which discusses the portrayal of orphans in Victorian English literature. The citation as it would look on the references page (called Works Cited in MLA) is available at the end of this guide.

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing means taking a quote and putting it in your own words.

You translate what another writer has said into terms both you and your reader can more easily understand. Unlike summarizing, which focuses on the big picture, paraphrasing is involved with single lines or passages. Paraphrasing means you should focus only on segments of a text.

Paraphrasing is a way for you to start processing the information from your source . When you take a quote and put it into your own words, you are already working to better understand, and better explain, the information.

The more you can change the quote without changing the original meaning , the better. How can you make significant changes to a text without changing the meaning?

Here are a few paraphrasing techniques:

• Use synonyms of words
• Change the order of words
• Change the order of clauses in the sentences
• Move sentences around in a section
• Active – passive
• Positive – negative
• Statement-question

Let’s look at an example. Here is a direct quote from the article on orphans in Victorian literature:

“It is no accident that the most famous character in recent fiction – Harry Potter – is an orphan. The child wizard’s adventures are premised on the death of his parents and the responsibilities that he must therefore assume. If we look to classic children’s fiction we find a host of orphans” (Mullan).

Here is a possible paraphrase:

It’s not a mistake that a well-known protagonist in current fiction is an orphan: Harry Potter. His quests are due to his parents dying and tasks that he is now obligated to complete. You will see that orphans are common protagonists if you look at other classic fiction (Mullan).

What differences do you spot? There are synonyms. A few words were moved around. A few clauses were moved around. But do you see that the basic structure is very similar?

This kind of paraphrase might be flagged by a plagiarism checker. Don’t paraphrase like that.

Here is a better example:

What is the most well-known fact about beloved character, Harry Potter? That he’s an orphan – “the boy who lived”. In fact, it is only because his parents died that he was thrust into his hero’s journey. Throughout classic children’s literature, you’ll find many orphans as protagonists (Mullan).

Do you see that this paraphrase has more differences? The basic information is there, but the structure is quite different.

When you paraphrase, you are making choices: of how to restructure information, of how to organize and prioritize it.  These choices reflect your voice in a way a direct quote cannot, since a direct quote is, by definition, someone else’s voice.

Which is better: Quoting or paraphrasing?

Although the purpose of both quoting and paraphrasing is to introduce the ideas of an external source, they are used for different reasons. It’s not that one is better than the other, but rather that quoting suits some purposes better, while paraphrasing is more suitable for others.

A direct quote is better when you feel the writer made the point perfectly and there is no reason to change a thing. If the writer has a strong voice and you want to preserve that, use a direct quote.

For example, no one should ever try to paraphrase John. F. Kenney’s famous line: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

However, think of direct quotes like a hot pepper: go ahead and sprinkle them around to add some spice to your paper, but… you might not want to overdo it.

Conversely, paraphrasing is useful when you want to bring in a longer section of a source into your piece, but you don’t have room for the full passage . A paraphrase doesn’t simplify the passage to an extreme level, like a summary would. Rather, it condenses the section of text into something more useful for your essay. It’s also appropriate to paraphrase when there are sentences within a passage that you want to leave out.

If you were to paraphrase the section of the article about Victorian orphans mentioned earlier, you might write something like this:

Considering the development of the novel, which portrayed everyday people making their way through life, using an orphan as a protagonist was effective. Orphans are characters that, by definition, need to find their way alone. The author can let the protagonist venture out into the world where the anything, good or bad, might happen (Mullan).

You’ll notice a couple of things here. One, there are no quotation marks, but there is still an in-text citation (the name in parentheses). A paraphrase lacks quotation marks because you aren’t directly quoting, but it still needs a citation because you are using a specific segment of the text. It is still someone else’s original idea and must be cited.

Secondly, if you look at the original quote, you’ll see that five lines of text are condensed into four and a half lines. Everything the author used has been changed.

A single paragraph of text has been explained in different words—which is the heart of paraphrasing.

What is summarizing?

Next, we come to summarizing. Summarizing is on a much larger scale than quoting or paraphrasing. While similar to paraphrasing in that you use your own words, a summary’s primary focus is on translating the main idea of an entire document or long section.

Summaries are useful because they allow you to mention entire chapters or articles—or longer works—in only a few sentences. However, summaries can be longer and more in-depth. They can actually include quotes and paraphrases. Keep in mind, though, that since a summary condenses information, look for the main points. Don’t include a lot of details in a summary.

In literary analysis essays, it is useful to include one body paragraph that summarizes the work you’re writing about. It might be helpful to quote or paraphrase specific lines that contribute to the main themes of such a work. Here is an example summarizing the article on orphans in Victorian literature:

In John Mullan’s article “Orphans in Fiction” on bl.uk.com, he reviews the use of orphans as protagonists in 19 th century Victorian literature. Mullan argues that orphans, without family attachments, are effective characters that can be “unleashed to discover the world.” This discovery process often leads orphans to expose dangerous aspects of society, while maintaining their innocence. As an example, Mullan examines how many female orphans wind up as governesses, demonstrating the usefulness of a main character that is obligated to find their own way.

This summary includes the main ideas of the article, one paraphrase, and one direct quote. A ten-paragraph article is summarized into one single paragraph.

As for giving source credit, since the author’s name and title of the source are stated at the beginning of the summary paragraph, you don’t need an in-text citation.

How do I know which one to use?

The fact is that writers use these three reference types (quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing) interchangeably. The key is to pay attention to your argument development. At some points, you will want concrete, firm evidence. Quotes are perfect for this.

At other times, you will want general support for an argument, but the text that includes such support is long-winded. A paraphrase is appropriate in this case.

Finally, sometimes you may need to mention an entire book or article because it is so full of evidence to support your points. In these cases, it is wise to take a few sentences or even a full paragraph to summarize the source.

No matter which type you use, you always need to cite your source on a References or Works Cited page at the end of the document. The MLA works cited entry for the text we’ve been using today looks like this:

Mullan, John. Orphans in Fiction” www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/orphans-in-fiction.  Accessed 20. Oct. 2020

————–

See our related lesson with video:  How to Quote and Paraphrase Evidence

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Paraphrase and Summary

Paraphrase and summary are different writing strategies that ask you to put another author’s argument in your own words. This can help you better understand what the writer of the source is saying, so that you can communicate that message to your own reader without relying only on direct quotes. Paraphrases are used for short passages and specific claims in an argument, while summaries are used for entire pieces and focus on capturing the big picture of an argument. Both should be cited using the appropriate format (MLA, APA, etc.).  See KU Writing Center guides on APA Formatting , Chicago Formatting , and MLA Formatting for more information. 

When you paraphrase, you are using your own words to explain one of the claims of your source's argument, following its line of reasoning and its sequence of ideas. The purpose of a paraphrase is to convey the meaning of the original message and, in doing so, to prove that you understand the passage well enough to restate it. The paraphrase should give the reader an accurate understanding of the author's position on the topic. Your job is to uncover and explain all the facts and arguments involved in your subject. A paraphrase tends to be about the same length or a little shorter than the thing being paraphrased.

To paraphrase:

• Alter the wording of the passage without changing its meaning. Key words, such as names and field terminology, may stay the same (i.e. you do not need to rename Milwaukee or osteoporosis), but all other words must be rephrased. 
• Retain the basic logic of the argument, sequence of ideas, and examples used in the passage. 
• Accurately convey the author's meaning and opinion. 
• Keep the length approximately the same as the original passage. 
• Do not forget to cite where the information came from. Even though it is in your own words, the idea belongs to someone else, and that source must be acknowledged. 

A summary covers the main points of the writer’s argument in your own words. Summaries are generally much shorter than the original source, since they do not contain any specific examples or pieces of evidence. The goal of a summary is to give the reader a clear idea of what the source is arguing, without going into any specifics about what they are using to argue their point.

To summarize:  

• Identify what reading or speech is being summarized. 
• State the author’s thesis and main claims of their argument in your own words. Just like paraphrasing, make sure everything but key terms is reworded. 
• Avoid specific details or examples. 
• Avoid your personal opinions about the topic. 
• Include the conclusion of the original material. 
• Cite summarized information as well. 

In both the paraphrase and summary, the author's meaning and opinion are retained. However, in the case of the summary, examples and illustrations are omitted. Summaries can be tremendously helpful because they can be used to encapsulate everything from a long narrative passage of an essay, to a chapter in a book, to an entire book.

When to Use Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing 

Updated June 2022  

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How to Paraphrase and Summarize Work

Summing up key ideas in your own words.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Imagine you're preparing a presentation for your CEO. You asked everyone in your team to contribute, and they all had plenty to say!

But now you have a dozen reports, all in different styles, and your CEO says that she can spare only 10 minutes to read the final version. What do you do?

The solution is to paraphrase and summarize the reports, so your boss gets only the key information that she needs, in a form that she can process quickly.

In this article, we explain how to paraphrase and how to summarize, and how to apply these techniques to text and the spoken word. We also explore the differences between the two skills, and point out the pitfalls to avoid.

What Is Paraphrasing?

When you paraphrase, you use your own words to express something that was written or said by another person.

Putting it into your own words can clarify the message, make it more relevant to your audience , or give it greater impact.

