Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting: A Guide to Doing it Right!

0:00Summarizing, Paraphrasing and Quoting: A Guide to Doing it Right!

0:05Let's start off by talking about summarizing. Summarizing takes something and boils it down to its essence.

0:13From something larger to something smaller. Let's take a look at an example:

0:28Here's some text that you may be familiar with.

0:32If I was going to summarize this, I would take a look at that text and see what stands out for me?

0:40It opens with a really great quote! I can't replace or do better than it, so I'm going to include that quote in my summary.

0:48After that, let's look at the first paragraph. What's important in that first paragraph? Well, there are a couple of things that stand out.

0:55First off, I see that I have two sides - the Rebels and the evil Galactic Empire.

1:01I see that they're having a civil war and that the Rebels have just won their first victory. Those are the important key points there.

1:08In the second paragraph, I see again, the Rebels, stole some secret plans to the Death Star. That's important and good to know.

1:17Lastly, I see that Princess Leia is being pursued and she has the stolen plans.

1:23There's a lot more there, but these are unnecessary details, if I'm trying to just come up with a summary.

1:30So an acceptable summary might look like this. What makes this acceptable?

1:36It starts with some citation information. This is not MLA, APA, or Chicago style, but at the very least it's saying - where is this coming from -

1:47the movie, Star Wars. After that, my exact quote - my great quote - I used it, and I put it in quotation marks, to say, this isn't me,

1:57I'm borrowing this from the movie. After that, I see a lot of the key points that we saw in that original text.

2:05We knew there was a civil war between the Rebels and the Galactic Empire. We knew the Rebels had stolen the plans to the Death Star,

2:11and that the Empire was trying to get them back.

2:13So you can see, I took that larger block of text and tried to really boil it down into its essence.

2:19Let's take a look at a not-so-good example:

2:23What makes this unacceptable?

2:25It still starts with that citation information, which is good, but then what happens after that?

2:30There's that great quote, but you'll notice, there are no quotation marks here, so,

2:35I'm saying - I wrote that - that's my language - those are my words -

2:40and I didn't take that from anywhere. That's what you're doing when you don't have quotation marks around other people's words.

2:46What about the rest of my wording? Well, I borrowed things and I *just* changed them a little bit.

2:52The original text from the movie was, "evil Galactic Empire," and what have I got?

2:59I didn't even bother changing that, "the evil Galactic Empire." Again, it's not in quotes, and I just used it exactly the way it was.

3:06"Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans." What did I use? I used, "Rebel spies were able to steal the secret plans."

3:15Those are pretty similar.

3:16"Princess Leia races home aboard her starship." And I put, "Princess Leia is speeding home on her starship."

3:25They sound the same. They look the same.

3:29If your text has the feel of the original, then I'm not summarizing, I'm just taking chunks of it and putting it together.

3:39Copying and pasting and changing a few words, is not a summary.

3:44Let's talk about paraphrasing.

3:47Paraphrasing is almost like a translation. It's taking something written in a particular style, using particular language,

3:53and translating it into what sounds like you. What would come out of your mouth.

3:58For instance, let's say I start with a sentence like this:

4:02That sounds scientific. It sounds pretty fancy.

4:07I'm going to read this and really get a feel for it, and now I can translate it into what I would say.

4:16Are all of the important points still there? Let's take a look.

4:20So they said, "the authors studied the effects," and I said, "this study looked at." A little simpler.

4:26What did they look at? They looked at "sub-zero temperatures," and I say, "very cold." It doesn't have to be so specific.

4:34The "mortality," well, mortality is another way of saying surviving or not surviving. Your ability to live or not live.

4:42And they went scientific, they went with "Rattus Norvegicus," well, I'm just going to make it simple, "rats."

4:48So I've got the same basic components. I made them a little more understandable for people who wouldn't be comfortable with the original text.

4:56Let's do it again!

4:58So here is our original block of text. A little more scientific, but not bad.

5:04But still, it's not me. It's not how I would write or speak. So I'm going to take that and translate it into myself.

5:12Here's what I would say. Let's take a look again and see if we can find the various bits and pieces.

5:18"Researchers found," I'm going to go with, "the study looked at."

5:22"Researchers found,"is not nearly as intimidating perhaps as, "the authors studied the effects,"

5:26but, it's not how I would speak.

5:29"Equally strong association," well, I'm going to call that a similarity. Things are equally strong, well, then they're similar,

5:38and I'm going to say that there was a "similarity between" these things.

5:41They say, "the pleasurable effects of eating Oreos," and I just say, "the highs produced by sugary junk food."

5:47"Cocaine or morphine," I don't need to be that specific, I can just say, "specific drugs."

5:54There's my rats, so I'm still looking at the drugs and the sugary junk food on rats, and specifically,

6:01about a particular environment where the rats wanted to be. They found that the drugs and the Oreos made them both want to be there.

6:09They wanted to be where those things were. Didn't matter if it was drugs, didn't matter if it was junk food, the rats liked them both.

6:15You're got to take the original in its actual intent, and you've got to translate it into something that sounds more like you.

6:24Let's see something that's a little easier than those two blocks of text.

6:29You might be familiar with this movie. If you recognize that phrase, you know that it's something that gets repeated quite a bit.

6:39What if I wanted to paraphrase that phrase?

6:45He informs his foe of the reason why he is angry, and he then immediately issues a threat to him.

6:52The essential parts, his name, why he's angry, and what he's going to do next, there they are, only said in a different way.

