Paraphrasing and summarizing are ways of incorporating the ideas of an author into your own work.
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- Paraphrasing is writing your understanding of a portion of a text. The paraphrased text is shorter than the original.
- Summarizing is writing the main ideas of a longer text in your own words.
In MLA style, paraphrasing and summarizing should have a full reference of a source on the Works Cited page.
The citation could be done in a parenthetical or narrative way, and they must include the last name of the author and the page number.
Examples (Lake Land College, 2022):
One Page:
Mother-infant attachment became a leading topic of developmental research following the publication of John Bowlby’s studies (Hunt 65).
Or
Hunt discussed mother-infant attachment becoming a leading topic of developmental research following the publication of John Bowlby’s studies (65).
Multiple Pages:
Mother-infant attachment became a leading topic of developmental research following the publication of John Bowlby’s studies (Hunt 50, 55, 65-71).
Or
Hunt discussed mother-infant attachment became a leading topic of developmental research following the publication of John Bowlby’s studies (50, 55, 65-71).
Reference
Prude Online Writing Lab. (2022). Quoting, Paraphrasing. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_quotations.html
Lake Land College. (2022). Library: Citing Sources: MLA 8 In-Text Citations. Library. https://lakeland.libguides.com/c.php?g=696342&p=4987193