You might use paraphrased material to support your own argument or viewpoint. Or, if you're putting together a report , presentation or speech , you can use paraphrasing to maintain a consistent style, and to avoid lengthy quotations from the original text or conversation.

Paraphrased material should keep its original meaning and (approximate) length, but you can use it to pick out a single point from a longer discussion.

What Is Summarizing?

In contrast, a summary is a brief overview of an entire discussion or argument. You might summarize a whole research paper or conversation in a single paragraph, for example, or with a series of bullet points, using your own words and style.

People often summarize when the original material is long, or to emphasize key facts or points. Summaries leave out detail or examples that may distract the reader from the most important information, and they simplify complex arguments, grammar and vocabulary.

Used correctly, summarizing and paraphrasing can save time, increase understanding, and give authority and credibility to your work. Both tools are useful when the precise wording of the original communication is less important than its overall meaning.

How to Paraphrase Text

To paraphrase text, follow these four steps:

1. Read and Make Notes

Carefully read the text that you want to paraphrase. Highlight, underline or note down important terms and phrases that you need to remember.

2. Find Different Terms

Find equivalent words or phrases (synonyms) to use in place of the ones that you've picked out. A dictionary, thesaurus or online search can be useful here, but take care to preserve the meaning of the original text, particularly if you're dealing with technical or scientific terms.

3. Put the Text into Your Own Words

Rewrite the original text, line by line. Simplify the grammar and vocabulary, adjust the order of the words and sentences, and replace "passive" expressions with "active" ones (for example, you could change "The new supplier was contacted by Nusrat" to "Nusrat contacted the new supplier").

Remove complex clauses, and break longer sentences into shorter ones. All of this will make your new version easier to understand .

4. Check Your Work

Check your work by comparing it to the original. Your paraphrase should be clear and simple, and written in your own words. It may be shorter, but it should include all of the necessary detail.

Paraphrasing: an Example

Despite the undoubted fact that everyone's vision of what constitutes success is different, one should spend one's time establishing and finalizing one's personal vision of it. Otherwise, how can you possibly understand what your final destination might be, or whether or not your decisions are assisting you in moving in the direction of the goals which you've set yourself?

The two kinds of statement – mission and vision – can be invaluable to your approach, aiding you, as they do, in focusing on your primary goal, and quickly identifying possibilities that you might wish to exploit and explore.

We all have different ideas about success. What's important is that you spend time defining your version of success. That way, you'll understand what you should be working toward. You'll also know if your decisions are helping you to move toward your goals.

Used as part of your personal approach to goal-setting, mission and vision statements are useful for bringing sharp focus to your most important goal, and for helping you to quickly identify which opportunities you should pursue.

How to Paraphrase Speech

In a conversation – a meeting or coaching session, for example – paraphrasing is a good way to make sure that you have correctly understood what the other person has said.

This requires two additional skills: active listening and asking the right questions .

Useful questions include:

• If I hear you correctly, you're saying that…?
• So you mean that…? Is that right?
• Did I understand you when you said that…?

You can use questions like these to repeat the speaker's words back to them. For instance, if the person says, "We just don't have the funds available for these projects," you could reply: "If I understand you correctly, you're saying that our organization can't afford to pay for my team's projects?"

This may seem repetitive, but it gives the speaker the opportunity to highlight any misunderstandings, or to clarify their position.

When you're paraphrasing conversations in this way, take care not to introduce new ideas or information, and not to make judgments on what the other person has said, or to "spin" their words toward what you want to hear. Instead, simply restate their position as you understand it.

Sometimes, you may need to paraphrase a speech or a presentation. Perhaps you want to report back to your team, or write about it in a company blog, for example.

In these cases it's a good idea to make summary notes as you listen, and to work them up into a paraphrase later. (See How to Summarize Text or Speech, below.)

How to Summarize Text or Speech

Follow steps 1-5 below to summarize text. To summarize spoken material – a speech, a meeting, or a presentation, for example – start at step three.

1. Get a General Idea of the Original

First, speed read the text that you're summarizing to get a general impression of its content. Pay particular attention to the title, introduction, conclusion, and the headings and subheadings.

2. Check Your Understanding

Build your comprehension of the text by reading it again more carefully. Check that your initial interpretation of the content was correct.

3. Make Notes

Take notes on what you're reading or listening to. Use bullet points, and introduce each bullet with a key word or idea. Write down only one point or idea for each bullet.

If you're summarizing spoken material, you may not have much time on each point before the speaker moves on. If you can, obtain a meeting agenda, a copy of the presentation, or a transcript of the speech in advance, so you know what's coming.

Make sure your notes are concise, well-ordered, and include only the points that really matter.

The Cornell Note-Taking System is an effective way to organize your notes as you write them, so that you can easily identify key points and actions later. Our article, Writing Meeting Notes , also contains plenty of useful advice.

4. Write Your Summary

Bullet points or numbered lists are often an acceptable format for summaries – for example, on presentation slides, in the minutes of a meeting, or in Key Points sections like the one at the end of this article.

However, don't just use the bulleted notes that you took in step 3. They'll likely need editing or "polishing" if you want other people to understand them.

Some summaries, such as research paper abstracts, press releases, and marketing copy, require continuous prose. If this is the case, write your summary as a paragraph, turning each bullet point into a full sentence.

Aim to use only your own notes, and refer to original documents or recordings only if you really need to. This helps to ensure that you use your own words.

If you're summarizing speech, do so as soon as possible after the event, while it's still fresh in your mind.

5. Check Your Work

Your summary should be a brief but informative outline of the original. Check that you've expressed all of the most important points in your own words, and that you've left out any unnecessary detail.

Summarizing: an Example

So how do you go about identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and analyzing the opportunities and threats that flow from them? SWOT Analysis is a useful technique that helps you to do this.

What makes SWOT especially powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you to uncover opportunities that you would not otherwise have spotted. And by understanding your weaknesses, you can manage and eliminate threats that might otherwise hurt your ability to move forward in your role.

If you look at yourself using the SWOT framework, you can start to separate yourself from your peers, and further develop the specialized talents and abilities that you need in order to advance your career and to help you achieve your personal goals.

SWOT Analysis is a technique that helps you identify strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats. Understanding and managing these factors helps you to develop the abilities you need to achieve your goals and progress in your career.

Permission and Citations

If you intend to publish or circulate your document, it's important to seek permission from the copyright holder of the material that you've paraphrased or summarized. Failure to do so can leave you open to allegations of plagiarism, or even legal action.

It's good practice to cite your sources with a footnote, or with a reference in the text to a list of sources at the end of your document. There are several standard citation styles – choose one and apply it consistently, or follow your organization's house style guidelines.

As well as acknowledging the original author, citations tell you, the reader, that you're reading paraphrased or summarized material. This enables you to check the original source if you think that someone else's words may have been misused or misinterpreted.

Some writers might use others' ideas to prop up their own, but include only what suits them, for instance. Others may have misunderstood the original arguments, or "twisted" them by adding their own material.

If you're wary, or you find problems with the work, you may prefer to seek more reliable sources of information. (See our article, How to Spot Real and Fake News , for more on this.)

Paraphrasing means rephrasing text or speech in your own words, without changing its meaning. Summarizing means cutting it down to its bare essentials. You can use both techniques to clarify and simplify complex information or ideas.

To paraphrase text:

• Read and make notes.
• Find different terms.
• Put the text into your own words.
• Check your work.

You can also use paraphrasing in a meeting or conversation, by listening carefully to what's being said and repeating it back to the speaker to check that you have understood it correctly.

To summarize text or speech:

• Get a general idea of the original.
• Check your understanding.
• Make notes.
• Write your summary.

Seek permission for any copyrighted material that you use, and cite it appropriately.

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To help the flow of your writing, it is beneficial to not always quote but instead put the information in your own words. You can paraphrase or summarize the author’s words to better match your tone and desired length. Even if you write the ideas in your own words, it is important to cite them with in-text citations or footnotes (depending on your discipline’s citation style ). 

Definitions

• Paraphrasing allows you to use your own words to restate an author's ideas.
• Summarizing allows you to create a succinct, concise statement of an author’s main points without copying and pasting a lot of text from the original source.

What’s the difference: Paraphrasing v. Summarizing

Explore the rest of the page to see how the same material could be quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. Depending on the length, tone, and argument of your work, you might choose one over the other. 

• Bad Paraphrase
• Good Paraphrase
• Reread: Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
• Write on your own: Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
• Connect: Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material.
• Check: Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
• Quote: Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
• Cite: Record the source (including the page) on your note card or notes document so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.

Explore the tabs to see the difference between an acceptable and unacceptable paraphrase based on the original text in each example.

Original Text

“Business communication is increasingly taking place internationally – in all countries, among all peoples, and across all cultures. An awareness of other cultures – of their languages, customs, experiences and perceptions – as well as an awareness of the way in which other people conduct their business, are now essential ingredients of business communication” (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59). 

More and more business communication is taking place internationally—across all countries, peoples, and cultures.  Awareness of other cultures and the way in which people do business are essential parts of business communication (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59)

Compare the Original and Paraphrase

Too much of the original is quoted directly, with only a few words changed or omitted. The highlighted words are too similar to the original quote: 

More and more business communication is taking place internationally —across all countries, peoples, and cultures .  Awareness of other cultures and the way in which people do business are essential parts of business communication (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59)

Original Text 

“Business communication is increasingly taking place internationally – in all countries, among all peoples, and across all cultures. An awareness of other cultures – of their languages, customs, experiences and perceptions – as well as an awareness of the way in which other people conduct their business, are now essential ingredients of business communication” (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59).

