Handout quoting, paraphrasing,and summarizing 2013

Working with Sources: Summaries, Paraphrases, Quotations

A Presentation to Help Student Writers Work with Other Peoples’ Words and Ideas

Daniel Nester The College of Saint Rose nestersteachingblog.com

Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries 2

Contents Why Use Other Peoples’ Words and Ideas in the First Place? ............................................ 3

The Summary ............................................................................................................................. 17

The Paraphrase .......................................................................................................................... 42

Quotations ................................................................................................................................... 66

Commentary .............................................................................................................................. 101

Making an Argument: Using Rhetoric, the Rhetorical Triangle ......................................... 105


Why Use Other Peoples’ Words and Ideas in the First Place?


All academic writing, and a good amount of creative or literary writing, uses other people’s words and ideas.

I can’t think of many examples of writing in which you would not use other people’s ideas and words. Maybe propaganda, or notes for oneself.


Because saying

“because I say so” or

“someone I know or love thinks this way” or even

“because I lived through this”

Isn’t enough.


Beliefs are not facts.

Personal experience does not always translate into universal truth.

While often effective in spoken rhetoric, using only one’s own voice, words, and personal experience doesn’t always do the job you want it to do in writing.

You want to provide support for claims and add credibility to your writing.


To do this, you need to refer to work or other people’s ideas that lead or led up to the work you are now doing, the point you are making or are trying to make.

Show how your own idea has evolved.


Give examples of several points of view on a subject.


Call attention to a position with which you agree or disagree.

Highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage by quoting the original.


Distance yourself from the original by quoting it directly to show readers the exact words that are not your own.

Expand the breadth or depth of your writing.

Show to your readers you’ve considered ideas other than your own.

Add authority to your voice.

It makes you look smart!


You have performed what is called in the legal profession the due diligence, the work that is required of investigating support to claim as well as opposing arguments, to present your argument.

That’s research. In presenting research, we work with others’ work.


OK. I’ll use other people’s words.

So why do I need to cite or give credit to other peoples’ words in the second place?


Join the community of scholars. Academic writing is a conversation. It is important to express your ideas (“I say”) in its many incarnations, personal or not, but also listening and presenting the ideas of others (“They say”). Academic writing, as Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein write in They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, “is deeply engaged in some way with other people’s views.”


To write effectively in an academic setting, in other words, you need to demonstrate not only that you have listened to others and can present their ideas, but you also are intellectually curious—we call this “the spirit of critical inquiry” in the academy.


To write effective academic writing, it’s not enough to make a point or present an idea; you also need to explain why you are doing this. In other words, you need to present a claim or make an argument, offer reasoning and support, anticipate a rebuttal or opposition to your claims and overall claim, and finally tell us why it matters and the implications for your audience.


You need to present in your writing what someone says, what it means, and why it matters.

Say, Mean, Matter = The Heart of Academic Writing


The Summary


What is a summary?


What is a summary?

Your impression or main idea of a whole work—article, argument, book, speech, interview, work of art—in your own words.


Tips on writing a summary.

In a discussion of a work, the summary comes first.

Keep it to 1-2 sentences.

Example:

Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick is, at least on the surface, the story of Ahab’s struggle to find the whale that took away his leg. Ahab’s struggle can also be examined as an allegory for masculine pride.


Example #2:

In “Notes on Camp” essayist Susan Sontag attempts to explain that elusive sensibility known as “camp.”


Provide expository information: attribute the name and the name of the work—that is, tell your readers who wrote or said or created.


Full name of author or artist.

Not first names—you’re not BFF’s with these people.

Full name of the work.

Watch your format. Also: is it the full work, part of the work?

Sometimes the year, type of work.

Again: This is all only your own words.



Which verb tense?

This depends.

Regarding works of art, here are some words of wisdom from The Elements of Style:


In summaries, keep to one tense.

