In a research paper, your sources fuel and support your ideas. Whether you consult books, articles, podcasts, reports, documentaries, or websites—your sources are never just dropped in. Good writing means deciding how much of a source to use, blending it smoothly into your own words, and keeping your work clear, persuasive, and credible.
This guide covers the three main ways to work source material into your paper: summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting.
Whichever method you use, be sure to cite every source. A quick summary needs attribution just as much as a long, direct quote.
Summarizing
What it is:
Restating only the main idea(s) of a source in your own words, leaving out most details and examples. Summaries are much shorter than the original text.
When to use it:
To give readers the “big picture” of a source.
When you want to reference multiple points from a source quickly.
When details aren’t necessary for your argument.
Armed drones are primarily used in air-to-surface attacks to support ground forces or to conduct targeted killings, including in domestic policing contexts (Enemark 4).
Paraphrasing
What it is:
Restating all or most of the information from a source passage in your own words and sentence structure, keeping roughly the same level of detail as the original.
When to use it:
To clarify a complex passage for your reader.
When you want to integrate source material into your own style.
When the details are important, but the original wording is not essential.
Armed drones gather information while flying and can strike ground or air targets. Current technological limitations dictate that they’re mostly used in ground-attack roles—coordinating missile strikes with troops or providing cover for withdrawals—and can also be used to kill specific individuals inside or outside conflict zones, or to neutralize violent threats in domestic policing (Enemark 4).
Using Direct Quotes
What it is:
Using a source’s exact words, placed inside quotation marks, and cited.
When to use it:
When the wording is especially vivid, precise, or authoritative.
When you want to analyze or comment directly on the source’s language.
When rewording might change the meaning.
Enemark outlines how drones are used "in coordinating missile strikes with troop attacks and providing air cover to facilitate tactical troop withdrawals. Alternatively, a drone that launches air-to-surface weapons might be used for killing a particular individual located within or outside a conflict zone, or perhaps for the domestic policing purpose of neutralising a criminally violent threat to public safety" (4).
Integrating Strategies
Sometimes a single approach—just summarizing or just quoting—isn’t enough. Combining strategies allows you to keep the big picture in your own words while bringing in the author’s exact words for precision, impact, or authority. For example, you might introduce an author and summarize their main point, then follow up with a short, exact quote to highlight a key detail or striking phrase.
Keep in mind that professors often have specific guidelines for how they want you to use outside sources. These guidelines may cover not only how many sources to use and what kinds of sources to include, but also how they should be integrated—whether they expect more direct quotes, more paraphrasing, or a balance of both. Always read the assignment prompt carefully so you’re meeting those expectations while still making the source material work for your argument.
Christian Enemark outlines how drones are used in both military and domestic policing contexts. Although he avoids the term assassination, he notes that "air-to-surface weapons might be used for killing a particular individual located within or outside a conflict zone, or perhaps for the domestic policing purpose of neutralising a criminally violent threat to public safety" (4).
Source:
Enemark, Christian. Ethics of Drone Strikes: Restraining Remote-Control Killing. Edinburgh University Press, 2021. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=3eec4363-305f-354b-a656-c2ac5eb9268c.