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Support for a claim can come from facts, statistics, authorities, examples, or textual citations. Any of these may be quoted, paraphrased, or summarized from another source to support an argument. Quoting source material is the best choice when the original wording is so eloquent or focused that something would be lost in rewording it. If you do not need to retain the wording of a passage butneed to retain its details, paraphrasing is your best option. If you want only to highlight the most important details of a passage, summarize. (Warning, summarizing is the weakest technique and should be avoided whenever possible).
Documentthe source of any material cited and clearly indicate any wording that is not your own by enclosing it in quotation marks. Rememberthat paraphrases and sum-maries must use your own wording and sentence structure.
As a general rule, one should be able to verify all facts with in additional sources. If this cannot be done, it may be not a fact at all but instead a piece of propaganda or misinformation. If one comes upon a fact that does not sound plausible, say from a source that may not be consider credible, keep researching until the claim (fact) can be verified with at least one other source. Cross-check facts
Research the Source of Information The less familiar one is with a source of information, the more one should research the source before trusting the material it includes. This advice is true for all sources, but especially for those that you find on the Web, where the bar for publication is low and the likelihood of inaccuracy is high. Often, groups whose main purpose is political advocacy and present their Web sites and publications as unbiased research centers or public interest concerns. The best place to research a Web site is on the Web itself. A quick Google search on the term "DHMO," for example, yields
Working with Quotations & Paraphrases A writer must maintain control of their own argument by controlling the structure, organization, and content of their (thesis) argument. Use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries to set up, illustrate, establish, or support the original argument. If is important that a write not allow quotations, paraphrases, and summaries to speak for them. Ultimately, their audience evaluates the strength of a paper’s argument, (The writers) not those of their sources.
Introduce the context for a citation It is important for writers to let their readers know where any citation originated--who said or wrote it, and why he or she is an authority, (Ethos) as well as where the citation can be found. Establishing that context clarifies the importance of the citation for the reader and, more often than not, will make the cited material more interesting and persuasive.
Example Awkward: Princes cannot always be moral. "And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion" (Machiavelli 136) Revised: Machiavelli writes that, while leaders should try to be moral when possible, they are often required by circumstances to act in ways that are contrary to "faith, friendship, humanity, and religion" (Machiavelli 136).
Select signal verbs carefully Signal verbs signal to the reader that the writer is about to quote, paraphrase, or summarize from another source. The common signal verbs "say" and "think" (as in, "Machiavelli says that a leader 'cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed'") are neutral, but other signal verbs can indicate how, the writer, feels about the citation, or they can suggest the tone of the original text. The signal verb "claim" can indicate that the writer is skeptical about the source's belief; "argue" can indicate that the person being cited was emphatic. Select signal verbs carefully, and keep in mind the connotations they will have for the reader.
Use Proper Verb Tense in MLA In MLA style, use the present tense to refer to a quotation, paraphrase, or summary: "In Two Principles of Justice, John Rawls insists that a basic understanding of fairness requires us to distribute our resources in a way that everyone would see as fair if they viewed it from a neutral perspective." However, if the focus is on the author rather than the writing, use the past tense: The great Italian political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli believedthat leaders were "often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion.”
Select quotes carefully Select a few quotations that express important points within an argument. Make sure that every word of quoted material is relevant to the central argument. Quotations that are unnecessarily long distract the reader from the core ideas. Maintain control of the verb tense and sentence structure If one quotes someone else's words within awriting, they need to control the verb tense and sentence structure of the writing while still using the exact words of the source. Pay close attention to the verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and noun-pronoun agreement when incorporating a quote into a writing. If needed, rewrite sentence or use ellipses or brackets to alter the quotation grammatically while being careful not to alter its meaning.
Ellipses and Brackets These are acceptable when used to shorten or focus an argument or to clarify meaning, but they should never be used to change an author's intent. For example, take John F. Kennedy's famous statement, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." In certain circumstances, it would be acceptable to shorten this quotation to "Ask . . . what you can do for your country." However, it would never be appropriate to render it "Ask . . . what your country can do for you." This would change the meaning of the quotation and misrepresent the author's intent.
PARAPHRASING Use your own words and your own sentence structure By definition, a paraphrase must be in your own words and your own structure. One common way of trying to get around this rule is the "half-baked paraphrase," which attempts to use slightly different words to reproduce the ideas in a source. The first paragraph below comes from Margaret Mead's essay Warfare: AnInvention -- Not a Biological Necessity; the second is an example of a half-baked paraphrase of the same passage: Source: Warfare is just an invention known to the majority of human societies by which they permit their young men either to accumulate prestige or avenge their honor or acquire loot or wives or slaves or sago lands or cattle or appease the blood lust of their gods or the restless souls of the recently dead. It is just an invention, older and more widespread than the jury system, but none the less an invention.
UnacceptableParaphrase According to Margaret Mead, war is only a discovery that most human cultures have in common, one that enables them to allow their youth to acquire honor or revenge or to get money, women, servants, property, or livestock or to placate their deities' desire for blood or the souls of those who have died recently. War is simply a discovery, one that has been around longer than trial by jury, but still a discovery. Source: Warfare is just an invention known to the majority of human societies by which they permit their young men either to accumulate prestige or avenge their honor or acquire loot or wives or slaves or sago lands or cattle or appease the blood lust of their gods or the restless souls of the recently dead. It is just an invention, older and more widespread than the jury system, but none the less an invention.
The second paragraph is far too close in sentence structure and wording to be atrue paraphrase; the writer has not really used his own words. The following is an example of a true paraphrase of the same passage:
True Paraphrase Margaret Mead argues persuasively that warfare is not an inevitable product of human nature. Rather, it was invented in most (not all) societies as an economic or religious tool, to permit young men in that society to become wealthy or worship appropriately. Although it is older and more common than many other inventions, like the jury system, it too was created for a purpose. Enclose in quotation marks any wording that is not your own If you find in writing a paraphrase that you want to use wording from the original source, make sure that you enclose it in quotation marks. It should be dearly distinguished from your own wording and be properly documented. Source: Warfare is just an invention known to the majority of human societies by which they permit their young men either to accumulate prestige or avenge their honor or acquire loot or wives or slaves or sago lands or cattle or appease the blood lust of their gods or the restless souls of the recently dead. It is just an invention, older and more widespread than the jury system, but none the less an invention.
Enclose in quotation marks any wording that is not your own Should one find in writing a paraphrase that they want to use wording from the original source, it is vital they make sure to enclose those original words in quotation marks. An author’s words must should be clearly distinguished from the wording of a quoted source, this will allow the work to be properly documented.
Ideas paraphrased or summarized from a source It is plagiarism to summarize, paraphrase, or just use someone's ideas without attributing those ideas to their source. In the example from "Warfare: An Invention--Not a Biological Necessity", it would have been dishonest for the writer of the paraphrase to take credit in any way for the basic idea of Mead's essay: that warfare is an invention that spread from culture to culture rather than an inherent element of the human condition. Any borrowed from another source must be attributed to that source, even if all the writing belongs to the author of the paper.