7:02Let's go back to our Star Wars.

7:07I have that first paragraph, and now I have my paraphrase of it.

7:13Are the important points still there? Let's see. Yep - there's "civil war," and there is a "civil war," I mention that.

7:22They said, "Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory,"

7:27and I say, "Rebels are using guerilla tactics resulting in a recent success." Same basic idea.

7:34I did like that phrase though, "the evil Galactic Empire," so I took it and I put it inside quotes.

7:41Remember, if you can't do better than them, use their words, put them in quotes.

7:48Second paragraph, well, the "Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans." "Rebels have just stolen the plans."

7:56There's a weapon "with enough power to destroy an entire planet," and I'm going just call that a "cataclysmic weapon."

8:03So I said, in a shorter sentence, a lot of what they said. I didn't feel that the Death Star, the fact that it's an armored space station,

8:10was absolutely essential there. Good enough. That last paragraph, let's take a look at what we've got there.

8:17"Pursued by the Empire," well, "the Empire is giving chase," sure. To our main character there, Princess Leia, well one of them.

8:26"Plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy," "she hopes to use the plans to win the fight against the Empire."

8:35I was a little less dramatic.

8:38You can see the important points and a phrase was kept in quotes.

8:44How about an unacceptable paraphrase? Well, let's start with that first paragraph again, what have I done here?

8:52There are some exact phrases without quotation marks again. There's "striking from a hidden base," and there's "striking from a hidden base."

9:01There's my "against the evil Galactic Empire," and there it is again.

9:05If their words are great, that's fine, but, quotation marks! Let's take a look at the rest of this thing.

9:13What's wrong with the rest of it, or what else is wrong with it?

9:18How many very slightly reworded sentences do I have, that still sound and feel like the originals? Oh, a lot, wait until you see!

9:26"Have won their first victory," "had a recent victory," it's close.

9:31"During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon,"

9:36"during the recent fight, Rebel spies were able to steal the plans to the Empire's supreme weapon."

9:44You know, ultimate, supreme, there's not a lot of difference there.

9:48The Death Star we see is, "an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet," and I said that the Death Star,

9:56"is a space station strong enough to vaporize a whole planet." Yeah, close enough, sounds the same.

10:04"Custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy," sounds a whole lot like,

10:10"because she has the stolen plans that can save the Rebels and bring peace to the universe."

10:15Just leaving off the "..." on the end, not enough.

10:19There is, believe it or not, some actual paraphrasing going on in here.

10:23Up at the top, I had "it is a period of civil war," and I turned that into, "the Rebels and the Galactic Empire are engaged in a civil war."

10:31"Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship."

10:38"Princess Leia is being chased by the evil members of the Empire as she heads to her home world."

10:43It needs to be more than sounds the same and you just substituted one or two words here or there. Not good enough.

10:51So when should you use quotes?

10:54Ask yourself, can you say it better?

10:57In this movie there are a couple of really great lines, and I don't think

11:02that "once upon a time in a far away place in space," can do better than "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."

11:09"May the force be with you," is a beautifully put statement.

11:13"I hope that the spiritual energy of the universe is on your side," it's a little clunky.

11:18"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." That's classic.

11:24"There is no worse place, filled with such terrible people, in existence." That is not classic.

11:29Think about it. Hear it in your head.

11:31Can you do better? Is it a great line? Does it really sum up what you want to say?

11:38Could you do better? If not, use it, put it in quotes. However, use quotes sparingly!

11:45Not every sentence is a gem. Find the best, use those.

11:50How do you summarize? You always start, no matter what you're doing, by reading the text.

11:56Jot down the few key words and ideas. What stands out? Remember, stand back, take a look at it as a whole.

12:03Now put it away. Don't have it sitting there while you're working on it.

12:08What's important is what will filter up in your memory. What do you remember? That's what stood out.

12:14State that main idea in YOUR OWN WORDS. Remember, this is supposed to sound like you.

12:20Don't put your opinion into the summary. A summary is just a statement of the facts.

12:26Don't also put your interpretations, that comes later. If you're just summarizing a source, be it a webpage, a book, a movie,

12:34be plain about what you're summarizing, and then talk about it after.

12:40Then go back. Check your summary against the original. Make sure you didn't go with any of those exact phrases, and if you did,

12:47put them in quotes if they were worth keeping. If you used exact phrases and didn't mean to, get rid of it. Take another stab at it.

12:57Maybe you got a little more detailed than you needed to be. Get rid of unnecessary details. What is it that's important to know?

13:06Don't be flowery, just go basic.

13:09Paraphrasing, starts as I said, the same way, read your text.

13:15But now put it away. Don't look at it.

13:18Just like when you're summarizing, you don't want it there, because it's a temptation to look over it, and then it will be hard to think

13:23your own thoughts, with their thoughts, their words, right in your face.

13:28State those ideas in YOUR OWN WORDS, your language. What would you say? How would you say it?

13:34Don't change the meaning of the text and don't change the order.

13:39Paraphrasing is not taking three paragraphs and moving them around like a shell game and suddenly now paragraph three is paragraph one,

13:46and you feel as though you've paraphrased. No, no. It's got to be in the basic order it came in originally.

13:52Don't change what the person was trying to say. Don't change the order it came in.

13:57Check your paraphrase against the original, again for phrases. Make sure that any exact phrases are in quotation marks.

14:04And if it still sounds like the text with only a slightly different word here or there. You need to do more work on it.