In summarizing the action of a drama, the writer should always use the present tense. In summarizing a poem, story, or novel, he should preferably use the present, though he may use the past if he prefers. If the summary is in the present tense, antecedent action should be expressed by the perfect; if in the past, by the past perfect.


There are good reasons for using the present tense in works of literary art.

First and foremost, the present tense carries more power and is more immediate to the reader.

Works of art are always in the immediate, present tense; you can always go back to them and experience them again.


For example:


In The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger killed a lot of people.


Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa was most famous for the subject, a woman who half-smiled with her arms crossed in front of her.


Both of these descriptions sound strange.

Why? You can rent the movies again and re-experience the action. You can go to the Louvre museum and see the painting again.

Works of art, in other words, are always in the eternal present.


In The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger kills a lot of people.


Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa is most famous for the subject, a woman who half-smiles with her arms crossed in front of her.


The same goes for the following works of literature.

Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick was, at least on the surface, the story of Ahab’s struggle to find the whale that took away his leg.

Susan Sontag’s essay “Notes on Camp” attempted to explain that elusive sensibility known as “camp.”


The past tense in these instances simply doesn’t work. It gives the impression that these things happened once and only once.


Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick is, at least on the surface, the story of Ahab’s struggle to find the whale that took away his leg.

Susan Sontag’s essay “Notes on Camp” attempts to explain that elusive sensibility known as “camp.”


When do you use the past tense in a summary?

Use the past tense in sources that are not works of art.

A news report:

In September 2005, the late Sen. Arlen Specter, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and an abortion rights supporter, declared that he would vote for John Roberts to be confirmed as chief justice of the United States.



Recounting an historical incident.

When Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808, deposed its monarch, and appointed his brother King of Spain and the Two Indies, he unleashed a geopolitical revolution in the Atlantic world.


Outlining a personal narrative, sometimes:

When I was twelve years old, my father took us all aside and told us that he was going to be laid off from his job.


To use the present tense in these instances would sound strange, much the same as using past tense would sound strange when summarizing or otherwise discussing a work of art.


The Paraphrase


What is a paraphrase?


A more detailed restatement than a summary, a paraphrase focuses concisely on a single main idea, passage, or aspect of a work.


Your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form—that is to say, in your own words.


Why is paraphrasing a valuable skill?

It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished, clunky, passage, or one that goes on too long for the purposes of your writing.


It shows you are in control of what you are dealing with—you have the skills to break something down for the purposes of your own writing.

It helps many to control the temptation of quoting too much.

The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original, and shows your readers you aren’t intimidated by the source you’re working with.


Tips on writing a paraphrase.

1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning. What this also means is that you should only paraphrase passages that you have a full grasp of the meaning.


2. When you do decide to paraphrase a passage from a source, set the original aside, and write your paraphrase in your notes.


3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how—that is, where in your paper—you picture using this paraphrase material.


4. Beside your notes, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase, where it might appear in your essay.


5. At the top of your notes, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.


Check your paraphrase with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.

Always check again to make sure you’re not using any of the original passage’s words.


But, if you are drawn, again and again, to a few words from the original, if you find the language so distinct it would lose meaning with your own words, if you find it un-paraphrasable, then you should by all means use those words in a quotation.

(More on using quotations that later.)


More tips on writing a paraphrase.

6. Record the source—including the page—in your notes so that, if you do use it in your paper, you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into the draft of your paper.

Sometimes, when you are working on a longer paper, it might be helpful to write or type the entire passage from the original for reference’s sake. Be careful when doing this, and be sure you use quotations if you do this, to remind yourself it’s not your words!


Some examples to compare.

The original passage from a source:

“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.”

Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.


Here’s a good, legitimate paraphrase:

Students quote from their sources too much and too often in their research papers, James D. Lester writes, and fail to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (46-47).

Notice the page range there at the end. We’ll get around to citations a bit later. Right now, we’ve covering the skill of paraphrasing.


In that scenario, you have cited the author in-text, which means the name of the source appears in the body of the sentence. (Go back to the example if you don’t get that bit.)