The importance of understanding the traditions, language, perceptions, and the manner in which people of other cultures conduct their business should not be underestimated, and it is a crucial component of business communication (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p. 59).

The original’s ideas are summarized and expressed in the writer’s own words with minimal overlap with the original text's language:

The importance of understanding the traditions, language, perceptions, and the manner in which people of other cultures conduct their business should not be underestimated, and it is a crucial component of business communication (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p. 59).

• Bad Summary
• Good Summary
• Find the main idea: Ask yourself, “What is the main idea that the author is communicating?”
• Avoid copying: Set the original aside, and write one or two sentences with the main point of the original on a note card or in a notes document.
• Connect: Jot down a few words below your summary to remind you later how you envision using this material.

Business communication is worldwide, and it is essential to build awareness of other cultures and the way in which other people conduct their business. (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59). 

Compare the Original and Summary

Too much of the original is quoted directly, with only a few words changed or omitted. The highlighted words are too similar to the original text:

Business communication is worldwide, and it is essential to build awareness of other cultures and the way in which other people conduct their business . (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59). 

In a world that is increasingly connected, effective business communication requires us to learn about other cultures, languages, and business norms (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59). 

The original’s ideas are summarized and expressed in the writer’s own words with minimal overlap:

In a world that is increasingly connected, effective business communication requires us to learn about other cultures , languages , and business norms (Chase, O’Rourke & Wallace, 2003, p.59). 

No matter what the source or style, you need to cite it both in-text and at the end of the paper with a full citation! Write down or record all the needed pieces of information when researching to ensure you avoid plagiarism. 

Cheat Sheet

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A publication of the harvard college writing program.

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.

Paraphrasing VS Summarizing: Differences and Examples

• Smodin Editorial Team
• March 7, 2022

Composing a piece of text for an assignment or a blog can require you to perform thorough research, compose content, and ensure its uniqueness. That brings the need for paraphrasing the content and summarizing. However, the terms paraphrasing and summarizing are mistaken as synonyms. They are both related, but they are not the same. To clarify the concepts in this blog, we will focus on paraphrasing vs summarizing and their differences.

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing refers to writing a piece of content again without changing its actual meaning. It would require you to read the text and present that in your own words. A paraphrased text can take the major part of the original text and can be generally shorter.

The need to paraphrase

From blogs to assignments, paraphrasing can be the call for creating content in different situations. For a broader picture, here is the set of reasons why you need to paraphrase:

• To refine the specific text from a short passage.
• To save from the overuse of quotations.
• To explain the word without focusing on wordings.
• To report statistics and numerical data.
• To share the crucial part of a passage.
• To avoid plagiarism.

How to paraphrase without the occurrence of any plagiarism issue?

Plagiarism refers to presenting the work of some other author as one’s. With many benefits and usage of paraphrasing, using content without plagiarism is another. Either through adding synonyms or changing the speech, there are different ways to paraphrase without plagiarizing. To facilitate it for you, here are the steps you can proceed with:

• Understand the meaning

Before you begin to compose the content in your own words, it is necessary for you to understand it properly. For this, you can read the resource several times, and you can even look for multiple references. It can allow you to have several sources and a lot of information.

• Note down the major points

  Whether you consider single or multiple references, you should note down the important points. With this, you can take the information and still not copy the same notion of the writer. You can use the material and phrase it in your words.

• Write your content

  Once you understand the meaning and take the major points, you can compose fresh content. While doing so, you must make sure that you do not have to look at the original passage and prepare for what you have understood.

• Compare the content

After writing your content, the next step should be comparing it with the original passage. It can allow you to evaluate the authenticity of the facts and check if you have missed any crucial information.

• Cite the Source

  Even if you write the content in your own words, citation helps track the original idea. It also gives the credit to the original source.

What does paraphrased content look like?

To get a clearer idea of paraphrased content, you can take a look at these examples of paraphrasing:

Original Content

Digital marketing has been a growing field in the past decades. It includes using different platforms to promote businesses. Its purpose is to connect to its target audience present in digital mediums.

Paraphrased Content

Over the past decades, digital marketing has become a booming field. It consists of promoting a brand while availing of the different digital platforms. It paves the way for businesses to reach their potential customers on various platforms.

Both of these passages have the same meaning but are written differently. The choices of the words are not the same, and in the first sentence only, there is a change in the sentence structure. That is how you can paraphrase the content.

What Is Summarizing?

Summary refers to a short review, a restatement of the major points, which is a conclusion of the work in most cases. With this, summarizing refers to composing a summary of the content or other resources. It has to communicate the most crucial part for the writer. You have to prepare it in your own words, and it has to state the information you want to emphasize.

When to Summarize?

Several benefits come with the need to summarize. First of all, it allows you to understand the structure in which the content has been organized and then combine them into the major parts. With this, you can focus on putting lights in the most crucial part of the text. Here are the conditions that require summarizing:

• To reduce the source material and bring out the major and relatable points.
• To remove extra information from the crucial source material.
• To make the material simple and easy to understand.

How to Summarize?

Summarizing involves taking the ideas from a text, which can be some other author. You must also add the citation information for sharing the source of the concept. You can use Smodin Summarizer to summarize all the texts you want. Like we did for paraphrasing, here is the step-by-step explanation of summarizing:

Find and Read

The first step you need to do is select the text. It can be four to five lines and can support the idea. After that, you have to thoroughly read it to get a detailed idea and understanding of the topic. You must prepare notes, and add the keywords, terms, and keywords you can use to understand it better.

Filter the Content

Once done with this, you have to filter the content you will compose into the summary. For this, you have to select the text you want to keep and eliminate the unnecessary. After sorting the material you have to include, you can write the summary in your own words.

Revise and Edit

After completing your summary, you have to read it and correct any mistakes. You also have to verify the facts presented over there. To attain that, you can compare it with the text and make sure that there are no aspects left for you to make changes.

Before submitting your summary, you must check if it can identify the writer of the actual text. It has to consist and combine the ideas initially written and present unbiased information.

What does summarizing look like?

To get a clear picture of what summarization can look like, let us present an example of the summary.

Here are a few paragraphs on the importance of language:

Language plays a crucial role in communication among people. After becoming a master in it, you can become well-versed with its grammar, the system of words, and structure to facilitate the exchange of thoughts and emotions. It is also essential to express the ideas and customs in societies and cultures. When you choose to learn the concepts of a new language, you can connect with new thoughts and ideas. You can also make yourself familiar with customs and the manner in which people greet each other.

The role of learning a language also encompasses professional growth as a person with a command of the global language can find more career possibilities. Several sectors and industries need professionals well-versed in common languages.

(Anonymous)

This is an anonymous paragraph, but it is necessary to identify the writer. So, let us assume that Dr. A has written it for a paper presented at University Y in 2020. The title is The influence of language on an individual . In that case, here is how you will present the summary of the paragraph:

In the paper on The influence of language on an Individual at Y University, Z, Dr. A presented his thoughts on language. It allows people to exchange their thoughts and ideas. Learning a new language can allow people to connect to new thoughts and ideas and learn about new customs. It can also pave the way for your growth at a professional level. This is because industries often look for professionals who master a commonly-spoken language.

About the Summary

This summary has the source, time, and writer while expressing the essential points. It also states the perception presented by the author but in a different and neutral manner.

Final Thoughts

Paraphrasing and summarizing are somehow different from each other. This blog has focused on putting some light on paraphrasing vs summarizing . Where paraphrasing is about conveying the same messages without shortening the length, summarizing explains the crucial points more succinctly. However, the need is to create plagiarism-free content through both the methods you prefer to go ahead with. Talking of composing unique content, Smodin.io can provide you with the tools to prepare an assignment/blog for you. All you need to do is copy your content, use it, and wait for fresh and distinct content.

VCU Writes: A Student’s Guide to Research and Writing

Focused inquiry, apa quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing.

An essential skill in writing is the ability to ethically and accurately share the ideas of others. Quotations, paraphrases and summaries are all methods of including research in your writing or presentations. Here is a quick overview of the difference between quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing:

• What it is: Using the exact words of your source; must be placed within quotation marks.
• When to use it: Specific terminology, powerful phrases.
• Example: McMillan Cottom (2021) explains that “Reading around a subject is about going beyond the object of study to unpack, examine, or pick apart what the person or the object of study represents” (1).

PARAPHRASING

• What it is: Putting another’s ideas into your own words.
• When to use it: To clarify a passage, to avoid over-quoting.
• Example: McMillan Cottom (2021) contends that, in addition to reading about a subject itself, we also need to read about the ideas and concepts that are ingrained in a subject in order to truly understand its deeper meaning (1).

