The main difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is that paraphrasing involves rewording part of an outside source, but summarizing involves describing what an entire source is mainly about.
A paraphrase rephrases a specific fact, statistic, or idea from an outside source that you’re using as evidence in academic writing.
A summary is a synopsis that describes the main topic and key points of a complete text (e.g., an article) in order to give your readers context about why the source is significant. Summaries are common in literature reviews and annotated bibliographies.
To avoid plagiarism, use your own words anytime you paraphrase or summarize another person’s work in your writing, and give credit to the original source with a signal phrase or an in-text citation.
If you need help with paraphrasing and summarizing, QuillBot’s free Paraphrasing Tool can reword ideas from another source. QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can also help you create in-text citations.