After this first in-text reference in a passage, you may, in successive references, and depending on which discipline you’re writing in, write the last name, in this case “Lester,” on successive references, with the page cited in parentheses.

Here’s an example of a paraphrase after the full work has been cited.


Students quote from their sources too much and too often in their research papers, some writing teachers believe, and fail to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46).

Here, we are not citing the name of the author in-text. Whether or not you cite the author in text depends a number of factors: the discipline you’re writing in and what role the sentences play.


In a research paper in the humanities, if this passage would appear in the introduction and isn’t part of the main argument, for example, this would be acceptable.


Tips on writing a paraphrase.

A plagiarized version:

Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

Who wrote this? You? How do you know?


A plagiarized version:

Students frequently overuse direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.


“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.”

Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.


Original words from the source in bold. This word-for-word re-wording often ends up as an overwrought paraphrase, one that is not in the student writer’s authentic voice. It also leads to changing the meaning.

Plus: Where is the attribution for James D. Lester?


Quotations


When do you use quotes?

The words are so distinct, so unparaphraseable, that you have to use a source’s words.

A longer passage is absolutely central to your paper’s idea or argument.

It is a catchy or memorable phrase or sentence.


When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format quotations differently depending on whether they are long or short quotations.


Scenario #1: If it’s not so important who the sources is, but the quote is unparaphrasable.

According to some psychologists, dreams express “profound aspects of personality,” though others disagree (Foulkes 184).

Is it possible that dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184)?


Scenario #2: The source is an important part of the paper, and so is cited in-text.

According to Foulkes’s study, dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (184).


Regardless of the context, it’s usually best to do this on first reference. Unless it is really formal (some might say dry) researched reports.


Scenario 3: Block quotes: Long quotations.

Format:

Quotes from a source that are longer than four typed lines in prose (or longer than three lines of poems) in a free-standing block of typed lines need to be put into what is called a “block quote.”


Remember: Block quotes do not use quotation marks.

Start the quotation on a new line, indented one inch from the left margin (MLA style) or five spaced (APA style).

Keep the double-spacing format as in the rest of the body of the paper.

Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.


Important tips:

Lead up to and follow up these longer quotations with commentary, interpretation, and analysis. Why else would you be directly quoting such a large passage from another work?

To offer no commentary before or after a longer block quotation is both a sign to the reader (and professor) that the writer doesn’t have a full grasp of the material, is perhaps running out the clock on a page-length requirement, or assumes the ability to synthesize points on the part of the reader when it is in fact the writer’s duty or responsibility.


<professor sarcasm> The ability to transcribe words from a source at length gives a reader no indication of a grasp on the actual writing unless is surrounded by analysis from the writer herself.</professor sarcasm>


In other words, do not over-use the block quote.

One rule of thumb, depending on the discipline, is one block quote every five typed pages.

Here’s a an example of a block quote, set up with a sentence that puts it in context and offers commentary.


...

Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout:

Heathcliff bore his degradation pretty well at first, because Cathy taught him what she learnt, and worked or played with him in the fields. They both promised fair to grow up as rude as savages; the young master being entirely negligent how they behaved, and what they did, so they kept clear of him. He would not even have seen after their going to church on Sundays, only Joseph and the curate reprimanded his carelessness when they absented themselves; and that reminded him to order Heathcliff a flogging, and Catherine a fast from dinner or supper. But it was one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day, and the after punishment grew a mere thing to laugh at. (235)

That Brontë presents these floggings with brings a contrast in Wuthering Heights to XYZ XYZ...


Drop Quotes: The Big No-No

More often than not, unless the context is already amply provided and is in the most research-centered reports in some disciplines, the college writer does not just drop a quote and run.


“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper.”


“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper.”

This is a drop quote and should never be done in a paper, ever. In the sentence above, the writer has not used any of her own words, and there is no attribution.


How to break down a quote and make it part of your own sentence.

