Summary, Paraphrase, Quotation and Avoiding Plagiarism: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for College Writing & Rhetoric Topic 6, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
A condensed account of a source's main claim and supporting structure in the writer's own words and proportions. Good summary is selective: it reflects what the source argues, not everything it contains.
Descriptive summary
A summary that reports what a text says without evaluating it, often used to set up an argument fairly before responding. Slipping evaluation into it undermines the fairness it was meant to establish.
Paraphrase
A full restatement of a specific passage in different sentence structure and vocabulary, usually similar in length to the original. It shows comprehension and keeps the writer's voice governing the page.
Patchwriting
Producing near-copy by swapping a few words while keeping the source's sentence architecture. Even when cited, it fails as paraphrase because the structure and phrasing remain borrowed.
Direct quotation
Reproducing a source's exact wording inside quotation marks with a locator. It is justified when the phrasing is itself the evidence, unusually precise, or a position the writer will contest word for word.
Block quotation
A longer quoted passage set off from the surrounding text without quotation marks. Its visual weight promises the reader significant analysis, so it should never be left to speak for itself.
Quotation sandwich
The three-part move of introducing a quotation, presenting it, then explaining its significance. The final part is the one writers skip and the one that turns evidence into argument.
Signal phrase
A phrase naming the source and characterising its action, such as observes, concedes, or overstates. The verb chosen quietly reports the writer's stance toward the material.
Attributive verb choice
Selecting a reporting verb that matches what the source actually does rather than defaulting to says. Precise verbs compress evaluation into a single word and reduce commentary elsewhere.
Ellipsis in quotation
Marked omission of words from a quoted passage. The omission must not alter the passage's meaning or remove a qualification that changed its force.
Bracketed alteration
A change inserted into a quotation, marked with square brackets, to fit grammar or clarify a reference. It is legitimate only for adjustment, never for improving the source's argument.
Dropped quotation
A quotation inserted as its own sentence with no introduction or follow-up. It stalls the paragraph because readers must guess who is speaking and why the words are there.
Context distortion
Quoting accurately but in a way that misrepresents the source's overall position, such as citing a view the author raises only to reject. Accuracy of words does not guarantee accuracy of representation.
Plagiarism
Presenting another's words, structure, data, or distinctive ideas as one's own. It covers unattributed phrasing and unattributed reasoning alike, and intent affects the response rather than the definition.
Self-plagiarism
Submitting the same work for credit in more than one context without disclosure. Institutions treat it as a misrepresentation of effort rather than as theft of another's material.
Common knowledge
Information a target audience can be assumed to know or find in many general sources without attribution. Its boundary shifts with the field, so the safe default is to cite when uncertain.
Contract cheating
Obtaining work from another person or service and submitting it as one's own. It is treated as among the most serious integrity breaches because it misrepresents authorship entirely.
Unauthorised collaboration
Working jointly on an assignment intended as individual work. Because the boundary varies by course, it is settled by asking rather than by assuming general practice applies.
Generative tool disclosure
Stating clearly how automated writing tools were used in producing a submission, where a course permits their use at all. Undisclosed use misrepresents the authorship of the work.
Source integration
Weaving borrowed material into the writer's own sentence so that the argument, not the source, controls the paragraph. Poor integration produces a chain of quotations connected by transitions.
Voice dominance
The principle that the writer's analysis should occupy more of the page than borrowed material. A paragraph in which the source speaks longer than the writer usually needs rebalancing.
Reverse outlining sources
Listing what each cited passage is doing in the argument, such as supporting, complicating, or defining. Passages with no listed job are the ones to cut.
Data attribution
Crediting the origin of figures, tables, and datasets even when the writer reworks the presentation. Numbers carry authorship just as sentences do.
Translation and citation
Crediting both the original author and the translator when quoting translated material, and noting when a translation is the writer's own. The wording quoted belongs to the translator as well.
Fair representation standard
The requirement that a source be presented as its author would recognise, including its qualifications and scope. Meeting it is a credibility asset, not merely an obligation.