Incorporating evidence

When paraphrasing and summarising, you are trying to capture the true intent of the source text. The skill of these techniques lies in the ability to write about someone else’s ideas in a way which is different from the original text, and yet which does not alter the meaning.  

Whenever we paraphrase or summarise there must be an in-text citation to attribute the idea to its original author. This is because the idea is not your own even though you used your own words. Failing to cite someone else’s idea is a form of plagiarism.

Put simply: Paraphrasing and summarising involves putting the ideas of another person into your own words and telling the reader where you obtained the information.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is used to show your understanding of the concepts and theories of others. You use these ideas to make a point in the context of an essay or report. A good paraphrase has several benefits: 

• It improves the clarity of the original writing by explaining complex ideas.
• It improves the narrative flow of your writing by ordering the concepts to suit your paper.
• Relaying someone else’s idea in your own words demonstrates your understanding of it.

A paraphrase will always be followed by a citation indicating the original source.

Summarising

When you wish to refer to a writer’s work in general, you will summarise information from a source without going into detail.

For example, an entire research document has been summarised into this single sentence below:

Research into psychopathic behaviours in managers (Andrews & Furniss, 2009) suggest that they spend more effort in manipulating people than in other aspects of management.

Summarising is useful for condensing large amounts of work for revision purposes, or to keep track of research one might be doing in preparation for an essay or report.

Direct quotes are used when you want to copy text from a source. In this instance, you use the exact words of an author and place them in inverted commas.

Example of a direct quote

According to Chief Seattle, “Man does not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.”

Direct quotes are commonly used when you want to:

• use a famous or well-known statement, e.g. "Ask not what your country can do for you …"
• use an authoritative voice in your own writing by using the exact words of an expert
• introduce an author’s position that you wish to discuss
• prove/disprove someone said something
• capture the entire mood or aim of an article or book, e.g., an epigraph.

How to quote

Copy the text you want to use, even if there are spelling mistakes or other errors or omissions in the original text.

Indicate the exact words you are attributing to another author by putting quote marks—also known as inverted commas—around their words. Take care to check whether your citation style specifies 'single quote marks' or "double quote marks".

Inserting quotes within your writing [always] requires you to cite the source of the quote. This is done according to the in-text referencing rules of your chosen citation style (e.g., APA, Chicago, Australian Harvard, and so on).

Tip: If you want your reader to know that a spelling error comes from the original source, use the Latin abbreviation [sic] in square brackets immediately after the spelling error.

'Sic' is short for [sic erat scriptum], which means ‘thus in the original’. This is used to draw the reader’s attention to a mistake or omission in the original text (and to show that you did not make the error!).

While inserting the "author’s actual words" into your writing may add a sense of authority to your work, it does little to demonstrate your understanding of the material. Direct quotes can be a good way to add emphasis to your discussion; however, quoting should be used sparingly and with great care.

It is generally recommended that you prioritise paraphrasing over quoting, as it shows your marker that you have a command of the original ideas, concepts or theories. You need to really understand the argument a source is making to be able to put it into your own words, which is what makes paraphrasing the superior skill.

Adding text to a quote

If you need to add some words to a quote to provide context or to make the grammar match your own writing, place the extra text between square brackets to show they are not part of the original quote. This is called interpolation.

For example: "When he [the investigator] heard about it, action was taken."

Removing text from a quote

A quote can also be reduced in length with ellipses (dots).

For example: "Direct rapport was the most successful strategy for converting visitors … into participants who completed questionnaires" (Temple & Brown 2011, p. 13). 

Check the specific requirements of the citation style you are using to see if there are any special instructions for these strategies.