Using Someone Else's Ideas

VIII.  A paraphrase is the use of any alternate words that avoid a direct quote and must be cited the same as a quote must be cited in the same manner as a quote.

• Example: Bureaucratic organizations are more flexible than most people think they are (Blau, 1956, 56).

IX. More general borrowed thoughts require citations in paragraphs, but not each time you say something from the source within the paragraph. APA has it as (Author, date). This sort of citation is not optional. Citing sources for borrowed ideas acknowledges that you are not the author of the idea, which is important for academic honesty; and it provides two forms of support: (1) You show the casual reader where authoritative sources stand on the matter. (2) You provide a route to additional information for those who want to become more informed.

• Example: While Peter Blau argued that organizations are not the rigid entities that some suppose, others, such as, Laurence Peter suggests that rigidity is only one of the dysfunctional characteristics of bureaucracies (Blau, 1956; Peter and Hull, 1969).
  

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