Source checking
How to check a selected passage against the original
A highlighted sentence is evidence of what the source says at that location, not proof that it represents the whole source. Click the passage, read the surrounding paragraph, and check whether a condition, date, limitation, or counterpoint changes its meaning.
1. Return to the exact location
Use the paragraph number and character offsets on the result card. Clicking the card scrolls the source pane to that same sentence. The tool preserves the exact wording, including punctuation; it does not generate a paraphrase.
2. Read before and after
Look for words that narrow a claim: “only”, “in this sample”, “may”, “under these conditions”, or a date. A selected sentence might look decisive when the next sentence says the finding is preliminary. The tool cannot decide which sentence is a qualification.
3. Keep quotation and summary separate
Purdue Online Writing Lab distinguishes an exact quotation from a paraphrase or summary written in your own words. If you reuse exact language, mark it as a quotation and credit the original author. If you write a summary, read more than the selected sentence first and still attribute the source.
4. Check the source itself
The passage finder does not verify factual accuracy, authorship, or rights. If a claim matters, inspect the original publication and its evidence. If the pasted text came from notes rather than a public source, the location only tells you where the words appeared in those notes.
Source: Purdue Online Writing Lab, “Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing”, checked 2026-10-05. The steps about this site's controls describe our own implementation.