Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing: Difference and Their Relation

Whether you are a student, teacher, researcher, or working in a corporate sector, you will have to deal with a lot of written work. You would agree that writing isn’t as simple as many people feel. A laborious effort in doing deep research and exploration of various online sources is needed to get your hands on good content. It is common for everyone to find a very inspiring quote or phrase that touches us so badly, and we want to use it in our article. Hasn’t it happened to you ever? I guess all of you might have experienced it at least once in your lives. However, there are many complexities attached to copying a text from a published article. You cannot simply copy/paste anything from the web and use it in your content, as it will be considered plagiarism, and penalties against committing this crime may hit you anytime. Therefore, it is important to know the legal ways of using others’ ideas in your work.

Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are three main ways that are often used to provide assistance to your writing in ways that support an argument or call attention to something.

Many people have confusion in their minds that all of the writing techniques are the same, which isn’t true at all. There is a huge difference between all these writing techniques, and the information shared in this blog will help you understand it. So, it is suggested to read the article till the end to get familiar with all these writing forms adequately.

Quoting

Quoting a source or an author is identical in every way to the original. The method of quoting a source is simple and unambiguous. You can write the exact words from the content in your article and put them in quotation marks (“). Ensure that you have mentioned the original author’s name or the source right after the quotations. It is also important to mention here that quotation marks are crucial components that will direct readers to understand that another writer wrote the phrase, and you have just mentioned it in your work. Also, it will save you from the charges of committing plagiarism.

Paraphrasing

Writing down information or ideas you have seen on a platform in your own words to make them clearer is known as paraphrasing. In this writing technique, a writer rephrases content in their words without changing the text’s original meaning. The content structure might be different, but the idea of the text remains constant in this technique. The length of paraphrased text would be almost similar to the original content and covers all the crucial parts mentioned in the article. The availability of web tools allows you to instantly rephrase content. If you have a shortage of time and need content quickly, here is the best paraphrasing tool to help you make better use of your words.

Summarizing

The process of writing down only the main points of content in your words is known as summarizing. The length of summarized content is always less than the original content. The summary of the content is considered a broad overview of the source material. The summarization of an article eliminates the clarification of any point but comprises the major headings or the basic concept.

Major Differences Among Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Quoting

• Includes copying textual information from the original content word to word
• Copied content will be confined within “quotation marks.”

Paraphrasing

• Includes explaining an idea or information in your own words.
• Reshape all the content in your own words without changing the meaning of the text.

Summarizing

• Explaining the main ideas and points of a text in your words
• Sharing a brief overview of a whole text
• The length of the content will be shorter than the actual content.

Relation Between Different Writing Methods

Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are different writing techniques that have one thing in common. All these methods allow an individual to incorporate another writer’s work into his/her content. Paraphrasing is rewriting content into your own words without damaging its sole concept. Summarizing highlights only the main idea or points of a text and will be much shorter than the original content. On the other hand, quoting is writing down the exact text or phrase you have seen on the web or in a book in quotation marks with the author’s name or source title.

Bottom Line

As a writer, you need to explore various sources to get information about a topic to get great knowledge that can help you in making inspiring content for your readers. Quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing are three primary ways that allow you to use other writers’ work in your text without falling under the charges of plagiarism. Make it a practice to double-check your content duplication before emailing it to someone or posting it on a platform. The information shared above will assist you in getting familiar with the differences between these different writing techniques and the relation that connects them.