SUMMARIZING

• What it is: Putting a larger main idea into your words.
• When to use it: Overview of a topic, main point/idea.
• Example: In McMillan Cottom’s (2021) article, “Sleep Around Before You Marry an Argument,” she describes the process of preparing to write about a subject and develop an argument. For her, the first and most important stage in this process is reading; however, she isn’t focused on simply reading everything ever written on a topic, but “reading around a subject.” In her view, the end goal is not just to compile facts, but to develop a thorough, but interesting final product that will connect with your audience. (1)

McMillan Cottom, T. (2021, March 8). “Sleep around before you marry an argument.” Essaying , Substack. https://tressie.substack.com/p/sleep-around-before-you-marry-an?utm_source=url

Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (APA 7), which released in October 2019.

General Guidelines

While you are still gaining experience and confidence in writing, there is often a temptation to rely heavily on the words and ideas of others. You might think, “How can I possibly say it as well as the expert?” or “How will anyone believe me unless I add in exhaustive research?” However, having confidence in your own ideas is one of the hallmarks of a more experienced writer, and this means that when incorporating the ideas of others, we should not allow them to “take over” our own ideas.

In addition, sometimes it is better to paraphrase or summarize an idea to keep it brief, rather than having an excessively long quotation. (See below for more info on both paraphrasing and summarizing ideas.)

That said, there are a number of reasons why we might want to quote the ideas of others. Here are some of the most common:

• When wording is very distinctive so you cannot paraphrase it adequately;
• When you are using a definition or explaining something very technical;
• When it is important for debaters of an issue to explain their positions in their own words (especially if you have a differing viewpoint);
• When the words of an authority will lend weight to your argument;
• When the language of a source is the topic of your discussion (as in an interpretation).

In certain instances, you do not need to cite information. This is called the “common knowledge rule.” If a fact is widely and generally known (e.g., the sun rises in the east and sets in the west), you do not need to cite. Similarly, familiar sayings or oft-repeated quotations (e.g., “a penny saved is a penny earned”) do not need citations.

Common knowledge can in some cases be audience-specific; research scientists writing to their peers can assume a different level of common knowledge on their subject than when writing to a younger, less educated audience, for example. If you are ever in doubt as to whether you should cite a piece of information, ask your professor or a Writing Center consultant.

Trying to balance your ideas and those of your sources takes a bit of skill and finesse. The goal is to make the ideas (both yours and those of your sources) feel and look like a conversation—a mutual exchange of voices and ideas that helps you and your audience work out your reasoning on a topic. (You can read more about this idea of academic conversations here .) Sometimes, in the process of trying to incorporate the ideas of others, things fall a bit short of the ideal. Here are some common missteps that can lead to your writing seeming less polished:

• Over-using one source: If you find yourself repeatedly citing the same source again and again in your writing, it will begin to seem as if you are merely repackaging the other author’s ideas, rather than presenting your own. It also gives the appearance that your ideas are one-sided, due to the lack of a diversity of voices in the conversation.
• Having more source material than your own original ideas*: Try color-coding your writing. Highlight each instance where you are quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing a source. What’s left? Is your essay a rainbow of colors, with little else? Or are the majority of ideas/sentences yours, with a few well-chosen instances of source material? Aim for the latter; otherwise, it will seem like you are just “reporting out” on all the research you have gathered, rather than developing your own thinking on a subject.
• Does every aspect of this passage relate to my own paragraph ideas?
• Can I cut out a section of this quotation to emphasize the points that are most relevant? (If yes, see below on proper formatting when you eliminate a portion of the quoted material.)
• Would it be easier/better/more concise to paraphrase this idea? (If yes, see below on how to correctly and incorrectly paraphrase.)
• Dropping in a random quote or source reference: Ideas without context are always confusing, whether they are yours or someone else’s. Make sure you provide adequate context and make connections between your ideas and those of your sources.
• Signal phrase (a few words that introduce the author and year of publication for the source; this might also include credentials of the author and/or title of work);
• Quoted, paraphrased or summarized material, followed by a parenthetical citation;
• Your own thinking that expands upon the ideas from the source material, and connects it back to your larger point.

For more on how to effectively incorporate evidence into your writing or presentation, see the handout “What Is Evidence?” here on VCU Writes.

*NOTE : This goal is more applicable to some writing situations than others. In a lab report or literature review, for example, the majority of your discussion might include restating/sharing research. Always confirm with your instructor if you are not sure what the appropriate balance of source material should be for your specific writing situation.

When quoting material from a source, wording and punctuation should be reproduced exactly as it is in the original. If you need to alter the quotation in any way, you must indicate this through punctuation or added material. Otherwise, you will be misrepresenting the ideas of others.

When paraphrasing or summarizing source info, you should still use quotation marks and cite any distinctive wording that you kept from the original.

See below for examples of how to correctly alter quotations.

Direct Quotation of Sources

A . Quotations that are fewer than four lines should be included in the text and enclosed in quotation marks. If you introduce the quotation in a signal phrase with the author’s full name and year of publication (or source title, if the author’s name is not provided), include “p.” and the page number in parentheses after the end of the quotation and before the period. It is not necessary to repeat the name or publication in the parenthetical citation :

On the efficacy and importance of religion, David Hume (2005) asserts , “The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster” (p. 94) .

B . If you do not introduce the quotation with the author’s full name and publication date (or source title, if the author’s name is not provided), include the author’s last name, publication date, and page number (using “p.” before the number) in parentheses after the end of the quotation and before the period. Use commas to separate each piece of information in the parenthetical citation:

When considering the efficacy and importance of religion, one must understand that “the life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster” (Hume, 2005, p. 94) .

C . If the quotation appears mid-sentence , end the passage with quotation marks, cite the source in parentheses immediately after quotation marks, and finish the sentence:

Based on the findings, Sommerfeldt (2011) argued that “the normative role of public relations in democracy is best perceived as creating the social capital that facilitates access to spheres of public discussion” (p. 664) , challenging dominant notions of democratic discourse.

Quotations that are more than four lines should be displayed in block quotation format . This is an indented passage that does not require quotation marks (the indent serves in place of quotation marks):

In McLuhan’s compass for the voyage to a world of electric words, Terrence Gordon (2011) explains how Marshall McLuhan wrote The gutenberg galaxy :

In a letter written to his in-laws on Christmas Day 1960, Marshall McLuhan mentioned that he had drafted a book in less than a month. Of all his publications, The Gutenberg Galaxy (henceforth GG), so explosive on the page, had the tidiest beginnings. The manuscript flowed from McLuhan’s pen until he had written 399 pages. There he stopped, so that the total of the carefully numbered foolscap sheets would be divisible by three. (p. vii)

Gordon goes on to explain that the number three was a symbol of order for McLuhan throughout his life.

Note that the period at the end of the block quotation is placed at the end of the sentence, rather than after the parenthetical citation. After the quotation is completed, continue your paragraph on the left margin (i.e., don’t indent as if it were a new paragraph).

If the quotation includes an alternate spelling (i.e., British English) or an error in grammar, punctuation, or spelling, write the word “sic” in brackets directly after the alternate spelling or error inside the quotation :

“VCU is well known for it’s [sic] diversity” (Jones, 2017, p. 43). 

This lets the reader know that it is the original writer’s spelling or error.

A . Though direct quotations must be accurate, the first letter of the first word in the quotation may be changed either as uppercase or lowercase to match the flow of your sentence. Additionally, the punctuation mark ending a sentence may also be changed if necessary for appropriate syntax.

B . It is sometimes important to insert material when it will help the reader understand the quotation. When inserting material, enclose the insert in brackets:

Original quotation :

“By programming a variety of Twitter bots to respond to racist abuse against black users, he showed that a simple one-tweet rebuke can actually reduce online racism” (Yong, 2016, para 3).

Revised quotation with brackets :

“By programming a variety of Twitter bots to respond to racist abuse against black users, [Kevin Munger] showed that a simple one-tweet rebuke can actually reduce online racism” (Yong, 2016, para 3).

C . When adding emphasis to a section of a quotation, italicize the specific word(s) and write “ emphasis added ” in brackets (e.g.,):

Original quotation: 

“By programming a variety of Twitter bots to respond to racist abuse against black users, he showed that a simple one-tweet rebuke can actually reduce online racism” (Yong, 2016, para. 3).

Revised quotation with emphasis : 

“By programming a variety of Twitter bots to respond to racist abuse against black users, he showed that a simple one-tweet rebuke [emphasis added] can actually reduce online racism” (Yong, 2016, para. 3).

Note : If words were already italicized in the quoted material, you do not need to include the “emphasis added” designation. It is assumed that all formatting is original to the quotation unless you indicate otherwise.

It is often useful to omit material when you do not need all words or sentences included in the passage you are citing. If you omit material, use three spaced periods (. . .) within a sentence (the three periods are called an ellipsis) to indicate that you have omitted material from the original source:

Ariel Levy notes that “in the decades since the McKennas’ odyssey, the drug . . . has become increasingly popular in the United States” (34).

If you omit material after the end of a sentence, use four spaced periods (. . . .) . This is a period, followed by an ellipsis.

Paraphrasing source material

When a writer uses another person’s idea but puts it in their own words, the writer is paraphrasing . We use paraphrasing when we wish to preserve the original ideas in their entirety (as opposed to summarizing the main points). Some reasons a writer might choose to do this include preserving the flow of their writing, or if quoting the material directly would take up too much space.

It is important to remember that just as with quotations, paraphrased material requires an in-text citation to give credit to the original author .