Here is a bare-bones, barely acceptable way of citing a source:

Lester: “Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper” (46).


The writer has put the author’s name outside the quote to introduce his words. It’s acceptable. By no means is this good writing, but it may work in the most research-based disciplines and papers, provided it’s surrounded by a context of your own writing.


Here’s another try:

“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes,” Lester writes his book, Writing Research Papers, “and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper” (46).


“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes,” Lester writes his book, Writing Research Papers, “and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper” (46).


On top of attributing the source, which is always necessary, what we have done here is “broken up” the quote. We have told our readers who is asserting this point mid-sentence, and by doing this we engage our readers by citing its source before the sentence is over.


Breaking up a quote is usually done at a grammatically logical place in the sentence, usually between independent or dependent clauses. In the example above, it’s after a comma and before a coordinating conjunction (“and”).


Tips on using quotations.

The signal phrase.


Signal phrase is a phrase or clause before the quotation that signals to the reader that either a direct quote or a paraphrase is about to follow.


Example:

“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes,” Lester notes, “and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper” (46).

In this example, “Lester notes” is the signal phrase, so-called because it signals to the reader to whom these words belong.


Some of the most common signal phrases: “Smith suggests that…” and “Smith argues that…” and the old trusty standby, “Smith writes that.”


Certainly these are all fine signal phrases, but a research paper that contains many quotes can become rather tedious to read if every quotation is introduced in the same manner.


Other signal phrase-friendly verbs:

acknowledges, adds, admits, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments, compares, confirms, contends, declares, denies, disputes, emphasizes, endorses, grants, illustrates, implies, insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, responds, suggests, thinks, writes.


Signal phrases are essential to create a bridge between your own voice and that of another you are incorporating into your essay. When done well, not only does it indicate the author, but enables you to add some context to the words quoted.


Lester, a nationally known authority on composition theory, contends that student writers “frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper” (46).

Here, in this scenario, we are telling readers who this Lester person is, why we should pay attention to his direct quotation by the scholar-author. It also shows us that the scholar-author has investigated for us on our behalf with critical thinking.


Note: If you identify the author in the signal phrase, you don’t have to identify author in the MLA page citations in parentheses after that first quotation with the signal phrase. I see this error a lot in first year writing. Once is enough.

Lester, a nationally known authority on composition theory, contends that student writers “frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper” (Lester 46).


(No need for that second Lester in parens.)


Lastly, for you nerds who think they know everything already, a potential mechanics problem: The quote-within-a-quote.

Sometimes you will come across words quoted another writer in another work. You should not use that passage quoted as your own finding.


If you’re using, say, Susan Sontag’s quotation that appears within Daniel Nester’s essay, you cite it by writing “qtd. in” after the quote. If so, write “qtd. in Nester,” or whomever. Example:

According to Susan Sontag, “Taste has no system and no proofs” (qtd. in Nester).

If Nester is just paraphrasing Sontag, then you would omit the "qtd. in" and just write (Nester).



OK. I have summarized readings and other texts (films, interviews, websites). I have paraphrased the pertinent and interesting sections of those readings that seem to help me with my idea. I have even quoted the best and most compelling of my sources.

What’s next?


Commentary


All academic writing has an argument, a point to present to its readers.

Research and working with sources support this goal. That’s its purpose.

You may not know the exact purpose as you move along, but it becomes your job as a critical thinker to attempt to bring it all together, to present these findings, conclusions, implications.


Look at these sections you have worked with, summarized, paraphrased, and quoted.

Ask yourself questions.


How does each section help you figure out something, be it a question or a problem?

What is this all adding up to?

This is the beginning of your own idea.


Making an Argument: Using Rhetoric, the Rhetorical Triangle


Rhetoric. People use the word “rhetoric” in different ways. Rhetorical question. Question not meant to be answered. Rhetoric. Amped-up argument with intent to do some sort of harm. A kind of behavior or style of communication, rather than a method. Rhetoric has been defined in technical, almost psycholinguistic terms. Philosophy of language’s ideas, etc.


