Paraphrasing, or rephrasing, is a method for expressing someone else’s thoughts or ideas in your own way. This technique involves changing the words and sentence structure while still maintaining the original meaning. In essence, paraphrasing allows you to share the same information from a source but in a fresh and unique style.
With intense competition in nearly every field and the need for originality in academic work, paraphrasing has become a vital skill. Understanding how to paraphrase effectively is crucial for integrating source material ethically. Whether you are a writer or a student involved in research, you will likely encounter situations where you need to rephrase someone else’s work for various purposes, ensuring you give proper credit to the original author.
With this quick guide, we’d like to provide step-by-step guidelines for paraphrasing, along with a few examples of what “before and after” looks like. Following these steps helps avoid plagiarizing accidentally.
Why Paraphrase?
Whether you are a student writing an essay or a professional writer, you’ll need to deal with paraphrasing. The reason is that you will find numerous web pages with content on the same topic, as well as opinions from research papers and academic sources that you might want to use in your work. Integrating these sources requires careful handling of the original author’s ideas.
Therefore, it might be difficult for you to write 100% unique content that has never been posted or written before. In almost every field, plagiarism is prohibited and punishable. Knowing how to paraphrase correctly is key to maintaining academic integrity.
For instance, search engines will penalize your website and will not show it to people if you just copy someone’s content.
Similarly, you might have to get poor grades for copying someone’s paper from the internet or even get expelled from school in some cases. Therefore, knowing how to paraphrase correctly is compulsory to know for both students and professionals to properly incorporate else’s ideas.
When should I paraphrase?
Paraphrasing can be used in different situations. The following are some when paraphrasing would be useful:
To simplify a text: You can use paraphrasing when you need to simplify complex material for your audience. This would be useful, for example, when you are writing for a younger audience or when you are writing about a complex topic, breaking down intricate ideas into more accessible language.
To integrate sources smoothly: Instead of relying heavily on direct quoting, paraphrasing allows you to weave source material seamlessly into your own writing style. This demonstrates your understanding of the material and maintains the flow of your text, rather than interrupting it with lengthy direct quotations enclosed in quotation marks.
To avoid plagiarism: As we mentioned, paraphrasing is a fundamental technique for using information ethically. When you paraphrase, you use your own words and sentence structure to express someone else’s ideas. This means that you are not copying the original text verbatim, thus maintaining academic honesty, provided you also cite the original source.
To improve your writing: Using paraphrasing in your writing can also help you to improve it. This is because, when you paraphrase, you are forced to think deeply about the meaning of what you are reading and to express it using your own vocabulary and sentence construction. This process enhances comprehension and develops your writing skills.
5 Steps to Paraphrasing
Many writers use a paraphrasing tool to rewrite the content and make it unique. It is because the process of using such tools is pretty simple and quick compared to manual rewriting. But you should consider all the pros and cons before using one, as over-reliance can hinder skill development and sometimes produce awkward phrasing.
Pros of using an online tool:
- Saves time
- Saves money
- Simple process
- Wide range of options
- Can offer alternative phrasing ideas
Cons of using an online tool:
- Not all tools are free
- Not all tools are reliable; quality varies greatly
- Phrasing might seem unnatural or lose the nuanced meaning of the original text
- Simple synonymization without changing structure is still plagiarism
- Text still requires careful proofreading and comparison against the original source
- Doesn’t replace the need to understand the material yourself
If you are looking to rewrite the content without assistance from any tools, follow the guidelines on how to paraphrase below. We have listed the five essential steps required to paraphrase any type of content without changing its core meaning. This manual approach is often preferred in academic writing.
⇒ 1. Read the passage
First of all, to paraphrase effectively, you have to read the passage or source material that you want to rewrite very carefully. Understand its full meaning before proceeding. In this step, you have to be very attentive because the entire rewriting phase will depend on it. You can also highlight or underline the main points and key terminology in the original text to ensure you grasp the core ideas.
⇒ 2. Extract key points and concepts
After reading the passage at least twice, take a moment to note down the main ideas and relevant information without looking at the original text. You can do this by typing key phrases or creating a brief outline in an online notepad or writing them on a piece of paper. This helps solidify your understanding before you start writing. If you’re only rewriting a short segment, you might consolidate this with the next step.
