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2. How to Use Sources and Avoid Plagiarism

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First of all, always remember to reference everything that’s not your original idea. Bearing that in mind, there are three basic ways to bring sources into your writing - quotes, paraphrases, and summaries:

  1. Quotes are the exact words from the source in inverted commas. 
  2. Paraphrases are a “translation” into your words of the source text, including most of the details. They’ll be about the same length as the original.
  3. Summaries are boiled-down versions of the source, so they just give the main idea and not much of the detail. They’ll be shorter than the original.

How do you decide which one to use? Well, avoid quotes unless they are really good! Why? They don’t show you’ve understood, so putting things in your own words is much better. Use paraphrases if you need to give the whole point with the details. Use a summary if you can sum up a point quickly and you don’t need to go into detail. 

For lots more on this topic, see our page on How to Write in your own Words.