Trish Roberts-Miller of University of Texas at Austin offers a short history of rhetoric on her website. She defines rhetoric as a “kind of contingency-based argumentation that implies a skeptical epistemology on issues of public policy.” (Whew.)

http://www.drw.utexas.edu/roberts-miller/handouts/history-of-rhetoric

http://www.drw.utexas.edu/roberts-miller/handouts/history-of-rhetoric


Put another way, rhetoric works claims, or arguments, that may not be true in every case, and approaches our world with a healthy amount of disbelief that anyone knows everything to be completely true.


Put still another way, in rhetoric everything is relative. It’s up to you, the writer, to make your argument effective, with an workable thesis, claims to support it that provide evidence and specific examples.


Our experience with rhetoric comes from the idea of Classical Rhetoric, which started with Aristotle’s idea of proof, syllogism, first principles, but moves from there into the fields as diverse logic, literature, politics, speech studies, and many more.


To employ rhetoric in this way involves making a claim, offering an argument with evidence and proof. All of this involves using others’ words and ideas.


One of the main challenges I have had as a teacher and as a writer is persuading students to use other people’s words, to not shy away from deferring to others’ expertise, and to see how doing this in the right way can only support one’s argument or claim.


I am about to show you what is called the Rhetorical Triangle. Don’t be scared. It’s really quite simple.



When we enter the Rhetorical Triangle, when we think about ourselves along with our proof as well as our audience, we are engaging in the classical rhetoric.

We engage in nothing short of walking in the same steps as all those who have come before us and those who will come after us who wish to present a claim and offer proof for our audience.


Here’s another version, perhaps more helpful, of the Rhetorical Triangle. These last two images are versions of what is called the “Rhetorical Triangle.”


In its simplest terms, we’re talking about WriterContextAudience. This rhetorical triangle applies to your writing’s overall argument as well as how you support it.


If you lose sight of who your audience is (pathos), or forget about or disregard your audience, and your argument suffers.

Forget to use facts, offer proof, and provide support for your claims (logos), and your argument will sound as if it is a rant.

Forget adding context and analysis or any possible effective personal experience (ethos), and your argument will read as if it is a group of facts alone in a field, with nothing to do. The checklist that follows on the next three pages is from the following:

Lutzke, Jaclyn and Mary F. Henggeler. “The Rhetorical Triangle.” Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis School of Liberal Arts Writing Center (handout). November 2009. 16 Jan 2011 < http://www.iupui.edu/~uwc/pdf/Rhetorical%20Triangle.pdf>.


Logos:

Is your idea clear and specific?

Is your idea supported by strong reasons and credible evidence?

Is the argument to support your idea logical and arranged in a well-reasoned order?


Ethos:

What are the writer’s qualifications? This applies to yourself as well as your sources. How do you connect the writer to the topic being discussed?

Do you demonstrate respect for multiple viewpoints by using sources in the text?

Are your sources credible? Are your sources documented appropriately?

Do you use a tone that is suitable for the audience/purpose? Is the diction (word choice) used appropriate for the audience/purpose?


Is your paper/essay/assignment presented in a polished and professional manner?


Pathos:

Are vivid examples, details and images used to engage your reader’s emotions and imagination?

Do you appeal to values and beliefs of the reader by using examples readers can relate to or care about?

If you are proposing a solution to a problem, for example, do you tell us what is at stake?


So why cite or give credit to other people’s words?

Share your research.

People might be interested in where you found something!

It adds authority to your writing voice.


If you write something obviously not in your voice or in your own words—

“I think, therefore I am” (Descartes); or

“Ask not what your country can do, but what you can do for your country” (Kennedy)

The only thing it will accomplish is it will detract from the authority of your own voice.


Plus, if you don’t do that, it’s plagiarism.


Education

Handout quoting, paraphrasing,and summarizing 2013