When paraphrasing or referencing an idea from another source, make sure that you provide enough information for the reader to easily locate the passage from the source you reference (for example, the page number or the paragraph number).

Example paraphrase :

Original passage : “Reading around a subject is about going beyond the object of study to unpack, examine, or pick apart what the person or the object of study represents” (McMillan Cottom, 2021, p. 1).

Unacceptable paraphrase : It’s important to read around the subject that we are studying by examining what that subject represents.

• Issue 1: Certain words from the original are simply moved around.
• Issue 2: Certain words are only replaced with synonyms or similar words.
• Issue 3: The sentence structure has remained the same.
• Issue 4: The source citation is missing.

Acceptable Paraphrase : McMillan Cottom (2021) contends that, in addition to reading about a subject itself, we also need to read about the ideas and concepts that are ingrained in a subject in order to truly understand its deeper meaning (p. 1).

McMillan Cottom, T. (2021, March 8). “Sleep around before you marry an argument.” Essaying, Substack. https://tressie.substack.com/p/sleep-around-before-you-marry-an?utm_source=url

Many writers are reluctant to paraphrase because they worry about making mistakes and unintentionally plagiarizing ideas in their writing. This is a valid concern, but with practice this skill can be developed just like any other. Learning to paraphrase effectively can demonstrate a deeper understanding and command of the ideas you are discussing, and aid in the flow of ideas in your essay or presentation. That said, there are some common mistakes that should be avoided:

• When paraphrasing, make sure that you don’t copy the same pattern of wording as the original sentence or passage . This sometimes happens when a writer tries to just swap out a few words, but keeps the structure of the sentence the same or very similar.
• Likewise, avoid using the same or very similar wording as the original . If your paraphrase includes a word or phrase borrowed from the original, make sure to put that portion in quotation marks.
• As noted above, paraphrases require citations, just like direct quotations. Always include a signal phrase and parenthetical citation to indicate that the info you are sharing is not your own. This is especially important in paraphrasing to make a clear distinction between the writer’s own ideas and the source info. Also, citing your source makes sure that you provide enough information for the reader to easily locate the passage from the source you reference.

To make sure that you don’t fall prey to the above mistakes, read the passage you wish to paraphrase and then put it aside. Without looking at it, try to think about how you can say it in your own words, and write it down. Make sure you aren’t including your own ideas—just try to capture the essence of the original in as clear and straightforward a manner as possible.

Summarizing source material

As explained at the top of this page, a summary is when a writer wants to provide a brief overview of a larger idea. This is distinct from a paraphrase, which usually focuses on a single sentence or paragraph. A writer can summarize an entire essay, a section of an article, or the overall main idea of a composition. While summarizing is perhaps not used as frequently as quoting or paraphrasing in academic writing, it can be an effective critical thinking and reading tool. In fact, your instructor may ask you to do a summary as part of your reading and research gathering to demonstrate your understanding of the material. In most academic writing, summaries should be used sparingly, but can be an efficient way to provide additional context to the intended audience.

It is important to remember that just as with quotations and paraphrases, summarized material requires an in-text citation to give credit to the original author .

When summarizing an idea from another source, make sure that you provide enough information for the reader to easily locate the passage from the source you reference (for example, the page number or the paragraph number).

Example summary :

The following summary focuses on an online article written by Tressie McMillan Cottom, which you can read in full here .

In Tressie McMillan Cottom’s (2021) article, “Sleep Around Before You Marry an Argument,” she describes the process of preparing to write about a subject and develop an argument. For her, the first and most important stage in this process is reading; however, she isn’t focused on simply reading everything ever written on a topic, but “reading around the subject.” In her view, the end goal is not just to compile facts, but to develop a thorough, but interesting final product that will connect with your audience. (p. 1)

There are some common mistakes that should be avoided when summarizing a source:

• Providing too much detail : While a summary is by its nature longer than a paraphrase, too much detail means that you are getting a bit “in the weeds” with your writing. A summary should be focused on the big ideas of a piece of writing, rather than the individual sections or minor points. A good summary should be much shorter than the original; in most cases, a full paragraph will be more than enough.
• Using the same or very similar wording for part of the summary : Just as with paraphrasing, you want to avoid words, phrases, or patterns of wording from the original source. Stick to your own wording/ideas; if your summary does include a word or phrase borrowed from the original, make sure to put that portion in quotation marks.
• Not providing a citation : As with paraphrases and quotations, summaries also require citations. Always include a signal phrase and parenthetical citation to indicate that the ideas you are summarizing are not your own. This is especially important in summarizing to make a clear distinction between your own ideas and the source info. Also, citing your source makes sure that you provide enough information for the reader to easily locate the source you reference.

To make sure that you don’t fall prey to the above mistakes, read the item you wish to summarize and then put it aside. Without looking at it, try to think about how you would explain the main ideas from the source to someone else in your own words, and write that down. Make sure you don’t add your own analysis or opinion—just try to capture the essence of the original in as clear and straightforward a manner as possible.

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Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing: what’s the difference?

When you write a research paper, you’re required to include evidence from scholarly sources in order to prove your thesis. In this post, we discuss the three most common ways to include source material in your research paper: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

What is quoting?

When you quote, you use exact words from a source in between quotation marks. You may want to quote directly from a source when the information is particularly complex or when the quote expresses an idea or point in a way that perfectly captures the situation, concept, or thought.

If you’re using a quote that is more than four lines, you should include the material as a block quote. To learn more about how to quote, take a look at our tips for integrating quotes into a research paper. Always include an in-text citation after the quoted material.

What is paraphrasing?

When you paraphrase, you re-write borrowed material in your own words. Paraphrasing requires you to change the words of the quote without changing their meaning.

Paraphrases are typically shorter than the quotes that they restate and always require an in-text citation that credits the original source material.

What is summarizing?

A summary provides an overview of an idea or topic. You might wish to summarize parts of a source if you’re writing a literature review as part of a longer research paper.

Summarizing requires you to sum up the key points of a text, argument, or idea. A summary will be shorter than the original material. Even if you’re not using any of the source’s exact words in your summary, you still need to include an in-text citation.

How do you know when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize material?

Quotes, paraphrases, and summaries are simply different ways of presenting borrowed information. However, there are definitely situations in which one mode may be better than another.

When to use quotes

While it’s a myth that you should avoid using quotes as much as possible in a research paper, you do need to ensure that you are using them effectively. Turning in a paper full quotes is certainly not a good idea, but quotes can be useful if:

• you are trying to make a particularly complex point
• you intend to analyze or interpret a quote’s language
• you need to provide a definition of something
• a quote perfectly encapsulates an idea that is important to your argument

When to paraphrase

Paraphrasing allows you to confirm that you fully understand a quote’s meaning and to explain that content in your own words. There may be several reasons why you would choose to paraphrase a passage, rather than quote it. You might use paraphrase if:

• the material is relatively easy to describe
• you don’t wish to break up the flow of your writing with quotes
• you don’t intend to provide analysis of the information
• you want to combine material from several sources

When to summarize

Summary allows you to synthesize a larger amount of information from a single source or multiple sources. An effective summary will highlight the key points of a text in a concise manner. In a research paper, you’ll primarily use summary in the literature review or state-of-the-field section.

Examples of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing

Quoting example.

When you quote, you should always try to “sandwich” the quote in your own words. You can also break up longer quotes with ellipses, or with snippets like “Smith explains.” For instance, in the example below, the writer uses her own words to lead into, and out of, the quotes.

Jenna Lay claims that “Catholic women resisted any easy demarcation between a Catholic medieval past and a Protestant, reformed present in both their religious practices and their print and manuscript books,” an argument that can be extended to include entire Catholic families (16). However, despite the fact that scholars such as Patton, Lay, and Jennifer Summit have argued that “we stand to learn much when we determine […] whether the early modern collector of a medieval devotional book was a Catholic or Protestant,” few studies have explored in any depth how Catholics used their books in the post-Reformation period.

Paraphrasing example

In the example below, the writer succinctly paraphrases one of the main points of a book chapter. Even though there are no direct quotes, she still includes an in-text, parenthetical citation at the end of the paraphrase.

Elizabeth Patton, in her research on Catholic women’s bookscapes, contends that the staunchest Catholic families maintained textual networks in which they circulated books that were banned in Protestant England, including copies of medieval devotional manuscripts (117).

Summarizing example

In the following summary, the writer uses her own words to provide a concise, yet thorough, summary of an article’s purpose and use of evidence. Again, although no direct quotes are included, the writer adds an in-text citation at the end of the example.

To establish the importance of this main point, Raghavan and Pargman firstly explore two related paradigms in sustainable HCI research: sustainable computing and computing for sustainability. The latter, they argue, has been simultaneously under- and overdeveloped and offers little in the way of practical solutions for how computing can lessen humans’ ecological impact. As a result, they focus on computing for sustainability and explore how disintermediation can catalyze solutions across several key categories, including value, class, labor, and social control. Importantly, they note that policy solutions have failed to fully address the relationship between computing and sustainability (1-2).

In-text citations for quotes, paraphrases, and summaries

Whether you’re quoting exact words from a text, paraphrasing a quote in your own words, or summarizing someone else’s work, you’ll need to include in-text citations for any borrowed material.

