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Counseling and Therapy

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APA online

Crediting sources: Paraphrasing, summarizing, and directly quoting

When using ideas presented in other sources, it is important to credit authors -- individuals or organizations. Crediting sources is expected in academic and professional writing.

        Three ways to present information from sources are:

  • Paraphrasing: rewording ideas in your own words
  • Quoting directly:  using the source's exact words.
  • Summarizing:  restating the main ideas of a text in as few words as possible.
  • In-text citations always follow summaries and are placed near paraphrased ideas and direct quotations.
  • Reference lists of all sources cited in the paper appear in a list at the end of the paper.