Using Research Sources in Your Outline

1. Processing What You Researched

As we discussed in previous tutorials, your writing will be supported by your research, which means that you will have to draw logical conclusions based on the source information. In this tutorial, we are going to focus on the ways you can integrate evidence from your research, by quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, and how each option has a different impact and effect. You can choose which style will work best for your paper.

make the connection

In the first Touchstone, you practiced summarizing and paraphrasing, skills that you will also use in your upcoming Touchstone when you create an annotated bibliography.

You can incorporate information from sources into your paper by directly using an excerpt of the exact words (quoting), rephrasing the ideas in your own words (paraphrasing), or providing a condensed overview of the main points (summarizing). For each of these methods, you will still need to cite the original source to avoid plagiarism and give credit. We will also go over how to be sure that you are integrating your research into your own writing while also keeping your voice as the main focus.

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2. Quoting

A quotation is when you use the exact words of a source. When the quote is short, it is enclosed in quotation marks. Longer quotes (40 words or more) are called block quotes, and they are separated visually from the main part of the text. Block quotes will be rare in your own essay, and you do not have to use them. It is rare to see a lot of block quotes in short essays because there isn’t as much time to examine a single quote in that kind of detail. Block quotes are usually reserved for situations where you really need to dive into what an author has said in great detail.

The basic rule of quoting is that you should only quote directly from a text when it's important for your reader to see the actual language used by the author of the source. While paraphrasing and summarizing are effective ways to introduce your reader to someone's ideas, quoting directly from a text allows you to introduce your reader to the way those ideas are expressed by showing the exact words used by your source.

You should choose to use quotations:

• When you plan to discuss the actual language of a text (as you might in an English course).
• When you are discussing an author's position or theory, and you plan to discuss the wording of a core assertion or argument in your paper.
• When you risk losing the essence of the author's ideas in the translation from their words to your own.
• When you want to appeal to the authority of the author, and using their words will emphasize that authority.

Let’s review how a short quotation is different from a block quotation.

IN CONTEXT
Short Quotes vs. Block Quotes

Short Quote (less than 40 words):

Effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470).

Block Quote (more than 40 words):

Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:

Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people’s everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957).

term to know

Block Quotes

Longer quotes of 40 words or more, set off from the main text.

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3. Paraphrasing

A paraphrase is a restatement of a source’s language in your own words and writing style. A paraphrase is usually about the same length as the original source material. Like a quotation, you must have a citation at the end of your paraphrase. A paraphrase without a citation would look like plagiarism to your reader!

You should use paraphrasing:

• When the wording of the source is less important than the meaning of the source.
• To change the organization of ideas for emphasis.
• To simplify the material.
• To clarify the material.

Although quoting can be more straightforward, consider these suggestions when paraphrasing:

• Focus on ideas and on understanding the paper or passage as a whole rather than skimming for specific phrases.
• Put the original text aside when you write so that it doesn’t overly influence you.
• Restructure the idea to reflect the way your brain works.
• Change the words so that the paraphrase reflects your language and tone. Think about how you would explain the idea to someone unfamiliar with your subject (your mother, your roommate, your sister).
• When you decide to paraphrase, try to change up the same structure of ideas and sentence structure, and do more than just change some of the words. Save your own ideas for before or after the paraphrase, to stay faithful to the meaning of the source material.

IN CONTEXT
Paraphrasing Source Material

Review an excerpt from a source (the original material) and then how a student paraphrased the text (cited in APA format).

Source material:

“The problem of obedience is not wholly psychological. The form and shape of society and the way it is developing have much to do with it. There was a time, perhaps, when people were able to give a fully human response to any situation because they were fully absorbed in it as human beings. But as soon as there was a division of labor, things changed” (Milgram, 1974, p. 737).

Paraphrase of source material:

Milgram (1974) claims that people's willingness to obey authority figures cannot be explained by psychological factors alone. In an earlier era, people may have had the ability to invest in social situations to a greater extent. However, as society has become increasingly structured by a division of labor, people have become more alienated from situations over which they do not have control (p. 737).

Reference of source material:

Milgram, S. (1974). The perils of obedience. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.), The Blair Reader (pp. 725–737). Prentice Hall.

Let’s review the difference between quoting and paraphrasing and some guidance on how to use each:

Quotation The text is identical to the original. The quoted material matches the source document word for word and is attributed to the original author.

Use a quotation…

• to support your definition of a new or unfamiliar term or phrase.
• when you want to distance yourself from the original source by quoting it to make clear that the statement is not your own.
• to show that an expert or authority supports your position.
• to provide factual evidence for a claim.
• to include historically significant language.
• when a source presents an idea in a particularly striking, moving, or unique way.
• to serve as a passage for analysis, comment, or critique; for example, to set out a position with which you intend to agree or disagree.

Paraphrase The idea or concept is borrowed from a passage but rephrased in your own words. A paraphrase must still be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, depending on the text. If any language used is the same as the language of the original source, then you are quoting, not paraphrasing.

Use a paraphrase…

• if a quotation would break the flow of your paper (too many quotations can make an essay sound choppy and difficult to follow).
• to communicate statistics and numerical data.
• when combining information from a source with your own analysis or other data (synthesizing).
• when what you want from your source is the idea, not the language that expresses it.
• if you can state the point of the material more succinctly by eliminating irrelevant information and not alter the meaning of the passage.
• to explain or simplify a passage that may be difficult to understand.

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4. Summarizing

As you know, a summary is a condensed version of a passage. Similar to paraphrasing, summarizing involves using your own words and writing style to express another author's ideas. Unlike the paraphrase, which presents important details, the summary presents only the most important ideas of the passage. A summary may be preferred to a paraphrase because summaries can provide a brief overview of a text. A summary is very flexible.

EXAMPLE

You could summarize a book in a sentence, or in several paragraphs, depending on your writing situation and audience.

You may use the summary often for the following reasons:

• To condense the material
• To omit extras from the material
• To simplify the material

When you decide to summarize, avoid keeping the same structure of ideas and/or sentence structure. Also avoid just changing some of the words. Be faithful to the meaning of the source material. What you are adding to a summary is the shrinking down of the material. You don’t want to change the author’s ideas as you shrink them down. You can add your own commentary after the summary.