Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing

Paraphrasing and summarizing are crucial skills for any writer. They help you weave in reliable research and unique ideas, adding authenticity and credibility to your work.

Many people mix up these terms, but there is a key difference between the two practices. This article will clarify their definitions and how they are used.

What is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing involves putting a piece of information in your own words while keeping the original context intact. A writer alters the words, sentence structure, and entire paragraphs to give the whole passage a different look. The result is essentially a passage that looks and feels different from the original but still covers the same information.

Original Passage:

I cannot stress enough how important it is to eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it’s essential to getting your day started on the right foot.

Paraphrased:

It’s crucial that you eat breakfast every day. Breakfast is the meal that starts your day, and it’s important to get your day off to a good beginning.

The technique is used extensively at the academic and professional levels. To effectively paraphrase a work, a writer should have a sound grasp of vocabulary, grammar, verbal expressions, and all necessary linguistic skills. Otherwise, your work might end up looking like a poor copy of the original, which isn’t good for your image as a writer. 

When to Use Paraphrasing

You might consider using paraphrasing in the following cases:

• While including information in your essay from authentic sources
• When showing an understanding of credible research or a theory’s key concepts
• When simplifying a complex passage
• When you don’t know the exact quote 
• When reviewing a research work
• When writing assignments, to avoid plagiarism

How to Paraphrase?

There are 2 straightforward ways to paraphrase content – and they’re pretty simple to understand.

Manual Rephrasing – you do it yourself, start to finish. It involves giving the original text a good read, getting a solid grasp on its meaning, and then rewriting it in your own words to keep the same context intact.

• On the plus side, you’ve got full control over the content. You can ensure the context is spot on and that the end result is a piece of writing you can call your own
• But on the negative, the whole process is a real time-suck, and you’ve got to be a pretty sharp writer to pull it off convincingly.

Tool-assisted rewording – using a handy online paraphrasing tool to do the heavy lifting for you. These clever tools use some sort of AI to churn out multiple rewritten versions that are eerily accurate in terms of keeping the original context.

But, on the downside, you’ve got no say in what the final product looks like – which can be a real problem if the tool fails to deliver. The quality of the output varies from tool to tool, and you may end up with something that needs a whole lot more work than you originally thought.

One nice thing is that you get your finished paraphrased content in a snap – minutes, not hours – which is a big plus if you’re on a deadline. Plus, the end result is usually pretty good, maybe just needs a bit of proofreading before it’s ready to go.

To see that in practice, see below how an efficient paraphrasing tool works:

The highlighted words show the amendments that have been made to the original draft. You can see that 40% of the content has been paraphrased.

What is summarizing?

Summarizing involves putting the condensed essential information from a piece in your own words. The writer only communicates the main idea of the work.

A summary is usually much shorter in length than the original piece. In literature, you can write a summary of several pages in just a few sentences. However, it needs to grasp all the important ideas of the work.

The summary highlights important points but does not offer detailed explanations or an in-depth analysis of a book or any other work.

The summary can vary in length and is usually shorter than the original text. Its exact size will depend on your specific needs.

When to Summarize

You might use summarizing in the following cases:

• When you need to focus on the central idea of a work
• When you want to save time by reading a shorter version
• When you don’t need the detailed information
• When you want to provide an overview of the research
• When you have an assignment to show how well you understand the material
• When you need to keep notes of what you read
• When you are writing a literature review for a research paper and describing the source material you used

How to summarize?

Generally, there are two simple types of summarizing:

Manual summarizing – involves condensing a work without any digital intervention. It is solely dependent on the skill of the writer.

For manual summarizing, the fundamental thing is the grasp of the original work.

To summarize effectively, start by considering the main theme of the original draft. Then, create a clearer version by condensing each section and highlighting the key points. Use straightforward language that everyone can easily understand.

• Pros: You can maintain the originality and voice of the author.
• Cons: It is a time-consuming process, and you might miss out on some essential points.

Digital summarizing – using an online summarizer to your advantage. These AI-based tools are adept at finding the key points of a subject. By using this method, you can get your desired summary in a matter of seconds.

The tools also provide you with multiple summarizing percentages. They can summarize content from 10 to 50%, depending on the tool of choice.

• Pros: It is a fast way of summarizing and can be done with just a few clicks.
• Cons: The summarized content might not be up to the mark, as these tools are still in their nascent stages.

This is how an efficient online summarizer works:

Here, you can see that the whole passage has been condensed into 3 bullet points.

If you’re working on an academic paper, remember to give credit for summarized ideas just like you would for paraphrased content and direct quotes.

The three key differences between the two

The first difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is the purpose. Paraphrasing is done to reiterate the whole content in your own words, whereas summarizing involves extracting the central idea and creating a shorter version.

The second difference is the amount of detail and complexity involved. Paraphrasing requires you to maintain the voice of the author and go into the depth of each point. On the other hand, summarizing is a surface-level task that doesn’t involve any explanation.

The last difference is the length of both these tasks. A paraphrased version is usually as long as the original content. A summary, on the other hand, is always much shorter.

But do paraphrasing and summarizing have anything in common?

Yes, there are a few similarities between paraphrasing and summarizing as well:

• Both can help you understand the content better.
• Both are actively used in academic writing.
• Both can be done manually or with the help of an online tool.

Now that you know the key differences and similarities between paraphrasing and summarizing, it will be easier for you to decide which one to use in a particular situation.