Unit 9: Using Source Text: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
Unit 9: Using Source Text: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
Learning Objectives
After studying this unit, you will be able to
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- quote source text directly with accuracy and correct punctuation
- paraphrase, summarize and reformat information collected from written materials
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Introduction
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 using those sources as evidence. When you incorporate outside research into your writing, you must cite that information to ensure the reader knows what information is based on research sources. As with other areas of business writing, incorporate information from print or digital research into usable evidence takes skill and practice.
You essentially have four ways of using research material:
- 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 following-up with bibliographical reference at the end of your document is essential to avoid a charge of plagiarism. The following video provides a few tips on the why, where, and when of good citation practice.
Let’s now look at each of these research strategies in turn.
Research Strategies
Quoting 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 word-for-word information from an original source, puts quotation marks (“ ”) around that information, and embeds it into your writing. The following points represent conventions and best practices when quoting:
- Use double quotation marks: In North America, we set off quoted words from our own words with double quotation marks (“ ”).
- Use a signal phrase to integrate a quotation: Frame a quotation with a “signal phrase” that identifies the source author or speaker by name and/or role, along with a verb relating to how the quotation was delivered. The signal phrase can precede, follow, or even split the quotation, and you can choose from a variety of available signal phrase expressions suitable for your purposes (Hacker, 2006, p. 603):
- 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 purp