A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007
Quote, paraphrase, and summarize appropriately
Drafting your report
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production
We covered this issue when we discussed note-taking (4.2.2). You should build most of your report out of your own words that reflect your own thinking. Much of the support for that thinking will be in quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. Different fields, however, use them in different proportions. In general, researchers in the humanities quote most often; social and natural scientists typically paraphrase and summarize. But you must decide each case for itself, depending on how you use the information in your argument. Here are some principles:
Summarize when details are irrelevant or a source isn't important enough to warrant more space.
Paraphrase when you can state what a source says more clearly or concisely than the source, or when your argument depends on the details of a source but not on its specific words. (Before you paraphrase, however, read 7.9.)
Quote for these purposes:
The words constitute evidence that backs up your reasons.
A passage states a view that you disagree with, and to be fair you want to state it exactly.
The quoted words are from an authority who backs up your view.
They are strikingly original.
They express your key concepts so compellingly that the quotation can frame the rest of your discussion.
You must balance quotations, paraphrases, and summaries with your own fresh ideas. Do not merely repeat, or worse, download, words and ideas of others that you stitch together with a few sentences of your own. All teachers have ground their teeth over such reports, dismayed by their lack of original thinking. In an advanced project such as a thesis or dissertation, readers reject a patchwork of borrowings out of hand.
Readers value research only to the degree that they trust its sources. So for every summary, paraphrase, or quotation you use, cite its bibliographic data in the appropriate citation style (see part 2).