Writing Center

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Paraphrasing andUsing Sources

• Writing Center

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Statement on Plagiarism

• Plagiarism (the intentional or unintentional
  theft of intellectual ideas), occurs whenever any
  information is used from another source without
  giving the author(s) of that source credit for
  the information.
• You must document sources every time you borrow
  any information, including facts, statistics,
  numbers, ideas, concepts, names, locations, or
  dates.
• Even if you are paraphrasing or summarizing
  information, you must still provide a citation
  for that information.

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When to Cite

• Anytime you borrow thoughts, ideas, concepts,
  figures, or theories from an outside source, you
  need to give credit to those authors.
• Your citation should be provided immediately
  after you invoke a source.
• If you cite a source multiple times throughout a
  paragraph, cite the author in the first sentence
  in which you use their ideas, and if you readers
  can make the assumption you are using the same
  source throughout the paragraph, you only need
  the one citation.
• You will have to re-cite the source if you
  integrate new authors in a paragraph, or change
  to a new paragraph.

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How to Cite

• In APA style you need to cite the author(s) of
  the piece, and provide a year of publication.
• For example, (Smith, 2007).
• For direct quotes, a page number must be included
  as well (Smith, 2007, p. 57)
• Page numbers are not required for paraphrasing,
  but can be included by the author.

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What is Paraphrasing?

• Paraphrasing is the process of the writer
  breaking down what he or she is reading, pulling
  out only the information that is relevant to the
  topic he or she is writing on. Properly
  paraphrased information should be written in the
  writers own words with an understanding of the
  information he or she is choosing to use.
• When writing a research paper, you are expected
  to integrate your cited material into your paper.
  Simply using direct quotes will not accomplish
  that.

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The Purpose of Paraphrasing

• When writing in APA, the use of direct quotes
  should be limited. Your paper should include
  only two or three direct quotes.
• In APA style, how something is said is not nearly
  as important as what is said.
• Papers in APA style should focus in on what you
  are doing to combine the arguments of others, and
  use them, in addition to your own words, to
  create a new academic argument.

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The Importance of a Focus Statement

• Your focus statement will let you know how to
  properly paraphrase, and what pieces of an
  article are important to sample for your essay.
• The authors of the piece you are citing have
  their own specific purpose for writing, which is
  different than your purpose, so you will want to
  refocus their ideas with your thesis in mind.
• While paraphrasing work, it is important to
  remember the goal of using outside sources is to
  support your work, so you will have to refocus
  the paraphrase so it specifically deals with the
  focus of your essay.

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How to Paraphrase

• While paraphrasing, you want to take the most
  important aspect of what an original author is
  saying, and put it in your own words.
• When paraphrasing, you do not want to merely
  rearrange the original authors words, but
  refocus them to support the purpose of your
  writing.
• To properly paraphrase, it is important to have a
  strong focus statement.

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Example

• Topic The importance of meditation in stress
  management.
• Quote Through the implementation of private,
  focused, daily meditation in a quiet space, 70
  of participants reported feeling less stressed,
  while 59 reported feeling more confident in
  their relationships, and 68 reported feeling
  physically energized (Corbin, 2001, p. 418).
• Paraphrase A majority of people who
  participated in mediation saw various physical
  and mental benefits (Corbin, 2001).

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How to Paraphrase

• Find the main idea within a direct quote that you
  plan on using.
• Read that quote multiple times until you have a
  strong understanding of it.
• Take that idea and write it down on a separate
  piece of paper. Ignore everything else the
  author said that isnt that idea.
• Incorporate the idea into your paper using your
  own words, with your purpose in mind.