Paraphrase vs. quotation

A quotation uses an author's exact words in quotation marks. A paraphrase puts the idea in your own words. Both need a citation.

A quotation reproduces someone’s exact words, so it goes in quotation marks. A paraphrase restates an idea in your own words and sentence structure. Either way the idea came from someone else, so you cite the source.

What APA asks for.

• Paraphrase is the default. APA says it is usually better to paraphrase than to quote. It lets you fit the material to your own paper.
• A paraphrase doesn’t need a page number, though you may add one when it would help a reader find a passage in a long work.
• A quotation always needs a location, such as a page number, or a paragraph number for a source with no pages. Put the citation in the same sentence as the quotation.
• Under 40 words: keep it in your sentence, in quotation marks.
• 40 words or more: use a block quotation. It starts on a new line, is indented half an inch, and has no quotation marks.

What a paraphrase is not. The MLA Style Center says that keeping the original’s wording and swapping a few words or using synonyms is “patchwriting,” and that it doesn’t count as paraphrasing. A real paraphrase changes the wording and the structure, and still gets a citation.

Which to choose. Quote when the exact words matter: a definition, a striking phrase, something you analyze closely. Paraphrase to show you understand an idea. Mostly quoting from sources can leave a paper with little of your own thinking.

See plagiarism for what happens when credit is missing.