A paper filled with direct quotes does not always make for good writing. Have a reason to quote someone directly. If the words are exceptionally strong, use them, but do not dominate your paper with direct quotes (some authors call for less than 10% of the paper or document to be directly quoted). Direct quotations are simple reproductions of the writers' words from you have borrowed, but a paper filled with quotations begins to lose its authorial voice. In other words, you are no longer the voice dominating the paper; the voice of the borrowed information takes over, and your voice is lost. Research work that borrows direct quotes too often is called a "cut and paste" job.

A "cut and paste" paper will often earn poor marks if not failing grades because someone else has done your work for you, but, the paper that quotes heavily but only depends on one source is far weaker. This type of paper lacks original thinking or relies on the work of another author, which defeats the purpose of your writing altogether. Your job is to assimilate others' ideas and springboard from them into some original thinking of your own.

Original thinking is the key to writing a research paper. Many students who are not clear in their purpose will rush to the library, find a few texts on a particular subject, and then begin boiling ideas down into a paper. This type of research is called synthesis and does not constitute the type of scholarly work that is necessary for this level of study. Syntheses can be used for parts of a paper, but the real thinking and original ideas come from you and not another source. Have something original to say and your focus will naturally rest on your ideas on not on another's. Use sources to back up what you claim or use them as a springboard to take the study further or apply it to another situation. When you use information in this manner, you will want to condense borrowed information in order to get to your ideas and presentation. Much of this type of writing is done through the use of the paraphrase.