Summary, Paraphrase, Quote

Paraphrase: restate in different terms (without condensing--you leave nothing out of a paraphrase).

Summary: condensed version, also in your own words. Just the key points.

Quote: using the text's original wording

Paraphrases are useful for short passages (a sentence or a few phrases); summaries are used to get the gist of a longer piece. Quotes are used sparingly, for phrases which cannot be adequately paraphrased (a joke, for example). Never quote because you don't quite understand the passage.

When you want to disagree with someone's point, a quote may be useful to show that you're being accurate and fair.

 

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original

"The curve showing the number of daily hits was a dramatic exponential, doubling every three or four months. After one year, the load had grown by a factor of ten" (66) [30 words]

paraphrase

The number of hits to the web site grew exponentially: every three or four months the number of visitors doubled, and after a year had increased ten-fold. [27 words]

Paraphrases still need to be cited.

 

summary

The number of hits to Berners-Lee's site doubled every few months. [11 words]

or

The number of visitors to the site increased ten-fold in one year. [12 words]

Summaries also need to be cited.