How to paraphrase and quote

This page will help you to adopt an evidence-based approach to your writing and avoid plagiarism by learning more about paraphrasing and quoting sources.

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Paraphrasing and quoting

When you are producing a piece of writing at university, you will often want to talk about what someone else has written about the topic.

There are four distinct ways of doing this:

Quoting directly including in your work the published words or other data you have found in a source
Paraphrasing in your own words the ideas, arguments, words or other material you have found published elsewhere
Para-quoting by paraphrasing an idea or area but retaining one or more important words and phrases from the original in quotation marks
Summarising with a top-level overview of a single larger area of work or group of sources

There are many reasons for quoting or paraphrasing in your own work, but essentially these techniques allow you to show your understanding of current knowledge about the topic you are studying and respond to that knowledge in your work.

Remember that you will need to cite and reference all of the sources that have informed your work.

It is a complex linguistic skill to incorporate others’ work smoothly and efficiently into your own by quoting or paraphrasing, and this is an important elements of the critical writing process

It is also a key skill of academic writing that will help to ensure that your work does not include elements of plagiarism.

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When to paraphrase and when to quote

You should direct quote:

If you are referring to a formal definition in which the specific language is important
If you are quoting an opinion (with which you do not necessarily agree)
If you are reporting direct speech, eg the reactions or experience of someone actually involved
If you wish to highlight specific features of the author's writing style

You should paraphrase:

To elaborate on or explain a concept or definition to your reader
To engage critically with an opinion or source and demonstrate that you understand it fully
To summarise the reactions or experience of one or more individual
If the general concept is more important than the specific language used

You should para-quote:

To highlight only keywords or phrases
To demonstrate scepticism about a source
As an opening ‘hook’ for a piece of writing

You should summarise:

To explain a complex idea or theory to your reader
To present and overview of a bigger idea or concept without details