Quote and Paraphrase

If you need to use someone else’s words, there are two options: Quote or Paraphrase.

Option 1: Quote

• “Quote” = Use the writer’s EXACT words in quotemarks (“”)
• After this, he “__renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton“__ (Nobel Foundation, 1922)
• Only do this for a FEW important quotes.

• Usually, you should paraphrase. ALWAYS give a page number if you can

• You can make SMALL changes to quotes:
  • Original: “He doesn’t like cats, and although they are friendly he doesn’t like dogs either”
  • Shorter: “He doesn’t like cats … he doesn’t like dogs either”
  • Fix grammar: “He doesn’t like cats … [or] dogs”
  • Fix pronouns: “[Bob] doesn’t like cats, … [or] dogs”

Option 2: Paraphrase - use your own words and grammar

• The best way to avoid having to paraphrase is
  • take notes in Japanese (only keywords in English) \
  • write in English.
  • That way it’s your own words
• If you do copy-paste-change paraphrase, it’s easy to break grammar or accidentally plagiarise. Remember to:
  • Change the words. Be careful of thesaurus, they often give a wrong word: http://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/
  • AND change the word order
  • AND then fix the grammar for your new version
  • Sometimes you need to change tense if you remove quotes
    • “Imagination is more important than knowledge” (Einstein, 1931, p. 31)
    • Einstein (1931) said that imagination was more important than knowledge

##Example paraphrases - why are these bad/good?

Original

He renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton (Nobel Foundation, 1922).

Bad paraphrase 1 - word/idea order different, words not changed

For political reasons, he renounced his citizenship and __ took the position of Theoretical Physics Professor at Princeton__ after he emigrated to America (Nobel Foundation, 1922).

Bad paraphrase 2 - words changed but order the same

Einstein gave up his nationality for political motives and moved to the US to occupy the post of Lecturer on Theoretical Physics in Princeton (Nobel Foundation, 1922).

Bad paraphrase 3 - meaning has been changed

Einstein hated politicians, so he settled in the Americas and became a Prince (Nobel Foundation, 1922).

Good paraphrase - words/idea order/grammar changed

On political grounds, Einstein gave up his citizenship, and having settled in the US became a Professor at Princeton University, teaching Theoretical Physics (Nobel Foundation, 1922).

Good summary (paraphrase and shorten without changing meaning).

Einstein went to work at Princeton, having first given up his citizenship (Nobel Foundation, 1922).