ESL 088WG Argument Essay (Jurkowitz): Ways to borrow material

You can quote a passage in a source.

• You borrow the ideas in the passage, and . . 
• you borrow words the author uses to express the ideas.

You can paraphrase a passage in a source

• Your borrow the ideas in the passage.
• But you put them in your own words.

You can summarize a passage in a source.

• You borrow the ideas in the passage.
• But you put them in your own words.
• You condense the ideas by leaving out unnecessary detail.

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Key reminders:

• Every time you quote, paraphrase, or summarize from a source, you must cite the source.
• When you quote, always use quotation marks (or a block quote) to mark the source's words.
• When you paraphrase, make sure you are not relying on the original expression. Use your own.
• When you summarize, make sure your readers will get a faithful understanding of the author's meaning.

How could you borrow from the following passage?

Open the Scratchpad

Rates of adoption from foreign countries have continued to increase as sex education, birth control, and single-parent families have become more socially acceptable in the United States. The reduced number of American children available for adoption has caused American couples to look to foreign countries. In the past, the process of adoption from foreign countries was encouraged by agencies and governments as a means of rescuing many infants from abandonment, orphanages, and suffering by removing them from under-nourishing environments and placing them in safe, loving American homes where the resources were better and the standard of living significantly higher.

From 

Whittaker, Anne Finley, Laura. “Point: The Benefits of International Adoption Outweigh the Problems.” Points of View: Adoption from Foreign Countries, June 2025, pp. 2–5. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=d1c7e326-5c3b-3257-8805-48486dab5e1d.