USING OUTSIDE SOURCES CORRECTLY
Citing Sources in Your Text
SUMMARIZING & PARAPHRASING
You will want to include summaries or paraphrases of other’s writing when you need to place
your writing in context or when you do not want to use a quote. Remember that even if you are
not directly quoting from a source, you need to acknowledge the source with proper citation.
Summarizing
A summary is a brief restatement of the
original source in your own words.
Summaries can be written for any length of
text, from a sentence to a novel.
Summary Writing Tips:
9 Summaries are written in your
own words
9 Summaries include only the
main points
9 Summaries are much shorter
that the original
9 Summaries need to be
objective—they should not
include your interpretation
9 Summaries can be started by
saying “This person is saying
that….”
Paraphrasing
A paraphrase is a restatement of the
original source in your own words.
Paraphrasing generally applies to shorter
pieces of text, like an idea or paragraph.
Paraphrase Writing Tips:
9 Paraphrases are written in your
own words
9 Paraphrases are approximately
the same length as the original
9 Paraphrases keep the same
organization of the original and
are more detailed than a
summary
9 Paraphrases need to be
objective—they should not
include your own interpretation
When working with literature it is important to support your discussion with evidence from the
text. Keep in mind that summary should be used sparingly because it should only place your
discussion in context and inform your readers of the basics that they may not know. Quotations
are more important because they are helping prove your point(s).
Summary Example
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter tells the story of Demeter and her
daughter, Persephone. Persephone is kidnapped by the King
of the Underworld, Hades, and Demeter has no idea who has
taken her. None of the other Gods will help Demeter or tell
her where Persephone is, even though Zeus, her brother and
the father of Persephone, knows the Hades has taken her to
be his bride. . . .
This type of summary is too
long for a short essay. It is
not helping to support your
own discussion; it is just
retelling the story. It would
be better to summarize the
story in a sentence or two.
Quotations Example
Goldstein alters Hades into this nefarious malefactor.
In Rites of Spring when Liz tries to run from Hades,
Mickey/Hermes tells her that her behavior “is no fit
way to greet the King of Hell” (98). Referring to
Hades as “King of Hell” equates him with other evil
figures such as Satan. Thus Goldstein portrays
Hades as an epitome of evil. Also, prior to the discovery
that Hayes is Hades, a former neighbor refers to
him and his associates as “Satanists” who perform
strange rituals while clothed in black (85). This
further serves to malign Hades. Goldstein creates
one more demonic image of Hades when Hermes refers
to him as the “boyfriend from Hell” (93). So by use
of several hellish images, Goldstein depicts Hades as
the equivalent to the Devil. This image, however,
varies drastically from Greek myth. While it is true
that Hades rules the underworld of the dead, Hades
has dominion of all dead—good and evil.
Point of the paragraph
Quotations that support point
Writer’s own words & interpretation
Notice that the textual evidence
in this paragraph is focused on
a particular aspect of the story.
The information need not be in
chronological order; it needs to
help develop your own ideas
act as support for those ideas
QUOTING
Quoting means that you are copying the exact words of another author. You must surround the
quote with quotation marks and correctly acknowledge the source with a citation.
Your writing does not take place in a vacuum. Most of the time, your writing is a continuing
discussion with or response to other people’s writing or other people’s ideas. Research builds
upon research, so it is important that you know how to use direct quotes from others to support
your own points. Quotes are used as evidence, support, or explanation of your own points.
They are not substitutes for your own words.
Quoting effectively is crucial for producing a well-supported, convincing essay for this class.
The quotes you use and how you use them greatly affect the overall impression of the essay.
Remember, though, that quotes are used to support and further your own points. They should
not overwhelm your essays or be used just to be used. Use only what is necessary to make your
point.
Example:
One of the biggest influences on my personal
development from my relationship with my younger
brother was from our constant competition as children.
For some reason, we turned everything in our relationship
Into a competition. We each felt we had to be the first
one to finish breakfast, the first one to reach the TV and
choose the channel, or the first one to jump into the car
and claim the front seat. We just had to compete for it.
writer’s
words &
ideas
All this unnecessary competition was a total mystery to me.
Why did we have to compete against each other for everything?
Francine Klagsbrun in “Sibling Imprints” explains
what this kind of constant fuss is about. She asserts,
“It’s about coming out ahead for once. It’s about establishing
myself and holding my own. It’s about being recognized”(8).
FOR ME, THE OLDER ONE, IT MEANT POWER. I COULD NOT ALLOW
A YOUNGER SIBLING TO MAKE ME LESS POWERFUL THAN HE WAS.
I WAS FIGHTING FOR MY IDENTITY AS THE OLDEST CHILD,
THE ONE IN CHARGE. I HAD TO WIN EVERY TIME.
lead-in
verb!
quote
WRITER’S
ANALYSIS/
COMMENT
The above is an example of quoting a whole sentence. Notice that you introduce the quote with
your own words, use a comma, quotation marks, and a capital letter for the first word of the
quoted sentence. Put the period inside the quotation marks. You can also quote a single word
or phrase from a sentence. In this case, do use quotation marks, but do not capitalize the first
word of the quote.
Example: Anna Quindlen argues that, more than our parents, out siblings are our
“universe”(42).
Example: Anna Quindlen convincingly describes the strong connection between
children as “powerful as a rope”(32).
Quoting Tips:
9
Choose your quotes carefully.
Only use direct quotes when the author’s words are so impressive, so clever, or so unique
that to put them in your own words would lessen their impact.