You can use BibGuru to create in-text citations in MLA , APA , or any major citation style . Most in-text citations are in the form of parenthetical citations . It’s always a good idea to consult your assignment guidelines, or your instructor, to find out which citation style is required for your paper.

Frequently Asked Questions about quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing

When you quote, you use exact words from a source in between quotation marks. When you paraphrase, you re-write borrowed material in your own words.

Paraphrasing requires you to change the words of the quote without changing their meaning.

Summarizing requires you to sum up the key points of a text, argument, or idea. A summary will be shorter than the original material. Even if you’re not using any of the author’s exact words in your summary, you still need to include an in-text citation.

When you quote, you should always try to “sandwich” the quote in your own words. You can also break up longer quotes with ellipses or with snippets like “Smith explains.” For instance, in the example below, the writer uses her owd words to lead into, and out of, the quote.

Paraphrasing allows you to confirm that you fully understand a quote’s meaning and to explain that content in your own words.

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Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words

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Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that information.

A paraphrase is...

• Your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.
• One legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.
• A more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...

• It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.
• It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
• The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original.

6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

• Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
• Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
• Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
• Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
• Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
• Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.

Some examples to compare

Note that the examples in this section use MLA style for in-text citation.

The original passage:

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers . 2nd ed., 1976, pp. 46-47.

A legitimate paraphrase:

In research papers, students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).

An acceptable summary:

Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).

A plagiarized version:

Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

A note about plagiarism: This example has been classed as plagiarism, in part, because of its failure to deploy any citation. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the academic world. However, we acknowledge that plagiarism is a difficult term to define; that its definition may be contextually sensitive; and that not all instances of plagiarism are created equal—that is, there are varying “degrees of egregiousness” for different cases of plagiarism.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

3.4: Using Source Text: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Once you have a collection of credible sources as part of a formal secondary research project, such as a report, your next step is to build that report around those sources, using them as anchors of evidence around your own arguments. If you began with an hypothesis and you’re using the sources as evidence to support it, or if you realize that your hypothesis is wrong because all the credible sources you’ve found poked holes in it, you should at this point be able to draft a thesis—your whole point concisely expressed. From there, you can arrange your sources in an order that follows a logical sequence, such as general to specific or advantages versus disadvantages. We will examine organizational structures in the next chapter ( Ch. 4 ) on drafting, but we are now going to focus on how to incorporate source material into usable evidence.

You essentially have four ways of using source material available to you, three of them involving text and one, media:

• Quoting text: copying the source’s exact words and marking them off with quotation marks
• Paraphrasing text: representing the source’s ideas in your own words (without quotation marks)
• Summarizing text: representing the source’s main ideas in your own words (without quotation marks)
• Reproducing media: embedding pictures, videos, audio, graphic elements, etc. into your document

In each case, acknowledging your source with a citation at the point of use and follow-up bibliographical reference at the end of your document (see §3.5 below) is essential to avoid a charge of plagiarism. Let’s now look at each of these in turn.

3.4.1: Quoting Sources

3.4.2: paraphrasing sources, 3.4.3: summarizing sources.

Quoting is the easiest way to use sources in a research document, but it also requires care in using it properly so that you don’t accidentally plagiarize, misquote, or overquote. At its simplest, quoting takes source text exactly as it is and puts quotation marks (“ ”) around that text to set it off from your own words. The following points represent conventions and best practices when quoting:

• You may have seen single quotation marks and think that they’re also acceptable to use, but that’s only true in the UK and some other Commonwealth countries, not in Canada; some European countries use << >> to set off quotations instead.
• Also use double quotation marks for putting a single word or two in “scare quotes” when you’re drawing attention to how people use certain words and phrases—again, not single quotation marks since there is no such thing as quotation marks “lite.”
• Use single quotation marks only for reported speech when you have a quotation within a quotation, as in, “The minister responded to say, ‘No comment at this time’ regarding the allegations of wrongdoing.”
• If no parenthetical citation follows immediately after the closing quotation marks, the sentence-ending period falls to the left of those closing quotation marks (between the final letter and the “99”); a common mistake is to place the period to the right of the closing quotation marks ( . . . wrongdoing”.).
• According to researchers Tblisky and Darion (2003), “. . .”
• As Vice President of Operations Rhonda Rendell has noted, “. . .”
• John Rucker, the first responder who pulled Mr. Warren from the wreckage, said that “. . .”
• Spokespersons Gloria and Tom Grady clarified the new regulations: “. . .”
• “. . . ,” confirmed the minister responsible for the initiative.
• “. . . ,” writes Eva Hess, “. . .”
• Quote purposefully: Quote only when the original wording is important. When we quote famous thinkers like Albert Einstein or Marshall McLuhan, we use their exact words because no one could say it better or more interestingly than they did. Also quote when you want your audience to see wording exactly as it appeared in the source text or as it was said in speech so that they can be sure that you’re not distorting the words as you might if you paraphrased instead. But if there’s nothing special about the original wording, then you’re better to paraphrase properly (see §3.4.2 below) than to quote.
• Students frequently overuse direct quotation [when] taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. (Lester, 1976, pp. 46-47)
• Don’t quote excessively: As the above source says, a good rule of thumb is that your completed document should contain no more than 10% quoted material. Much above that will look lazy because it appears that you’re getting quotation to write your document for you. Quote no more than a sentence or two at a time if you quote at all.
• To avoid introducing spelling mistakes or other transcription errors, best practice (if your source is electronic) is to highlight the text you want to quote, copy it (ctrl. + c), and paste it (ctrl. + v) into your document so that it matches the formatting of the rest of your document (i.e., with the same font type, size, etc.). To match the formatting, use the Paste Options drop-down menu that appears beside pasted text as soon as you drop it in and disappears as soon as you perform any operation other than clicking on the drop-down menu.
• Though many people mistakenly refer to parentheses ( ) as “brackets”, brackets are squared [ ] and are used mainly to indicate changes to quoted words, whereas parentheses follow the quotation and mark off the citation. If you were to clarify and streamline the final sentence of the block quotation a few points above, for instance, you could say something like: Lester (1976) recommended “limit[ing] the amount of exact transcribing . . . while taking notes” (p. 47). Here, the verb “limit” in the source text needs to be converted into its participle form (having an -ing ending) to follow the past-tense verb in the sentence framing the quotation grammatically. Sneakily adding the “ing” to “limit” without using brackets would be misquotation because “limiting” appears nowhere in the original.
• Notice that the ellipsis above is three spaced periods (not three stuck together, as in “…”) and that one doesn’t appear at the beginning of the quotation to represent the words in the original prior to “limit” nor at the end to represent source text following the quoted words (“… limit …”). Use the ellipsis only to show that you’re skipping over unnecessary words within a quotation.
• Be careful not to use brackets and ellipses in a way that distorts or obscures the meaning of the original text. For instance, omitting “Probably” and changing “should” to “[can]” in the Lester quotation above will turn his soft guideline into a hard rule, which are not the same.
• When you said in the class discussion forum, “No one cares about grammer, [ sic ] it doesnt [ sic ] really matter,” you tend to undermine your credibility on the topic with poor spelling and a comma splice.
• Capitalize as in the original, even if it seems strange to start a quotation with a capital (because it was the first word in the original) though it’s no longer the first word because it follows a signal phrase in your sentence. See the example in the point above, for instance.
• Quotation is a powerful tool in the arsenal of any writer needing to support a point with evidence. Capturing the source’s words exactly as they were written or spoken is an honest way of presenting research. For more on quotation, consult Purdue OWL ’s series of modules starting with the How to Use Quotation Marks page and ending with their Quotation Mark Exercise and Answers .

Hacker, Diana. (2006). The Bedford handbook (7th ed.) . New York: St. Martin’s. https://department.monm.edu/english/mew/signal_phrases.htm

Lester, J. D. (1976). Writing research papers: A complete guide (2nd ed.). University of Michigan.

Purdue OWL. (n.d.a). How to use quotation marks .  https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/index.html

Purdue OWL. (n.d.b). Quotation mark exercise and answers .  https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/quotation_marks_exercise_and_answers.html

Paraphrasing or “indirect quotation” is putting source text in your own words and altering the sentence structure to avoid using the quotation marks required in direct quotation. Paraphrasing is the preferred way of using a source when the original wording isn’t important. This way, you can incorporate the source’s ideas so they’re stylistically consistent with the rest of your document and thus better tailored to the needs of your audience (presuming the original was tailored for a different audience with different needs). Also, paraphrasing a source into your own words proves your advanced understanding of the source text.

A paraphrase must faithfully represent the source text by containing the same ideas as in the original in about the same length. As a matter of good writing, however, you should try to streamline your paraphrase so that it tallies fewer words than the source passage while still preserving the original meaning. An accurate paraphrase of the Lester (1976) passage block-quoted in the section above, for instance, can reduce a five-line passage to three lines without losing or distorting any of the original points:

Lester (1976) advises against exceeding 10% quotation in your written work. Since students writing research reports often quote excessively because of copy-cut-and-paste note-taking, try to minimize using sources word for word (pp. 46-47).

