In academic writing, summarizing and paraphrasing are additional techniques to incorporate other's concepts into your paper. A summary is a condensation of the original text in your own words. Summaries include the most important idea, but omit some details. A paraphrase does not condense the original text but instead you restate all of the details in your own words.

Summarizes and paraphrases are set off by certain phrases such as, according to Smith... or Jones concludes that... or Smith tells readers that..., to help the reader know you are summarizing or paraphrasing. Be sure that your opinions are clearly distinguished from the summary or paraphrase.

One technique is to read a section, lay it aside for awhile, and then write down your memory of the section in your own words. Include an in-text citation [i.e. (Smith 2001)] to indicate where the passage you summarized or paraphrased begins and ends. For example:

"These findings suggest that, although college-age respondents rated the Public Service Announcements in this study to be more realistic than the ads they viewed, they nevertheless questioned the level of realism and relevance portrayed in the PSAs. One reason that the quantitative evaluation of realism was higher in the PSAs than in advertisements was the content of the ads themselves, two of which showed dogs ruling humans with beer." (p. 138)

The summary will have a complete citation in the Works Cited Page. Here is the citation using the MLA style:

Andsager, Julie, Austin, Erica W., and Bruce E. Pinkleton. (2001). "Questioning the Value of Realism; Young Adults' Processing of Messages in Alcohol-related public Service Announcements and Advertising." Journal of Communication. 51.1 (2001): 121-142.