Page 109 - RMBC Student Catalog 2016-2017
P. 109
Guidelines for Paraphrasing
1. Read the source, looking for the writer’s main idea.
2. Write down, in your own words and using your own sentence structure, what you think the
main idea is. Order your paraphrase just as the original source is ordered; include appropriate
details.
3. Check your paraphrase against the source. Make sure that you have captured the essence of
the source and that your wording differs significantly from the wording in the original source.
4. Avoid plagiarism by giving credit to the author of the paraphrased materials.
Guidelines for Quoting: You Should Quote:
1. When the writer’s words are so cogent and memorable that summarizing or paraphrasing
would undercut their effectiveness or alter their meaning.
2. When you believe the writer’s words will lend authority to what you have to say and will be
more persuasive than your summary or paraphrase of those words.
3. When you want to take exception to what a writer has said.
4. When you want to comment on a writer’s words as a way of expressing your own position or
idea.
5. When you want to let a speaker’s own words expose the weakness of his or her argument.
6. When you want to cite statistical information from the source
RMBC Catalog Appendix B B-3