Notice that using a few isolated words from the original (“research,” “students,” “10%”) is fine, but also that this paraphrase doesn’t repeat any two-word sequence from the original because it changes the sentence structure along with most of the words. Properly paraphrasing without distorting, slanting, adding to, or deleting ideas from the source passage takes skill. The stylistic versatility required to paraphrase can be especially challenging to EAL learners and native English users whose general writing skills are still developing.

A common mistake that students make when paraphrasing is to go only part way towards paraphrasing by substituting-out major words (nouns, verbs, and adjectives) here and there while leaving the source passage’s basic sentence structure intact. This inevitably leaves strings of words from the original untouched in the “paraphrased” version, which can be dangerous because including such direct quotation without quotation marks will be caught by the plagiarism-busting software that college instructors use these days. Consider, for instance, the following botched attempt at a paraphrase of the Lester (1976) passage that subs out words selectively (lazily):

Students often overuse quotations when taking notes, and thus overuse them in research reports. About 10% of your final paper should be direct quotation. You should thus attempt to reduce the exact copying of source materials while note taking (pp. 46-47).

Let’s look at the same attempt, but bold the unchanged words to see how unsuccessful the paraphraser was in rephrasing the original in their own words (given in black):

As you can see, several strings of words from the original are left untouched because the writer didn’t adequately change the sentence structure of the original. The Originality Report from plagiarism-catching software such as Turnitin would indicate that the passage is 64% plagiarized because it retains 25 of the original words (out of 39 in this “paraphrase”) but without quotation marks around them. Correcting this by simply adding quotation marks around passages like “when taking notes, and” would be unacceptable because those words aren’t important enough on their own to warrant direct quotation. The fix would just be to paraphrase more thoroughly by altering the words and the sentence structure, as shown in the paraphrase a few paragraphs above. But how do you go about doing this?

Paraphrase easily by breaking down the task into these seven steps:

• Read and re-read the source-text passage so that you thoroughly understand each point it makes. If it’s a long passage, you might want to break it up into digestible chunks. If you’re unsure of the meaning of any of the words, look them up in a dictionary; you can even just type the word into the Google search bar, hit Enter , and a definition will appear, along with results of other online dictionary pages that define the same word.
• Look away and get your mind off the target passage. Process some different information for a while (e.g., a few minutes of gaming or social media—but just a few!)
• Without looking back at the source text, repeat its main points as you understood them—not from memorizing the exact words, but as you would explain the same ideas in different words out loud to a friend.
• Still without looking back at the source text, jot down that spoken wording and tailor the language so that it’s stylistically appropriate for your audience; edit and proofread your written version to make it grammatically correct in a way that perhaps your spoken-word version wasn’t.
• Now compare your written paraphrase version to the original to ensure that:
• Deleting any of the original points
• Adding any points of your own
• Distorting any of the ideas so they mean something substantially different from those in the original, or even take on a different character because you use words that, say, put a positive spin on something neutral or negative in the original
• You haven’t repeated any two identical words from the original in a row
• If any two words from the original remain, go further in changing those expressions by using a thesaurus in combination with a dictionary. When you enter a word into a thesaurus, it gives you a list of synonyms, which are different words that mean the same thing as the word you enter into it.
• For instance, the noun party can mean a group that is involved in something serious (e.g., a third-party software company in a data-collection process), but the verb party means something you do on a wild Saturday night out with friends; it can also function as an adjective related to the verb (e.g., party trick , meaning a trick performed at a party).
• Whenever you see synonymous words listed in a thesaurus and they look like something you want to use but you don’t know what they mean exactly, always look them up to ensure that they mean what you hope they mean; if not, move on to the next synonym until you find one that captures the meaning you intend. Doing this can save your reader the confusion and you the embarrassment of obvious thesaurus-driven diction problems (poor word choices).
• Cite your source. Just because you didn’t put quotation marks around the words doesn’t mean that you don’t have to cite your source. For more on citing, see §3.5.2 below).

For more on paraphrasing, consult the Purdue OWL Paraphrasing learning module, Exercise , and Answer Key .

Purdue OWL (n.d.a). Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words . https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/paraphrase_exercises/index.html

Purdue OWL (n.d.b). Paraphrasing Exercise . https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/paraphrase_exercises/paraphrasing_exercise.html

Purdue OWL (n.d.c). Paraphrasing Exercise: Possible Answers . https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/paraphrase_exercises/paraphrasing_exercise_answers.html

Summarizing is one of the most important skills in communications because professionals of every kind must explain to non-expert customers, managers, and even co-workers the complex concepts on which they are experts, but in a way that those non-experts can understand. Adapting the message to such audiences requires brevity but also translating jargon-heavy technical details into plain, accessible language.

Summarizing is thus paraphrasing only the highlights of a source text or speech. Like paraphrasing, a summary is indirect quotation that re-casts the source in your own words; unlike a paraphrase, however, a summary is a fraction of the source length—anywhere from less than 1% to a quarter depending on the source length and length of the summary. A summary can reduce a whole novel or film to a single-sentence blurb, for instance, or it could reduce a 50-word paragraph to a 15-word sentence. It can be as casual as a spoken run-down of a meeting your colleague was absent from and wanted to know what he missed, or an elevator pitch selling a project idea to a manager. It can also be as formal as a memo report on a conference you attended on behalf of your organization so your colleagues there can learn in a few minutes of reading the highlights of what you learned in a few days of attending the conference, saving them time and money.

The procedure for summarizing is much like that of paraphrasing except that it involves the extra step of pulling out highlights from the source. Altogether, this can be done in six steps, one of which includes the seven steps of paraphrasing, making this a twelve-step procedure:

• Determine how big your summary should be (according to your audience’s needs) so that you have a sense of how much material you should collect from the source.
• Read and re-read the source text so that you thoroughly understand it.
• Disregard detail such as supporting evidence and examples.
• If you have an electronic copy of the source, copy and paste the main points into your notes; for a print source that you can mark up, use a highlighter then transcribe those main points into your electronic notes.
• How many points you collect depends on how big your summary should be (according to audience needs).
• Paraphrase those main points following the seven-step procedure for paraphrasing outlined in §3.4.2 above.
• Edit your draft to make it coherent, clear, and especially concise.
• Ensure that your summary meets the needs of your audience and that your source is cited. Again, simply not having quotation marks around words is unacceptable for documenting your source(s).

Once you have a stable of summarized, paraphrased, and quoted passages from research sources, building your document around them requires good organizational skills. We’ll focus more on this next step of the drafting process in the following chapter ( Ch. 4 ), but basically it involves arranging your integrated research material in a coherent fashion, with main points up front and supporting points below proceeding in a logical sequence towards a convincing conclusion. Throughout this chapter, however, we’ve frequently encountered the requirement to document sources by citing and referencing, as in the last steps of both summarizing and paraphrasing indicated above. After reinforcing our quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing skills, we can turn our focus on how to document sources.

Key Takeaway

• If you’ve already pulled out the main points as part of the previous exercise, practice including them as properly punctuated quotations in your document with smooth signal phrases introducing them.
• Paraphrase those same main-point sentences following the seven-step procedure outlined in §3.4.2 above. In other words, if Exercise 1 above was direct quotation, now try indirect quotation for each passage.
• Following the six-step procedure outlined in §3.4.3 above, summarize the entire source article, webpage, or whatever document you chose by reducing it to a single coherent paragraph of no more than 10 lines on your page.

3.4: Using Source Text: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Copyright © 2022 by John Corr; Grant Coleman; Betti Sheldrick; and Scott Bunyan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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10 Best AI Humanizers to Convert AI Text to Human (Free & Paid)

(Ad) Converting AI-generated text to text that sounds like it’s human-generated is vital if you want to enjoy the benefits of AI without any of the AI detection risks or penalties. To achieve this, an AI humanizer is indispensable. This type of tool quickly and conveniently takes AI text and essentially makes it sound more human, changing up the words, flow, and structure to help you beat the AI detectors.

These converter tools are useful for all sorts of people, from bloggers and content creators to students and so on. But they're not all equal. In this guide, we'll explore 10 of the best AI-to-human text converter tools available right now, looking at pros, cons, and pricing for each one.

Humbot – Best AI Humanizer Overall

Aihumanizer – best ai humanizer to convert ai to human text, bypassgpt – best ai humanizer to avoid ai detection, hix bypass – best ai humanizer for high quality humanization.

• Bypass AI – Best AI to Human Text Converter for Potentially Plagiarism-Free Outputs
• Undetectable AI – Best AI to Human Text Converter for Versatility

AIHumanize – Best AI Humanizer for Mobile Humanization

Netusai – best ai humanizer for paraphrasing, aiseo – best ai humanizer for customization.

• HumaizeAIText – Best AI Humanizer for Simplicity

Humbot is one of the top AI humanizers available right now. Using advanced humanization technology and natural language processing, it can take ChatGPT text or text from other AI bots and make it more human.

The result is usually of great quality, with readable, well-flowing text that may beat AI detectors. Some of the AI scanners that are consistently beaten by Humbot include Originality.AI and GPTZero.

Humbot also offers a series of advanced options, including three different bypass modes to choose from. The Quick mode helps you get results quickly, the Enhanced mode is great for beating most detectors, and the Advanced mode is best for more complex texts.

In addition, Humbot comes with its own built-in AI scanner to save you time when checking a piece of text. It works in lots of languages, too, and always produces the best quality content that is potentially free of plagiarism. You can see an example of Humbot in action in the screenshot below, showing how well it humanizes AI text.