⇒ 3. Rewrite manually in your own words
After noting the key ideas, you need to use them and write your own version of this content. You must use significantly different wording and alter the sentence structure (see paraphrasing techniques) compared to the original wording. Make sure not to look back at the original text while drafting your paraphrase, as it might tempt you to reuse parts of its phrasing or structure too closely. Focus on expressing the concept naturally in your own style.
Here are the major rephrasing techniques you can use:
Do not use only one technique when paraphrasing. For the best result, combine several techniques to ensure your version is substantially different from the original source while maintaining the original meaning.
1) Changing part of speech
Original statement: The results received during the experiment were shocking.
Rephrased statement: The experiment resulted in a shocking discovery.
2) Synonym replacement (Use with caution)
Original statement: In many cases, people use social media to share their opinions on current affairs.
Rephrased statement: In many scenarios, individuals utilize social media to express their views on current events.
(Note: Simply replacing terms isn’t enough; structure should also change)
3) Modifying sentence structure
Original statement: Jane is the best candidate for the job because of her great experience.
Rephrased statement: Because of Jane’s fantastic experience, she is the best candidate for the job.
4) Changing the order of words
Original statement: The professor pointed out that the students’ essays were full of errors.
Rephrased statement: The students’ essays were full of errors, the professor pointed out.
5) Combining or splitting statements
Original statement: We should always be careful. We post on social media.
Rephrased statement: We, as responsible users, should always be very careful with what we post on social media platforms.
(Here, two short statements are combined and expanded)
⇒ 4. Compare the original and paraphrased content
Revising your content may take a few tries to create a version that feels new and accurately reflects the original meaning. By comparing the original text and your revised text side by side, you can easily ensure that the meaning stays the same while the structure and vocabulary are sufficiently different. Check that you haven’t accidentally used the same unique phrases or followed the exact sentence structure of the source material.
⇒ 5. Add citation and Reference
Crucially, even when you paraphrase successfully using your own words, you MUST cite the original source. This gives credit to the original author whose idea or information you are using. Include an in-text citation according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) and a full entry in your bibliography or reference list. Sometimes, you might not be able to rewrite specific terms or data (like statistics or proper nouns) without distorting the original meaning. These should be kept, potentially using quotation marks if it’s a unique term coined by the author, but the surrounding text must still be your own phrasing, and the citation is still required.
Remember that key terms central to the concept and proper nouns must remain unchanged not to distort the original meaning. Always provide a reference.
Examples of Paraphrasing
With the above five steps, you will be able to rewrite any content to make it unique while giving proper credit. We have also prepared a few “before and after” examples of paraphrasing in the following section to illustrate how to paraphrase effectively.
Rephrased Sentences
Original statement: The police have arrested the man without finding any proof against him.
Paraphrased: The individual was detained by the policemen despite the fact that there was no evidence of him being guilty. (Citation needed here)
Original statement: It is easy to fall into an incoherent rambling of emotions and senses when writing a descriptive essay.
Paraphrased: When working on a descriptive piece, writers can easily overload their text with a jumble of redundant emotional and sensory details without noticing it. (Citation needed here)
Original statement: According to Live Internet Statistics, you can browse more than 1.7 billion websites.
Paraphrased: Live Internet Stats data suggests that over 1.7 billion sites are accessible today (Live Internet Statistics, n.d.). (Example citation added)
Original statement: The legislation passed the Senate but died in the House, bogged down by a debate over food stamps and the cost of subsidies to the sector.
Paraphrased: Although the bill cleared the Senate, it failed to pass in the House due to disagreements concerning food assistance programs and the financial costs of industry subsidies. (Citation needed here)
Original statement: Traditionally, the inedible parts, like beef fat, were rendered to make products like soap and candles.
Paraphrased: Historically, animal byproducts not suitable for eating, such as lard, were processed to manufacture items like soap and candles. (Citation needed here)
Rephrased Paragraph
Original Paragraph
Writing an academic essay means fashioning a coherent set of ideas into an argument. Because essays are essentially linear—they offer one idea at a time—they must present their ideas in such an order that makes the most sense to a reader. Successfully structuring an essay means attending to a reader’s logic. (Harvard Writing Center)
Paraphrased paragraph
In academic writing, crafting an essay involves shaping a logical argument from various thoughts. Since essays typically present information sequentially (addressing one notion after another), the presentation order must be logical for the reader. Effective essay organization requires considering the audience’s reasoning process (Harvard Writing Center, n.d.). (Added example citation)
Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing
Many people use paraphrasing and summarizing interchangeably, implying that these are the same techniques. While both involve using your own words and require citation, some aspects differ, and these concepts are not identical. Understanding the distinction is vital for effective academic writing.
