Paraphrasing

This is when you change the words but keep the basic meaning behind someone else's ideas.  This should usually be cited.

REMEMBER: Any time you create a citation, you also need to create a bibliography or Works Cited page.

There are several ways you can set up your in-text citations. 

You use the same basic format for both direct quotation and paraphrased ideas. 

(The type of source you use changes the information required to correctly cite the source.  For these examples, the book Pete and the Giant Cheese Ball by Mrs. Broadhurst is cited.  Click here to see how to cite information from a web page or click here to see how to cite information from a video.)

Paraphrasing Example 1 - Parenthetical citation:

Cheese is extremely important to the main character of the novel (Broadhurst 12, 26, 47).

This examples simply restates the author's idea, and is followed by the citation, including the author's last name and the relevant page numbers.  Several different page numbers are cited, as they each offer support for this specific idea.  NOTICE: The period is AFTER the parentheses; the sentence is not finished until the citation is given.  We can find out the name of Mrs. Broadhurst's book by checking the Works Cited section of the paper.

Paraphrasing Example 2 - Mixed:

In Mrs. Broadhurst's novel, the main character frequently states that he enjoys eating cheese (12, 26, 47).

In this example, the author's last name is used as part of the sentence, and her main idea is stated in different words than those she used.  Several different page numbers are cited, as they each offer support for this specific idea.  NOTICE: The period is AFTER the parentheses; the sentence is not finished until the citation is given.  We can find out the name of Mrs. Broadhurst's book by checking the Works Cited section of the paper.

Paraphrasing Example 3 - In-text citation:

In Mrs. Broadhurst's novel, the main character frequently states that he enjoys eating cheese; Pete conveys this basic idea several times on page 12 alone.

This example includes the author's last name worked in to the sentence, her idea stated in different words, and the number of the page that has information that supports this idea.  We can find out the name of Mrs. Broadhurst's book by checking the Works Cited section of the paper.

Click here to see how to paraphrase a web source (includes the original source material)