Academic writing encompasses building on the main ideas, writings, and findings of academics in your subject. University assignments are academic, and they require many citations and references. You will have to consult books, journal articles, and conference papers to write your assignments. You can incorporate the writings of others in your assignments through quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. You can use paraphrasing and summarizing to build and exhibit your comprehension and analysis of your discipline’s primary ideas/concepts while avoiding plagiarism. Paraphrasing and summarizing necessitate analytical and writing abilities, both of which are essential for academic success. But how will you quote and paraphrase the works of others in your research papers, and how will you indicate paraphrased text? This article will answer your queries about paraphrasing and direct quotations and guide you on how to indicate paraphrased text.
How do you indicate something is paraphrased?
Paraphrasing or summarizing another author’s work requires writing down the thoughts and opinions of another person in your own words. In academic assignments, we usually paraphrase a sentence or a paragraph. Longer paragraphs require paraphrasing in your own words. You can indicate paraphrased text in an assignment by providing in-text citations. In-text citations tell the readers that these are not your thoughts, but you have taken these ideas from another source. It is important to remember that you should not use the authors’ exact words while paraphrasing. Paraphrasing necessitates that you write the thoughts of other authors in your own words. Authors indicate paraphrased text in academic works to avoid plagiarism and give due credit to the work of other authors. There are different formats and citation styles to indicate paraphrased text. It is important to follow the guidelines provided by your university and follow the format mentioned in your assignment briefs. Here are some of the methods recommended by an assignment writing help firm to indicate paraphrased text:
1. APA Citation Style
APA citation style is one of the most common citation formats to indicate paraphrased text. APA follows the author-date method for indicating a paraphrased text. It entails that you will have to use the author’s last name and the year of publication to indicate paraphrased text. For instance, (Smith, 2002).
2. Harvard Citation Style
You can also use the Harvard citation style to indicate paraphrased text. After writing the paraphrased text, insert a bracket at the end of the text. In that bracket, write down the author’s last name and year of publication and close the bracket. If there are three authors of your source, you can provide the last names of all of them. For instance, (Zhang, Adam, and Samantha, 2003). But if there are more than three authors, you will shorten the citation with et al. For example (Zhang et al., 2003).
3. Chicago Citation Style
You can also use the Chicago footnote citation style to indicate the paraphrased text. Superscript numbers are placed in front of the text to indicate that you paraphrased it from another source. You can go to the References Option in MS Word and select Insert Footnote. A footnote will appear at the bottom of the page, where you can provide the details of the source. For example, the footnotes will appear like the following in MS Word:
Howard argues that the ideas are more appealing. 1
- James Howard, Modern Ideas and Populism (Routledge: New York, 2008).
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How are quoting and paraphrasing done in research papers?
A quote is a written text from another source that authors repeat word for word. Authors place quotation marks right before and after the text. Quotation marks inform the readers that these are the source’s precise words. Quotations add interest to an essay and provide evidence for key claims. Thus, only quote phrases and words that are exceptionally intriguing or distinctive and are particularly pertinent to support the point. Keep the quotations as short as possible. They should not be 10 to 20 % in the entire research assignment. Here are some of the ways to quote texts in a research paper:
• Arthur claims, “Society’s problems can be mitigated through proper policy frameworks” (Arthur, 1999, p.24)
Paraphrasing
You can use certain essential phrases from the source, but it is important to write the source’s opinions and key findings in your own words. You do not have to provide quotation marks while paraphrasing. But you must provide the in-text citations to avoid plagiarism and to indicate paraphrased text. You can do the following things to paraphrase someone else’s ideas:
- Read key sections of the original text until you completely comprehend its significance.
- Make some notes and make a list of the source material’s important phrases.
- Without glancing at the source information, write down the paragraph using only the relevant phrases.
- Make sure your paraphrased text includes the crucial details and the source’s intended meaning.
- Use in-text citations to show where your paraphrase begins and finishes.
Important Tips for Paraphrasing
- Make changes in the voice of the text
You can also change the voice of the text to paraphrase it in your own words. For example, if the words of the original source are in active voice, you can convert them to passive voice and vice versa.
- Synonyms
You can use a dictionary to find the synonyms of the original text’s words. You can replace the words with the most relevant synonyms, and it will help you paraphrase the text easily.
- Start the Sentences with Signaling Words
You can use signaling words to paraphrase others’ ideas smoothly. You can start your sentences with the following terms:
- Scientists indicate that….
- Academics believe that…
- Jones asserts that…
- In his 2018 study, Smith discusses…
- As Smith (2019) notes….
- The current research demonstrates that….
- The research of Smith (2019, p. 245) suggests that…
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Conclusion
Quotations and phrases are unavoidable, and you will have to use them in your academic assignments. Academic assignments require paraphrasing and quotations to add credibility to your research assignments. But if you do it correctly, you will not succumb to plagiarism. Make sure that you cite everything properly and indicate paraphrased text. You can follow the above guidelines to paraphrase and quote others’ ideas.
