When to quote and when to paraphrase
When
using external information for your assignments, most of the times, it is better to
paraphrase or summarize material than to quote it
word-for-word. Using your own words allows you to:
- frame the information to make the point you want to make,
- maintain a consistent style.
But even when summarizing you have to acknowledge the author, and give enough information your reader to reach your source of information through:
- An in-text citation next to each paraphrased idea or borrowed image, and
- A reference in the bibliography by the end of the text.
In-text citations
In-text citations must contain author's last name and publication year enclosed in parenthesis.
Examples:
...Carter et al. (2012) found that the incidence of credit card fraud had been underestimated by at least 50 per cent...
...The main use of mobile phone is exchange e-mail between friends and relatives (Ishii, 2002)...
Tables and figures

Include a figure number and a title with a legend and caption below the image or table.
Example:
Figure 4. Yemen crisis. Baby with a heart disorder gasps for air in an intensive-aid unit at a yemeni hospital. By Tugnoli (2019)
Bibliography
Include a figure number and a title with a legend and caption below the image or table.
Example:
Figure 4. Yemen crisis. Baby with a heart disorder gasps for air in an intensive-aid unit at a yemeni hospital. By Tugnoli (2019)
Bibliography
A list of references alphabetically ordered must be provided at the end of your assessment task.
Find below some samples on how to write a reference depending on its support:
Books
Example:
Stevenson, R. L. (1975). Treasure Island. Atheneum.
Articles
Example:
Duby, G. (1993). L'invention de l`histoire au mon médiéval. Cahiers d'Etudes Medièvales, 126, 910-924.
Web pages
Example:
Plagiarism. (2015, February 28). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism
Images
Example:
Tugnoli, L. (2019) Yemen crisis [Image]. https://i.blogs.es/fee2b8/yemen-lorenzo-tugnoli-02/1366_2000.jpg
Missing information
Sometimes some data is missing, and writing the reference can get more difficult.
- If author is missing start the reference by the title
Title. (Date of publication). https://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
- If date is missing, write n.d. for no date.
Author, A. A. (n.d.). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
- If title is missing, describe document inside square brackets, and then give source
Here's a sample of all of them combined:
[Picture of a smart guy][Image]. (n.d.) . http://www.biblio.sek.es/catalunya/opac/
Direct quotations
If you have to quote word-for-word, then you will write the text:
- Enclosed by quotation marks if they are shorter than 40 words or,
- Placed in a free-standing "block quotation" on a new line,
indented five spaces, when
longer than 40 words.
Example:
According to Miguel de Cervantes ¨Truth will rise above falsehood as oil above water.¨ (as cited in BrainyQuote, 2015)
For more examples and extended information on how to cite with APA check the APA Style website.