1
Paraphrase: The study found that participants remembered material better when they practiced retrieval repeatedly rather than only rereading it.
8 Paraphrase vs Quote Examples
Use these examples to study structure, specificity, tone, and variation. They are demonstrations—not claims about a real person or organization unless the example itself makes that explicit.
Before you copy
What to notice in the examples
Strong source use chooses paraphrase when the idea matters more than the wording and quotation when the exact language, definition, phrasing, or textual detail is itself important to the analysis.
- Decide whether meaning or exact wording is the evidence.
- Keep the source idea accurate when paraphrasing.
- Use quotation marks and exact transcription when quoting.
- Integrate either form into the writer’s own sentence and reasoning.
- Cite according to the required style in both cases.
2
Quote for wording: The author describes the policy as a “temporary bridge,” a phrase that frames the measure as transitional rather than permanent.
3
Paraphrase for background: The report divides housing costs into rent, utilities, and mandatory service charges.
4
Quote for definition: The regulation defines a covered provider as an entity that “offers the service directly to the public.”
5
Paraphrase for synthesis: Across three studies, shorter feedback cycles were associated with faster correction of repeated errors.
6
Quote for literary analysis: The narrator calls the street “borrowed light,” making the exact metaphor the evidence being interpreted.
7
Paraphrase for method: Researchers recruited participants from four clinics and followed them for six months.
8
Quote for contested language: The memo says the change is “recommended,” not required, so the modal distinction matters.
Keep the underlying decision or pattern, then replace the subject, evidence, relationship, constraints, and tone with details that belong to your situation. If your final line still works after swapping only one noun, it may be too close to the example.