What is Paraphrasing?
A paraphrase is a rephrasing of an author’s text, explanation, argument, or story, often known as an indirect quotation. Using your own words to express what you have read or heard from research materials is paraphrasing. Despite the fact that you are restating the author’s thoughts in your own words, you still need to cite the source or sources from which you obtained the information.
When properly cited, paraphrasing is a fair approach to using a source’s ideas and information to reiterate your own.
In simple words, Paraphrasing is the act of rewriting a text in your own words while preserving its meaning. Usually, it is around the same length as the original text.
Since a paraphrase is not a straight quote, quotation marks are not necessary. A strong paraphrase always combines a few different strategies. It’s crucial to be precise, maintain the text’s original sense, and leave no information out.
To properly rephrase information through the difficult process of paraphrasing, you need a broad vocabulary as well as good grammar abilities.
Components of Paraphrasing
- Citation of the original source: It is considered plagiarism if you paraphrase something without properly attributing the original source and passing it off as your own.
- Substantial changes to original source: A proper paraphrase must involve substantive structural revisions to the original text, not merely trivial ones like replacing a few important terms with synonyms.
- Flexibility in the paraphrase: No single, “correct” way to paraphrase a specific passage exists.
Paraphrasing Tips
- Read and reread the original document: Make sure you comprehend the source material well. It will be simpler for you to express such concepts in your own words if you fully understand the source material.
- Find out key elements of the original passage: To identify the essential elements of the passage, ask yourself the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions. What makes this knowledge so crucial? Make careful to summarise this information in your sentence.
- Keep the original document aside while producing your paraphrase: Use your own words if you are unable to read the original passage because it will be much simpler. Take an approach that is different from the original text and begin your phrase there.
- Change the sentence construction along with specific words: Because you will inevitably make significant changes to the original source, restructuring the text is a simple technique to avoid plagiarism. Combine shorter sentences into longer ones or divide lengthy sentences into shorter ones.
- Always give reference to your source: Make sure to reference the original, whether you’re paraphrasing or directly citing something, to avoid plagiarism and to give credit where credit is due.
Process of Paraphrasing
- Make sure you comprehend the source itself first.
- Reread the material multiple times to make sure you fully comprehend it. If you are unclear about any keywords, look them up in the dictionary.
- After that, set the book aside and jot down some notes.
- Create your own version of the text without consulting the original.
- Next, ensure that you have incorporated all the important material by comparing your notes with the reading. If necessary, rephrase your sentence.
- Put quote marks around any original words you directly copied from the source. It should be noted that it is acceptable to keep technical terms since they are frequently lacking in suitable synonyms.
- To properly reference the information, make sure to write down all of the source’s information.
Features of Good Paraphrase
- An excellent paraphrase presents or clarifies the argument or viewpoint of another author in new words.
- Rather than merely rephrasing with synonyms, it should demonstrate creative thought and consideration. This comprises several sentence constructions.
- It should flow naturally with the paragraph in which it appears and blend in effectively with the writing around it.
- The author must be acknowledged in some form, either directly in the sentence or with a parenthetical citation.
Wrap Up
When you paraphrase, you translate a paragraph from a source document into your own words. Basically, it is a restatement of another author’s ideas in your own words without altering their original meaning or omitting any crucial details.
Remember that a paraphrase differs from a direct quote and is more intricate than simply substituting a few synonyms or rearrangement the original language. Writing a paraphrase requires a combination of skills that can only be mastered with time and practice.