First of all, paraphrasing is rewriting someone else’s ideas in your own words to convey the same level of detail as the original text, just in a different way. You can do this by following the five steps we described earlier. By using this method, your rephrased text will usually be about the same length as the original source material segment you are working with, focusing on fully explaining a specific idea or piece of relevant information.
Summarizing, conversely, is a technique that aims to condense an essay or essentially any other text. When creating a summary, a writer includes only the most important main points or provides a broad overview of the source material, omitting specific details, examples, or explanations. A summary is always much shorter than the original text.
Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing – here, you can learn more about the differences between these two essential writing methods and when to use each. Both require a reference to the original author.
What you shouldn’t do when paraphrasing
When paraphrasing, you should avoid a few common mistakes that can lead to unintentional plagiarism, even if you provide a citation. These include:
- Copying the exact phrasing or whole sentences from the original text without using quotation marks.
- Simply rearranging the word order in the original statement without changing the core structure or vocabulary significantly (not putting it in a truly different order).
- Substituting only a few terms with synonyms while keeping the overall sentence structure and original wording largely the same (mosaic plagiarism).
- Paraphrasing without adding your own analysis or interpretation to connect it to your argument (though the paraphrase itself should accurately reflect the source’s meaning).
- Forgetting to include an in-text citation and a full reference for the original source, and failing to give credit to the original author.
If you want to avoid these mistakes, make sure you take the time to fully understand the original text before you start paraphrasing it. Once you have a good understanding of the main points and the author’s intent, try to express the concept entirely in your own words and structural style.
Key takeaways
- Paraphrasing is a way to restate someone else’s ideas from source material in your own words, maintaining the original meaning and level of detail.
- To paraphrase effectively, follow key steps: read and understand the original text, note its main points, rewrite it using different vocabulary and sentence structure, compare your version to the original, and always cite the original source with a proper reference.
- Paraphrasing is different from summarizing; a summary provides a brief, condensed overview, while a paraphrase offers a detailed restatement.
- Avoid common mistakes like copying exact phrasing, merely changing a few terms, or forgetting the crucial step of citation to give credit.
- With practice, paraphrasing becomes a valuable tool for integrating research, improving your writing, and upholding academic integrity by properly acknowledging else’s work.
FAQ
Paraphrasing itself is not plagiarism IF, and only IF, you properly cite the original source of the idea using appropriate citation conventions and significantly alter the wording and structure. Failing to cite the source material constitutes plagiarism, even if you used your own words. This is especially true in academic writing like essays and research papers.
Using a paraphrasing tool can be problematic in academic contexts. While not always explicitly “cheating,” relying on a tool without understanding the material or carefully editing the output can lead to poor writing or unintentional plagiarism if the tool’s output is too close to the original text or doesn’t make sense. Manually paraphrasing demonstrates understanding. If you use a tool, you must still proofread, compare, edit substantially, and cite the original source. Submitting tool-generated text as your own original thought process for an assignment could be considered cheating by many institutions.
No, paraphrasing and quoting are distinct methods for incorporating source material. When paraphrasing, you restate the idea from the original source using your own words and sentence structure, followed by a citation. When quoting, you insert a quote word for word from the original source enclosed in quotation marks, also followed by a citation. Quoting is best for impactful or precise language; paraphrasing is better for integrating general ideas smoothly.
While it is technically possible to paraphrase large sections or even an entire piece manually or with a paraphrase tool, this is generally not recommended or ethical in academic writing. An essay should primarily consist of your own analysis and argument, using sources for support. Excessive paraphrasing without significant original contribution might still be considered a form of academic dishonesty (“patchwriting”) or fail to meet assignment requirements. Focus on using paraphrasing for specific points or sections you need to integrate, not as a substitute for original thought and writing. Always check the result against the original text and via an academic plagiarism checker if attempting large-scale paraphrasing.