►  Quotations

Quotations are the best source. It comes straight from the horse's mouth. You quote exactly as the source indicates -- including misspelled words. For a five page paper, use two, maybe three, at the most. Use quotations when you cannot reword the quotation.

Do not use quotations for all your citations. That means your sources are writing your paper. I will let you know about that -- in no uncertain terms.

►  Paraphrase / Summary

Paraphrase is putting the source in your own words. A general rule is to paraphrase every third word or every other word. You can use the built-in thesaurus in Word or use dictionary.com. A paraphrase can be as long as the source. However, a summary will be shorter than the source because it -- the summary -- sums up the source.

The paraphrase / summary is the best method to handle information because you are putting the source into your own words -- you are thinking about that source.

For APA papers, students most often use paraphrase.

You do not need an abstract. If your paper needs graphs and charts, use them. They are not required. You may break your paper into sections -- however, this is not a case study.