
Consider using either tool when an idea from one of your sources is important to your essay but the wording is not. These techniques help you take greater control of your essay. Paraphrase and summary are indispensable in argumentative papers because they allow you to include other people’s ideas without cluttering up your paragraphs with quotations. Argumentative essays, by contrast, rely on all three tools. For example, literature reviews in science reports rely almost exclusively on summary. When choosing which to use, consider first your discipline and the type of writing in which you are engaged. Along with quotation, paraphrase and summary provide the main tools for integrating your sources into your papers. To summarize means to reduce the most essential points of someone else’s work into a shorter form.

To paraphrase means to restate someone else’s ideas in your own language at roughly the same level of detail. When should I paraphrase, and when should I summarize? Re-Imagining & Reinventing Undergraduate Education.Statement of Acknowledgement of Traditional Land.Alumni of Influence Selection Committee.

