When using someone else's words or ideas in your research paper, avoid plagiarizing by either quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing them, and then cite the author.

• Quoting means using someone else's exact words.
• Paraphrasing is putting someone else's words or ideas into your own words.
• Summarizing is extracting the key ideas and main points from an original source.
• Citing means giving basic information about the original source you used—enough that someone else could track it down.

Use direct quotes and paraphrasing to support your own ideas, not replace them — and be sure you always give the original author credit.

Need more help? Check out this tutorial on Paraphrasing, Quoting, and Summarizing.