Research Help Appointments Need help with your research? A reference librarian is like a tutor for finding and citing information. Schedule an appointment to get uninterrupted individual time with a librarian. When you’re writing a paper you’ll be synthesizing information from a variety of sources. Sometimes you will directly quote it, sometimes you will summarize it and sometimes you’ll paraphrase it. In all of these situations, you should cite your sources! When you quote a source, you use the author’s words exactly, and indicate that with quotation marks. When you paraphrase a source, you put it into your own words. This does not mean changing a few words by inserting synonyms, it means integrating the meaning of the original passage into your writing. When you summarize a source, you significantly condense the ideas in the original source — without adding your own interpretation or analysis. For more information about Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing contact your PCC Writing Center or try these online resources: Purdue Writing Lab: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Resource UCLA: Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing in a Nutshell