Quotes and Paraphrasing

In order to avoid plagiarism, citations must be used to give credit to the author who you borrowed the information from. Citations let the reader know that the information is a quote, paraphrase, or summary taken from another person's work or ideas. Remember that the in-text citations are a small amount of information (author and page number) that refer the reader to the Works Cited page where they can find all of the information about a particular source.

If you want to use another person's words or ideas word for word, use quotations. To quote something means that it must be copied exactly how you read it in the source. Quotes need to be integrated, which means the sentence needs to begin with your words and merge with the quote.

For example:

Quote: "Romeo views Juliet as his Holy Grail and woos her over and over in order to win her heart even though her family does not like him" (Mushkin 22).

Integrated Quote : The text reveals that "Romeo views Juliet as his Holy Grail and woos her over and over in order to win her heart even though her family does not like him" (Mushkin 22).

Notice how in the above example that the integrated quote looks like a complete sentence. All integrated quotes must flow like a complete sentence using your words and the quote. Click on the handout in the sidebar for instructions on how to correctly integrate quotes.

However, if you want to put a certain piece of information from another author into your own words or shorten a longer piece of information from another author, a paraphrase is a good way to incorporate that information into your writing. Even if you put the information into your own words, you must still cite the source.

For example:

Quote: "Romeo views Juliet as his Holy Grail and woos her over and over in order to win her heart even though her family does not like him" (Mushkin 22).

Paraphrase: "Romeo puts Juliet on a pedestal and works hard for her to like him (Mushkin 22).

You will use quotes and paraphrases in your Research Wrap-Up brochure project. Do not forget that any information that is cited in your text must also appear with a full source citation in your Works Cited.

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