• Works well against all of the major AI detection sites
• Provides rapid, high-quality results
• Offers lots of useful features for both beginners and advanced users
• Doesn’t support direct document uploads

Price-wise, Humbot offers three premium plans: Basic, Pro, and Unlimited. Each plan has its own word counts and features, with the Unlimited plan letting you humanize as much as you like. Prices start at $7.99 a month.

Get the best quality undetectable content with Humbot.

AIHumanizer is another tool that converts AI-generated text to human text with ease. Arguably the best thing about this AI humanizer is its broad range of features. That feature set includes three bypass modes—Basic, Standard, and Advanced—as well as support for over 50 languages, including French, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian.

AIHumanizer also has the advantage of producing 100% original content every time. That means no copying and potentially no plagiarism, so you likely won’t have to worry about failing plagiarism detection tools like Copyscape when you work with this AI humanizer. It also offers a free mode for new users to test the waters before signing up for a paid plan.

• Adjustable humanization modes for every situation
• Free and paid plans to suit any budget
• Massive range of useful features
• Requires an active internet connection to access

AIHumanizer has a free mode so new users can test it out, as well as three premium plans. You can pick a plan to suit your budget and needs, with both monthly and annual pricing. The cheapest option is the Basic plan, which costs just $9.90 a month if you pay annually.

Try AIHumanizer to enjoy easy, convenient AI humanization.

Ultimately, the main reason why people seek out and use any AI-to-human text converter is because they want to bypass AI detection. BypassGPT may help you do just that. Originality, ZeroGPT, GPTZero, Copyleaks, and Content at Scale are just some of the tools that BypassGPT may defeat.

With its state-of-the-art technology, it’s able to consistently humanize AI text of various lengths, and on various topics, to potentially beat AI detection platforms. It even helps you get a perfect 100% human score on a lot of those AI detection sites, so you shouldn’t have to worry about any risk of AI-related penalties.

Plus, it has multiple bypass modes and the ability to humanize any text, from ChatGPT, Gemini, or other bots. The humanized text is always of high quality, with no grammatical or spelling errors.

• Can beat any AI detector
• Easy to work with, even for beginners
• Built-in AI detection to save you time and hassle
• Free plan is quite limited

In terms of pricing, BypassGPT offers three different premium plans, with monthly rates as low as $8. You can choose from Basic, Pro, and Unlimited plans depending on your desired features and word limits.

Use BypassGPT to beat any AI detection tool.

Next up is HIX Bypass . From the same team that’s behind the many other HIX AI writing tools, HIX Bypass is an AI humanizer supported by a lot of powerful technology. It’s very effective at not just humanizing AI content, but also improving its quality. The result is readable, free-flowing, impressive text that you can be proud to post, upload, or hand in.

With other undetectable AI writers and AI humanizers, you sometimes have to go through and make lots of manual edits. But HIX Bypass is effective at getting things right the first time, so you shouldn’t have to do many—or any—edits. It creates error-free, potentially plagiarism-free content to beat leading AI detectors easily.

• Produces top quality content with great readability
• Uses leading humanization technology to help you bypass detectors
• Removes ChatGPT watermarks to make AI content truly undetectable
• Not the cheapest option

Price-wise, HIX Bypass offers a free trial for new users, as well as your choice of three payment plans. The cheapest option is Basic, costing just $6.99 if you pay annually. However, if you want to use this tool without limits, you'll have to pay the $49.99 per month for HIX Bypass Unlimited.

Get the best quality AI content with HIX Bypass.

Bypass AI – Best AI-to-Human Text Converter for Potentially Plagiarism-Free Output

A lot of AI bots and AI humanizers produce similar results. But Bypass AI stands out from the crowd. It creates highly original, potentially plagiarism-free content every time that is readable and of high quality. This is perfect for people who want to both avoid AI detection and pass plagiarism scans on tools like Copyscape.

A great choice for students and bloggers, among other users, Bypass AI features multiple bypass modes, a seamless user interface, and multilingual support. It even has built-in AI detection scans to save you time when checking your work.

• Produces original work that is potentially free of plagiarism
• May bypass all leading AI scanners
• Offers plenty of handy features, including three bypass methods
• Doesn’t yet support file uploads

Bypass AI lets you start humanizing small amounts of text for free. Then, you can upgrade to a paid plan. There are three plan options, starting from only $6.99. Even the high-end Unlimited plan is quite affordable at just $29.99, much cheaper than many competitors.

Enjoy original, human content with Bypass AI.

Undetectable AI – Best AI-to-Human Text Converter for Versatility

Another leading AI-to-human text converter is Undetectable AI . There are lots of advantages to this tool, beginning with its versatility. Users can select between three separate bypass modes: the Instant mode if you need speedy results, the Precise mode for the most original and detailed content, and an Advanced mode for beating tricky AI detectors.

Not only that, but Undetectable AI works in dozens of different languages, making it suitable for users all over the globe. Or, if you’re a student and need help humanizing your French or Spanish homework, for example, you can turn to this tool to help you.

• A versatile, all-round solution
• Works in over 50 languages
• Three unique bypass modes to try
• Free version only works with short texts

Undetectable AI provides a free plan along with three paid options, beginning at only $6.99. Even the top-tier Unlimited plan is highly affordable, priced at just $39.99.

Use Undetectable AI for flawless human output text.

The next entry on our list is AIHumanize, which is one of the better AI humanizer tools to consider if you want to humanize on mobile. It’s been designed to work just as well on small screens and mobile devices as it does on desktops and laptop computers. This helps you humanize content any time, any place.

You get to choose from “Falcon” and “Maestro” modes with AIHumanize. In addition, it enables users to upload files to humanize without entering text into the input box. AIHumanize also offers friendly customer support to users with problems or queries.

• A beginner-friendly tool
• Works smoothly on mobile
• Responsive customer support staff
• Quality levels can vary
• Even the high-end plan has a strict word limit

AIHumanize offers two paid plans. The Basic plan starts from $8.99 per month, with the option to save 44.49% by choosing annual billing. The Enterprise plan starts from $200 per month and allows you to humanize up to 1,000,000 words per month.

NetusAI is a AI humanizer, although it sells itself more as a paraphraser. It can take AI-generated text from leading bots like ChatGPT, GPT4, and Gemini and then make changes to that text to help it bypass detection. It’s effective at spotting the same signs that AI detectors look for and then getting rid of them.

NetusAI can effectively remove any ChatGPT watermarks to help you get “more human than AI” scores when scanning your work. It also offers a summarization feature that you can use to quickly summarize a piece of AI text in seconds. ’These features are aimed at a broad audience of marketers, SEO specialists, writers, and bloggers.

• Good at removing the common signs of AI text
• Effective at paraphrasing and summarizing abilities
• Various paraphrasing models to choose from
• A little too complicated for beginners
• Very expensive high-end plan
• Reliability levels can vary

Price-wise, NetusAI has three plans. The first is completely free, but won't let you do too much humanization. The next step up is the Premium plan, which costs $30 a month and lets you humanize up to 100,000 words. Then there's the Premium+ plan at $99 a month. NetusAI also lets you purchase packs of NetusAI credits on-demand, if you prefer, rather than signing up for a monthly subscription.

AISEO is an AI humanizer that focuses on SEO, as the name implies. It’s designed to help you create AI content that sounds human and still offers strong SEO performance, with keywords and the right kind of structure to perform well on Google. It’s also highly customizable, as you can adjust your text’s style, length, simplicity, and readability.

AISEO also supports file uploads, as well as pasted text, giving you new ways to convert AI text to human. Plus, it lets you develop or import your own brand voice, educating the AI bot on how it should humanize your work.

There are three premium plans available with AISEO: Grow, Scale, and Team. Each plan has its own features, and they all come with a 1-day free trial for new users to test out before committing. Pricing ranges from $15 to $75 if paying annually, or $24 to $99 if paying monthly.

• Ideal for bloggers and business users
• Can improve the SEO performance of your text
• Lots of functions and features to improve and adjust content
• Less useful for casual users
• Many features blocked behind paywall

HumanizeAIText – Best AI Humanizer for Simplicity

Last but not least, we have HumanizeAIText. As AI humanization tools go, this is by far one of the simplest. It has a very basic, minimalistic design, which is immediately apparent from the site’s homepage. This tool doesn’t have many of the advanced features offered by others, but has a simplistic, beginner-oriented design.

Additionally, this AI humanizer is completely free to use, requiring no login or sign-up.

• Free AI humanizer
• Simple and beginner-friendly
• Generally produces good quality content
• Doesn’t always beat AI detection
• Too simple for advanced users

Find Your Favorite AI Humanizer

If you've been looking for an AI-to-human text converter, you now have 10 trusted recommendations to consider. They’re all a little different, and each can work well in different situations. Some are great for beginners, while others are best for advanced users. Some are cheap, others are pricier. Consider your needs, budget, and expectations to find the right AI humanization tool for you.

Editors’ Note:  Hearst Newspapers Ad Product team provides oversight and reviews all sponsored content for quality, helpfulness, and relevance to our readers. Sponsor is responsible for the content and owns the copyright to their article. Learn more here. (link to author page).

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