Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Put summaries and paraphrases in your own words
Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
Writing Papers in APA Style

A summary condenses information from a source; a paraphrase conveys the information using roughly the same number of words as the original source. When you summarize or paraphrase, it is not enough to name the source. You must present the source’s meaning using your own words and sentence structure. (See also 52c and 61a.) Half-copying the author’s sentences either by using the author’s phrases in your own sentences without quotation marks or by plugging synonyms into the author’s sentence structure (sometimes called patchwriting) is a form of plagiarism.

The following paraphrases are plagiarism — even though the source is cited — because their language or sentence structure is too close to that of the source.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Student-centered teaching focuses on the student. Decision-making, organization and content are determined for most by taking individual students’ needs and interests into consideration. Student-centered teaching provides opportunities to develop students’ skills of transferring knowledge to other situations, triggering retention, and adapting a high motivation for learning.

— Z. Çubukçu, “Teachers’ Evaluation of Student-Centered Learning Environments” (2012), p. 52

PLAGIARISM: UNACCEPTABLE BORROWING OF PHRASES

According to Professor Zuhal Çubukçu (2012), student-centered teaching takes into account the needs and interests of each student, making it possible to foster students’ skills of transferring knowledge to new situations and triggering retention (p. 52).

PLAGIARISM: UNACCEPTABLE BORROWING OF STRUCTURE

According to Zuhal Çubukçu (2012), this new model of teaching centers on the student. The material and flow of the course are chosen by considering the students’ individual requirements. Student-centered teaching gives a chance for students to develop useful, transferable skills, ensuring they’ll remember material and stay motivated (p. 52).

To avoid plagiarizing an author’s language, resist the temptation to look at the source while you are summarizing or paraphrasing. After you have read the passage you want to paraphrase, set the source aside. Ask yourself, “What is the author’s meaning?” In your own words, state your understanding of the author’s basic point. Then return to the source and check that you haven’t used the author’s language or sentence structure or misrepresented the author’s ideas. Following these steps will help you avoid plagiarizing the source.

ACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE

In his research, Çubukçu (2012) has documented the numerous benefits of student-centered teaching in putting the student at the center of teaching and learning. When students are given the option of deciding what they learn and how they learn, they are motivated to apply their learning to new settings and to retain the content of their learning (p. 52).

NOTE: APA does not require a page number or other locator for a paraphrase, but you can choose to include one when doing so might help a reader locate the passage in the source.

For more advice on being a responsible research writer, see the guide in 55d.