9
“Lead into” your quote.
Use a variety of verbs to introduce your quotes:
discusses
points out
recommends
investigates
stresses
questions
argues
notes
asks
feels
advises
reveals
maintains
claims
insists
doubts
declares
illustrates
suggests
proposes
asserts
shows
assumes
examines
explains
believes
comments
admits
concludes
focuses on
implies
contends
explores
cautions
observes
expresses
This gives your reader a hint of why you are using the quote and a hint about the intention
of the author. Make sure you know the precise meaning of these words before using them!
9
Make sure it “flows.”
Fit the grammatical structure of the quote into the grammatical structure of your own
sentence. Your sentence and the quote need to read smoothly all together.
Example: When Tyler Durden fights “his father,” he is fighting “everything he
hates about life” (Boon 5).
Not: Boon claims “American culture, which has caged men within bars of denial
and shame” (5). This sentence is incomplete.
9
Analyze/Comment on your quotes.
Explain to your reader what the author is saying. Then you need to explain why you think
the quote is important.
9
Give credit to the author.
The first time you mention an author, use the author’s full name and the title of the work.
After that, use only the last name of the author. Italicize (or underline) longer works like
books or movies. Use “quotation marks” around shorter works like essays or magazine
articles.
1st time: In “Men and Nostalgia for Violence: Culture and Culpability in Chuck
Palahniuk’s Fight Club,” Kevin Alexander Boon argues that, “The rigid
standards of traditional masculine behaviors are ironically liberating” (5).
2nd time: Boon argues that Fight Club “investigates the frustration of heroic men
reduced to servile eunuchs” (5).
OR
nd
2 time: Fight Club demonstrates “an innate desire in men to regain their lost
heritage” (Boon 5).
Reminder: When you use a quote from another writer, do not refer to it as a quote. You
may be “quoting” him or her, but the author is not quoting. Instead of saying “quotes,”
use one of the words above.
Example: Boon quotes “To write about Fight Club is to violate the first rule of
Fight Club” (1).
9
Boon is not “quoting.” He is arguing, saying, writing, showing…..
Correction: Boon says “To write about Fight Club is to violate the first rule of
Fight Club” (1).
ƒ
9
The only exception to this rule is when an author you are using is
referring to another author.
Example: George Yudice’s study discusses how some men need to
take “responsibility for male oppression and violence” (qtd. in
Boon 1).
There are many different ways to incorporate quotes into your own writing.
Original from Boon, page 5: “Tyler Durden is the animus, the male within the feminized
narrator. He surfaces to guide the narrator back toward his
masculine legacy. He is the manifestation of idealized
masculinity.”
Some ways to incorporate this quote:
ƒ
According to Boon, “Tyler Durden is the animus, the male within the feminized
narrator. He surfaces to guide the narrator back toward his masculine legacy. He is
the manifestation of idealized masculinity” (5).
“Tyler Durden is the animus, the male within the feminized narrator. He surfaces to
guide the narrator back toward his masculine legacy. He is the manifestation of
idealized masculinity” (Boon 5).
ƒ
Tyler Durden, according to Boon, is the animus, the male within the feminized
narrator. He surfaces to guide the narrator back toward his masculine legacy. He is
the manifestation of idealized masculinity” (Boon 5).
ƒ
“Tyler Durden is the animus, the male within the feminized narrator.” Boon
continues, offering further explanation: “He surfaces to guide the narrator back
toward his masculine legacy. He is the manifestation of idealized masculinity” (5).
ƒ
“Tyler Durden is the animus, the male within the feminized narrator,” argues Boon.
Not only does “he [surface] to guide the narrator back toward his masculine legacy,”
he is also “the manifestation of idealized masculinity” (5).
Brackets [ ] allow you to modify the quote to fit it onto your own sentence (like in the
last example above). If the above was kept as “surfaces,” the sentence would not be
grammatically correct. By changing “surfaces” to “surface,” the quote fits nicely into the
sentence.
The most commons reasons for using brackets are to replace nouns for pronouns or vice
versa (i.e. from “she” to Marla” or the other way around) or to change the tense of verbs
(like “surfaces” to “surface”). Brackets also allow you to include information that
clarifies a quote:
ƒ
9
In the dream sequence, Giles said, “He [Spike] is like a son to me.”
The brackets indicate that you have made a change to the original source. Brackets also
allow you to condense a long quote by using ellipsis. If you add ellipsis, make sure to
put them in brackets; that indicated that you added the ellipsis and they were not
originally there.
When quoting, AVOID:
9 Really long quotes.
If you feel that you to use an extended quote, choose carefully and make sure to “block” it.
For any quote that is five lines or longer, you need to indent the quote by tabbing twice.
Blocked quotes are usually introduced by a colon and do not need quotation marks;
blocked quotes are double-spaced like the rest of your text. Also note that the parenthetical
information goes outside the punctuation.
Example:
In “Staking in Tongues: Speech Act as Weapon in Buffy,” Karen Eileen Overbey and
Lahney preston-Matto conclude that
Buffy is able to survive longer than the other slayers because she is
embedded in language and because she embodies language. It is a very
particular language, with its own vernacular, but it behaves like all languages in
that it creates, it translates, it follows well-defined rules, it draws on shared
knowledge, and it must be wielded with precision in order to be effective. [. . .]
Any slayer can brandish a weapon, but for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the tongue
is as pointed as the stake. (83-4)
9 Too many quotes.
9 Material you don’t understand.