Updated
Which to use
- QuoteWhen the exact words matter: a striking phrase, a definition, a claim you are going to analyze or dispute, or language from a primary source such as a novel or a law.
- ParaphraseWhen the idea matters more than the wording, and you want it in the voice of your paper. This is the usual choice in APA papers.
- SummarizeWhen you need the main point of a section, chapter or whole study in a sentence or two.
Most instructors want mostly your own sentences, with quotations kept short and few. A paragraph that is half quotation reads as a collage, not an argument.
How to paraphrase
- Read the passage until you can explain it without looking.
- Close the source and write the idea from memory, in your own sentence.
- Compare with the original. If a run of words or the sentence shape matches, rewrite it; a phrase you need to keep goes in quotation marks.
- Keep the meaning: no added claims, and the same strength of claim (suggests stays suggests).
- Cite it, with the page if your style asks for one.
The passage below was written for this page to show the method; it is not quoted from any source.
Original passage
Students who sleep fewer than six hours before an exam often remember less of what they studied the night before, because the brain consolidates new memories during deep sleep.
Too close: words swapped, sentence kept
Students who sleep under six hours before a test frequently recall less of what they reviewed the previous night, since the brain consolidates fresh memories in deep sleep.
A real paraphrase
Deep sleep is when new learning becomes memory, so cutting sleep to study can erase part of the studying itself.
A quotation of the part worth quoting
The passage puts it plainly: the brain “consolidates new memories during deep sleep.”
The too-close version swaps words but keeps the original’s sentence. Instructors and plagiarism checkers call this patchwriting, and it counts as copying even with a citation.
How each is cited
- MLA 9
- A quotation or a paraphrase gets the same citation: the author and page. Give the page for a paraphrase too.
- APA 7
- A quotation needs the page: (Walker, 2017, p. 112). For a paraphrase the page is encouraged but optional (APA 7, 8.23); give it when it helps the reader find the passage in a long work.
- Chicago
- A note with the page for either.
For a passage on page 112 of a book, Format writes:
MLA 9
(Walker 112)
APA 7
(Walker, 2017, p. 112)
Chicago note
Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams (Scribner, 2017), 112.
Quotations of more than four lines (MLA) or 40 words (APA) are set as block quotes; see block quotes. A quotation you found inside another source is cited as in citing a source in a source.
Common mistakes
- No citation on a paraphrase. The idea is still the source’s. Paraphrases and summaries are cited like quotations.
- Synonym swapping. Changing words while keeping the sentence is patchwriting. Write from memory instead.
- Quotation marks left off a borrowed phrase. Any distinctive phrase you keep from the source goes in quotation marks.
- A quotation doing the work. Follow every quotation with what it shows. The analysis is the part that earns marks.
Questions
Do I need to cite a paraphrase?
Yes, in every style. Only the quotation marks go away.
How much do I have to change to paraphrase?
Both the words and the sentence structure. If you could lay your sentence over the original and match it phrase by phrase, it is too close.
Is a summary cited with a page number?
In MLA, give the page range if the summary covers specific pages. For a whole work, the author alone is enough. APA needs only the author and year.