How do you cite a paragraph without using quotation marks?

Answer 1

Let's use the beginning of ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) by Mark Twain as an example.

To best paraphrase you need to:

1. Read each sentence.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Think about what you read and say out loud what the sentence SAID or IMPLIED, without using the same words.

CHAPTER I.

Paragraph 1:

YOU don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is—and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.

Our version:

Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and this book is about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn felt Twain mostly "told the truth", though Twain stretched the truth sometimes. Twain included Aunt Polly who was Tom's aunt, Mary, and the Widow Douglas.Paragraph 2:Now the way that the book winds up is this: Tom and me found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece—all gold. It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up. Well, Judge Thatcher he took it and put it out at interest, and it fetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round—more than a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.

Our version:

Twain tells us as a recap how The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ended. Tom and Huck discovered where robbers hid a cache of money in a cave, to which Judge Thatcher added interest. Tom and Huck got a lot of money, averaging one dollar every day. We can infer Tom and Huck split up then, because Widow Douglas took Huck in as "her son". But Widow Douglas was prim, proper, and perhaps even prudish, which made living with her uncomfortable. So Huck dressed in his old "rags" and left. He met up with Tom, though, who convinced him to go back to Widow Douglas' house.

Paragraph 3:

The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it. She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn’t do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up. Well, then, the old thing commenced again. The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time. When you got to the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them,—that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.

Our version:

Poor Huck had to contend with Widow Douglas fussing over him! He had to wear new clothes again, which apparently made him feel quite hot and uncomfortable. And the Widow had lots of rules, even about coming to supper and when Huck could start eating which was only after the Widow said a prayer. Huck was used to life being slippery and mixed together, like in "a barrel of odds and ends" so the "juice kind of swaps around". Huck liked that way of life much better!

Paragraph 4:

After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn’t care no more about him, because I don’t take no stock in dead people.Our version:After supper, Widow Douglas read from the Bible about Moses. The story excited Huck--until the Widow told him Moses died long ago. Huck takes "no stock in dead people", so he immediately lost interest in the stories the Widow read to him.

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When you paraphrase, you can use SHORT quotes from the text. Always put those in quotation marks to show they are not your own words.As you get better at paraphrasing, you can combine thoughts about several paragraphs, or pick out a theme from several paragraphs. You do NOT have to paraphrase every single thing (like I did above)-- in fact, it is better to learn how to retell what you read by giving it a new light or fresh perspective!

For example, here is a much shorter paraphrase. It does not contain all the details---they are not all needed in a condensed paraphrasing of a story. Your paraphrase should tell enough to make sense, and highlight a theme. Here I contrast Huck's known way of life, with the Widow's ways:

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain weaves a vibrant story told from Huck's perspective of life. Poor and uneducated, Huck and Tom get rich after they found money a gang of robbers stole. This gave Huck the opportunity to live well. The Widow Douglas took a liking to Huck--though her reasons are unclear at the beginning of the story. She is a pious, principled woman who hopes to civilize Huck. But her intentions completely disagree with Huck. He leaves, but after meeting up with Tom Sawyer, Tom convinces Huck to go back to live with the Widow.

Note that in each of our versions, the writing is shorter than the original.

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Answer 2

Indentation and italics can be used.